Cal Poly to Visit Cal on Tuesday for Final Game Against a Pac-12 Foe
4/22/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | CALIFORNIA | BIG WEST
MUSTANGS REMAIN IN THREE MAJOR BASEBALL POLLS
LIVE STATS | AUDIO STREAM
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- No. 18 Cal Poly (26-11, 7-5 Big West), which sprinted to 7-0 and 13-1 starts in the first four weeks of the 2013 baseball season and is tied for third place in the Big West Conference, begins a five-game road trip Tuesday with a non-conference game against California (18-21, 7-11 Pac-12) under the recently installed lights at Evans Diamond (2,500).
First pitch is set for 5 p.m. The game will be aired live on ESPN Radio 1280 with Tom Barket calling the play-by-play. The game also will be available via audio stream as well as live stats at GoPoly.com.
Cal Poly, 36-20 a year ago and winner of 14 of its final 17 games, returned 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 (snapping a 14-game winning streak over two seasons), put together a six-game winning streak before falling to Kansas State 10-4 in the series finale at Manhattan, Kansas.
Cal Poly swept UC Davis to open Big West play four weeks ago, lost two of three at UC Santa Barbara, won two of three against Hawai'i and lost two of three against No. 4 Cal State Fullerton last weekend before large crowds in Baggett Stadium. The Mustangs, who reached the 20-win mark before the end of March for the first time since the NCAA's uniform start date was implemented in 2008, beat the Titans 2-1 Friday night as Joey Wagman (8-2) and Reed Reilly (10th save) combined on a six-hitter, but Cal State Fullerton bounced back with 10-5 and 6-4 wins to clinch the series.
Cal had lost 12 of its last 15 games before winning two of three against Washington State last weekend at home. The Bears scored twice in the ninth inning to edge the Cougars 2-1 Sunday and clinch the series.
Cal Poly has hit over the .300 mark in five of its 10 weekend series, including a .358 mark in the non-conference series against UC Santa Barbara five weeks ago and .342 against UC Davis. The Mustangs, however, hit just .237 in their Big West series at UCSB three weeks ago and .239 the next weekend against Hawaii.
Chavez (pictured above) leads the Mustangs and the Big West with his .386 batting average. He also leads the conference in hits (59) and runs scored (34) and is third in on-base percentage (.448), doubles (11) and steals (11) and fourth in total bases (74). Sophomore right fielder Nick Torres sports a .329 mark with six home runs and leads the team in RBI with 32 and the Big West with seven sacrifice flies while freshman shortstop Peter Van Gansen is hitting .294.
Freshman designated hitter Brian Mundell has 26 RBI and eight home runs on the year, second only to Matt Jensen (nine) among freshmen in Cal Poly's 19-year Division I history, while junior third baseman Jimmy Allen is hitting .289 with 27 RBI. Torres had an 18-game hitting streak, fourth-longest in Cal Poly's 19-year Division I history, snapped by UC Davis on March 29.
The Mustang starting rotation of senior right-hander Joey Wagman (7-2, 2.95 ERA), sophomore southpaw Matt Imhof (4-1, 1.51 ERA) and sophomore righty Bryan Granger (5-3, 4.47 ERA) has allowed just 63 earned runs in 37 games while relievers Reed Reilly, Michael Holback, Chase Johnson and Taylor Chris have combined for 12 saves in the first 10 weeks of the season.
Lee earned his 300th win last May 5 in a 12-7 decision at UC Davis. Lee (335-264-2) 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.
Cal, coached by David Esquer (14th season, 401-359-2, Stanford '87), returned 10 lettermen, including three position starters and 12 pitchers, off a team which went 29-25 a year ago and finished eighth in the Pac-12 with a 12-18 mark.
The Bears opened their 2013 season by sweeping Michigan, then lost seven of nine before sweeping Fresno State and Utah as part of an eight-game winning streak, improving to 13-7. Cal then lost 12 of its next 15 games, losing series to UCLA, USC, Arizona and Oregon before winning the Washington State series last weekend.
Top hitters for the Bears are catcher Andrew Knapp (.359, six home runs, 31 RBI), second baseman Brenden Farney (.303, eight RBI), center fielder Devin Pearson (.300, 12 RBI) and left fielder Brian Celsi (.287, eight RBI). The Cal pitching staff is paced by right-handers Ryan Mason (5-2, 3.80 ERA) and Dylan Nelson (1-4, 3.07 ERA, two saves) and southpaw Justin Jones (1-4, 5.44 ERA).
Jones is expected to start Tuesday against Cal Poly freshman right-hander Casey Bloomquist (2-0, 5.50 ERA), who has earned wins against CSU Bakersfield and Santa Clara the last two weeks.
Cal is hitting .268 as a team with 50 doubles, five triples and 21 home runs, while the pitching staff has compiled a 4.68 earned run average. The Bears have committed 44 errors in 39 games for a .971 fielding percentage.
Cal placed fifth in the 2011 NCAA College World Series, claimed CWS titles in 1947 and 1957, has appeared in the NCAA postseason 12 times, has reached the College World Series six times and last won a conference title in 1980.
Cal made an initial decision in September 2010 to discontinue the baseball program due to pressure on the university's budget. Following a fundraising effort that has generated approximately $10 million in commitment, Golden Bear baseball was reinstated April 8, 2011.
Cal Poly and Cal have met 44 times on the baseball field since the series began in 1948. The Bears hold a 33-11 advantage, winning two of three games at Baggett Stadium in their last meeting in 2010. Cal Poly is 4-5 against Cal since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season.
Cal Poly, which fell two spots to No. 18 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll Monday, one spot to No. 23 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll and one position to No. 23 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll, fell out of the Baseball America and Perfect Game polls after achieving No. 23 ranking in both polls last week. Last year the Mustangs were ranked No. 22 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper after their 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 Mustangs played 10 of their first 15 games on the road followed by 10 of 11 contests in Baggett Stadium. After playing four more games on the road at UC Santa Barbara and CSU Bakersfield, Cal Poly completed a seven-game homestand with last weekend's Cal State Fullerton series.
Following Tuesday's game at Cal, the Mustangs resume Big West play with a three-game series at Long Beach State. First pitch Friday at Blair Field is set for 6 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m. contest Saturday and a 1 p.m. finale Sunday.
