Long Beach\u2019s professional baseball team put its undefeated record on the line this week \u2014 and still hasn\u2019t lost.<\/p>\n
The club is now a pristine 1-0.<\/p>\n
The Long Beach Coast, which was founded last year, went on the road on Tuesday, May 19, and won its Pioneer League debut 10-6 against the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds at Bryant Field in Marysville. The Coast received five strong innings from starting pitcher Gary Grosjean \u2014 but it was an early offensive explosion that carried the day. Long Beach scored six runs in the first inning before three solo home runs in the second turned the season opener into an early laugher, though the Freebirds did their best to chip away at the deficit later in the game.<\/p>\n
Taking the opener, even on the road, was the ideal start for a club that, as one of its founders said last year<\/a>, has aspirations of bringing \u201ca joyful, high-quality baseball experience to the region.\u201d<\/p>\n The nascent team was established over the summer as the Long Beach Baseball Club, backed by Innovation Baseball Partners, which includes members of the Oakland Ballers ownership group. The Ballers were cofounded by Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel in 2023 after the Athletics announced their departure from Oakland. That Bay Area team has seen success, so Freedman and Carmel decided to try out the model elsewhere \u2014 and settled on Long Beach.<\/p>\n After a community naming contest narrowed down possible monikers for the club, the organization, in January, settled on the Long Beach Coast, with the Regulators as an alter ego that nods to the city\u2019s hip-hop legacy. The Coast also partnered with Cal State Long Beach to play home games at Blair Field. Several previous independent professional baseball teams played at Blair Field, including the Long Beach Breakers from 2001 to 2003 and the Long Beach Armada from 2005 to 2009.<\/p>\n The Coast are in the independent, 12-team Pioneer Baseball League and will play nearly 100 games in 2026.<\/p>\n