Collegiate level brings out the best baseball

College baseball hardly gets the respect that it deserves, but the players and exciting games are much more entertaining than a Major League Baseball game.

Down in Southern California at Long Beach State is a beautiful ballpark called Blair Field -- home of the ninth-ranked Long Beach State Dirtbags.

The Dirtbags have arguably the toughest college baseball schedule in the nation this year. They play Pac-10 powerhouses such as Arizona State, UCLA and USC. The Dirtbags also playethe team of the 90s, Lousiana State.

The Dirtbags have the best 1-2 pitching combination in the nation in junior Abe Alvarez and sophomore Jered Weaver.

Alvarez is an amazing left-handed pitcher who is the most unique pitcher I have ever seen. He wears his hat sideways with his bushy hair crawling out from underneath. Alvarez is a perfect 7-0 on the year, with a 2.09 earned run average.

Alvarez's counterpart is the brother of professional New York Yankee pitcher Jeff Weaver. Jered Weaver is mowing down hitters and was invited to tryout for the United States National Team this summer. Jered can bring some serious chedder up to the plate, as I have seen the guns read 94 mph consistently.

But, besides all tha,t the Dirtbags are a fun team to watch and so are many other teams in college baseball. The fields allow fans to be right on top of the action for a cheap price.

You can watch soon-to-be professionals hustle out routine pop flys instead of jogging them out. You can watch every player sprint to their positions on the field. You can get autographs of the players before the almighty dollar gets to their head and they blow you off.

The point is, you can watch baseball how it was meant to be played. Players hustling and leaving their hearts out on the field after every game.

It's a sad baseball world that we live in when fans pay to watch MLB players who whine about not having enough zeros on their paychecks, but all baseball fans do it.

Go out and watch your local college team -- believe me when I say you won't regret it.