Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara to Play Non-Conference Weekend Series
3/21/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | UCSB | BIG WEST
MUNDELL NAMED BIG WEST FIELD PLAYER OF THE WEEK
MUSTANGS REMAIN NO. 20 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL POLL
VIDEO (FRIDAY AND SUNDAY ONLY)
LIVE STATS | AUDIO: FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- No. 20 Cal Poly (15-4, 0-0 Big West), which sprinted to 7-0 and 13-1 starts in the first four weeks of the 2013 baseball season before losing two of three games against then-No. 17 Notre Dame, faces Central Coast rival UC Santa Barbara (11-8, 0-0 Big West) for a three-game non-conference series this weekend. Games on Friday and Sunday will be played at Baggett Stadium (1,734) while the Saturday contest is set for Caesar Uyesaka Stadium (1,000).
First pitch Friday will be at 6:30 p.m. followed by a 2 p.m. start Saturday and 1 o'clock Sunday. The series will be aired live on ESPN Radio 1280 with Tom Barket calling the play-by-play. All three games also will be available via audio stream as well as live stats at GoPoly.com. A video stream will be provided free of charge for the Friday and Sunday contests.
Cal Poly, 36-20 a year ago and winner of 14 of its final 17 games, returns 23 letter winners, including seven position starters and 11 pitchers (four starters), off its 2012 squad which swept six series, won nine of 14 weekend series, finished one game behind champion Cal State Fullerton in the Big West and ended atop the conference in most key offensive categories, including average, runs, hits, doubles, home runs and RBI.
Under 11th-year head coach Larry Lee, the Mustangs won their first seven games of the 2013 season, then after their first loss, a 2-1 decision at Washington, put together a six-game winning streak before falling to Kansas State 10-4 in the series finale at Manhattan, Kansas. Cal Poly split four games last week, earning wins against San Jose State and Notre Dame on game-winning home runs by freshman designated hitter Brian Mundell before dropping a pair of one-run decisions to the Irish, 1-0 and 6-5. Cal Poly is 5-3 in one-run games this season.
UC Santa Barbara beat Notre Dame 7-2 to open the week before winning two of three games against Sacramento State last weekend at home.
Cal Poly hit .321 in the quartet of Bay Area games, but the mark fell to .234 in the Seattle series and .210 in the Washington series before hitting .307 in winning four of five games against Holy Cross and Kansas State. The Mustangs hit .310 in splitting four games last week.
Mundell provided a major portion of the offensive spark for the Mustangs last week, going 8-for-16 with two doubles, a pair of home runs and four RBI. Against San Jose State, he hit a walk-off solo homer in the 10th inning for the 6-5 win and snapped a 3-3 tie in the third inning Thursday of the 6-3 victory over Notre Dame. Sophomore right fielder Nick Torres was 8-for-18 with a home run last week, extending his hitting streak to 13 games and lifting his average to .321, while freshman shortstop Peter Van Gansen and junior center fielder David Armendariz both contributed seven hits in four games.
The Mustang starting rotation of senior right-hander Joey Wagman (3-1, 3.38 ERA), sophomore southpaw Matt Imhof (2-0, 1.40 ERA) and sophomore righty Bryan Granger (3-1, 3.04 ERA) has allowed just 29 earned runs in 19 games while relievers Reed Reilly, Michael Holback (pictured above), Chase Johnson and Taylor Chris have combined for eight saves in the first five weeks of the season.
Lee earned his 300th win last May 5 in a 12-7 decision at UC Davis. Lee (324-257-2) surpassed Berdy Harr (297-249-6 from 1973-83) as Cal Poly's winningest head baseball coach during the Pacific series a week earlier. Steve McFarland was 290-257 in 10 seasons (1984-93) at the helm of the Mustangs while Ritch Price was 217-228-1 in Cal Poly's first eight years of play in Division I (1995-2002).
Lee has guided Cal Poly to a quartet of 3-0 starts with season-opening series sweeps over San Diego in 2005, Fresno State in 2006, Oklahoma State in 2012 and San Francisco this year. The Mustangs won their first seven games for the first time since 1981. The 1954 and 1974 Mustangs started 8-0 and the school record start to a season was 10-0 by the 1951 team coached by Robert Mott.
UC Santa Barbara, coached by Andrew Checketts (second season, 39-36, Oregon State '98), returned 14 lettermen, including six position starters and six pitchers, off a team which went 28-28 a year ago and finished tied for sixth in the Big West Conference at 10-14. The Gauchos opened the year with a series win over Fresno State, split four games against San Francisco, swept San Jose State, lost all three games at Texas and won two of three games against Sacramento State last week, posting 5-0 and 5-4 wins before falling 13-7 in the series finale, giving up eight runs in the first inning.
Top hitters for the Gauchos are designated hitter Robby Nesovic (.500, 10 RBI), right fielder Luke Swenson (.347, 10 RBI), first baseman Tyler Kuresa (.324, 16 RBI) and left fielder Woody Woodward (.320, eight RBI). The UCSB pitching staff is paced by right-hander Austin Pettibone (3-1, 1.49 ERA) and southpaws Greg Mahle (3-2, 4.82 ERA) and Justin Jacome (1-1, 4.13 ERA). Dylan Hecht and Connor Bates, both right-handers, have one save each.
UCSB is hitting .267 as a team with 27 doubles, five triples and three home runs, while the pitching staff has compiled a 3.79 earned run average. The Gauchos have committed 19 errors in 19 games for a .974 fielding percentage.
UCSB claimed Big West titles in 1972 and 1986 and has qualified for the NCAA Division I regionals seven times, the last in 2001. The Gauchos have compiled a 6-18 win-loss record in Division I postseason competition.
Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara have met 208 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1942. The Gauchos hold a 113-95 advantage, earning a non-conference 6-5 victory April 10, 2012, at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium before the Mustangs swept UCSB in a Big West series at Baggett Stadium by scores of 5-1, 15-5 and 9-8. Cal Poly is 41-38 against UCSB since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season.
Cal Poly, which remained No. 20 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll this week and also is ranked No. 25 in the USA Today coaches poll and No. 26 in the National College Baseball Writers Association poll, last year was ranked No. 22 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper after its 7-1 start and No. 27 after sweeping UC Irvine in early April.
Cal Poly has won at least 30 games eight times in the last 13 seasons, in 2012 posted its 10th winning season since 2000 and has finished in the upper half of the conference standings nine times in the last 11 years.
The Notre Dame series ended a run of 12 games in 16 days for Cal Poly. The Mustangs played 10 of their first 15 games on the road and currently are in a stretch of playing 10 of 11 in Baggett Stadium.
Next week, Cal Poly hosts Pepperdine for a non-conference game Tuesday night, then opens Big West Conference play at home against UC Davis on Thursday through Saturday.
