Cal Poly Resumes Big West Slate With Three-Game Set at Long Beach State
4/25/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | LONG BEACH STATE | BIG WEST
SIX-RUN THIRD INNING LIFTS MUSTANGS OVER CAL, 7-1
REILLY NAMED TO NCBWA STOPPER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST
LIVE STATS | AUDIO STREAM: FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- No. 18 Cal Poly (27-11, 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, continues a five-game road trip this weekend with a three-game Big West Conference series against Long Beach State (18-20, 7-5 Big West) at Blair Field (3,000).
First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. All three games of the series will be aired live on ESPN Radio 1280 with Tom Barket calling the play-by-play. The games 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.
On Tuesday, the Mustangs scored six runs in the third inning, three on Elliot Stewart's fourth home run of the year, and rode the combined seven-hit pitching of Casey Bloomquist and Taylor Chris to a 7-1 win at Cal. Bloomquist (3-0) allowed the run in the seventh inning en route to his third win in as many weeks and Chris retired all seven batters he faced.
Long Beach State lost two of three games at UC Santa Barbara last weekend, earning an 8-4 win in Sunday's finale. The Dirtbags routed UCLA 11-1 Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
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 leads the Mustangs and the Big West with his .380 batting average. He also leads the conference in hits (60) and runs scored (36) and is third in on-base percentage (.441), doubles (11) and steals (11) and fourth in total bases (75). Sophomore right fielder Nick Torres sports a .325 mark with six home runs and leads the team in RBI with 33 and the Big West with seven sacrifice flies while freshman shortstop Peter Van Gansen is hitting .283.
Freshman designated hitter Brian Mundell has 27 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 .288 with 28 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 38 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.
Wagman (pictured above) picked up his 22nd career win against Cal State Fullerton despite not recording a strikeout in seven innings. He is tied with Bruce Freeberg (1974-77) and Tyler Fitch (2000-03) for No. 5 all-time in career victories at Cal Poly and could move into third place with three more wins. Record-holder Dan Chergey earned 32 career wins from 1990-93.
Lee earned his 300th win last May 5 in a 12-7 decision at UC Davis. Lee (336-264-2) 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.
Long Beach State, coached by Troy Buckley (third season, 75-74, Santa Clara '90), returned 21 lettermen, including 10 position starters and nine pitchers, off a team which went 28-27 a year ago and finished third in the Big West with a 15-9 mark.
The Dirtbags won five of their first eight games, including a sweep of Valparaiso, then lost eight of nine before sweeping Wichita State. Long Beach State then lost five straight before winning Big West series against UC Davis and Cal State Northridge. The Dirtbags are 14-8 at home but just 4-12 on the road.
Top hitters for the Dirtbags are shortstop Michael Hill (.336, 17 RBI, six steals), outfielder Jeff McNeil (.329, 16 RBI, eight steals), right fielder Richard Prigatano (.317, 23 RBI, six steals) and designated hitter Ino Patron (.293, 25 RBI). McNeil is a Nipomo High School graduate.
The Long Beach State pitching staff is paced by right-handers Shane Carle (2-6, 3.25 ERA) and David Hill (3-2, 4.37 ERA) along with southpaw Jake Stassi (4-1, 2.75 ERA). The closer is right-hander Jon Maciel with a 1-5 record, 6.10 ERA and four saves. The Dirtbags are hitting .265 as a team with 72 doubles, 16 triples and eight home runs, while the pitching staff has compiled a 3.88 earned run average. Long Beach State has committed 51 errors in 38 games for a .965 fielding percentage.
Long Beach State has earned eight Big West titles (the last in 2008), has qualified for an NCAA regional 19 times and has reached the College World Series four times (1989, 1991, 1993, 1998). A total of 14 former Dirtbags played in the Major Leagues in 2012, including Jason Giambi, Evan Longoria, Troy Tulowitzki and Jered Weaver.
Cal Poly and Long Beach State have met 131 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1957. The Dirtbags hold an 84-47 advantage, winning two of three games against the Mustangs a year ago in Baggett Stadium.
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.
Next week, Cal Poly caps a five-game road trip by visiting Pepperdine for a 3 p.m. non-conference game Wednesday, then returns home to host UC Riverside for a three-game Big West series next Friday through Sunday in Baggett Stadium (6 p.m., 6 p.m., 1 p.m.).
