Seattle
No. 9 Cal Poly Falls to Seattle 15-14 in Middle Game of Series
3/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
LYNNWOOD, Wash. – Cal Poly let 7-1 and 13-11 leads slip away as the No. 9 Mustangs dropped a 15-14 decision to Seattle in a rain-drenched second game of a three-game non-conference baseball series Saturday afternoon at Triton Field on the campus of Edmonds Community College.
Seattle scored 10 runs in the sixth inning and, after Cal Poly regained the lead with a six-run seventh-inning uprising, added four more in the bottom of the seventh and held on for the one-run victory.
Cal Poly falls to 10-3 with the loss while Seattle improves to 6-9. Weather permitting, the rubber game of the series will be played Sunday at noon at Meridian Park.
Mustang freshman right-hander Slater Lee, bidding for his third win, allowed one run and two hits through the first five frames and Cal Poly was leading 7-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth.
That's when Seattle sent 15 batters to the plate and parlayed six hits, five walks, a hit batter, a sacrifice fly and a Cal Poly error in the outfield into 10 runs and an 11-7 advantage.
Chase Fields belted a two-run home run and Landon Cray added his second solo home run of the game to highlight the rally. Cal Poly pitchers had not allowed a home run all year until Saturday.
The Mustangs bounced back in the seventh with six runs. Seattle closer Will Dennis, a sidearm lefty, hit the first three Cal Poly batters he faced with the bases loaded to push across three runs. Brian Mundell doubled to drive in two more and Nick Torres grounded into a force play at third base, knocking in a run.
Seattle tallied four runs off Reed Reilly in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead for good at 15-13. Fields singled to left to drive in two and tie the game while Brian Olson doubled to right-center field to knock in two more and give the Redhawks the two-run cushion.
Cal Poly closed the gap to one on Chris Hoo's groundout in the eighth and the Mustangs had runners at first and second with out one in the ninth, but Jimmy Allen grounded into a force play at third and Zach Zehner grounded out to shortstop, ending the marathon, 3-hour, 33-minute game held in a steady rain throughout on the all-Field Turf facility.
Zehner (pictured above) produced his first four-hit game as a Mustang, driving in one run, and Mark Mathias added three hits and a pair of RBI. Allen, Tim Wise and Jordan Ellis each had two hits for Cal Poly, who lost despite outhitting Seattle 16-10.
Cray and Olson each had three hits for Seattle and Fields added two hits and knocked in four runs.
Dennis (2-1) earned the win despite giving up four earned runs and four hits in 2 2/3 innings. The loss went to Mustang closer Reed Reilly (0-1), whose three earned runs were the first given up by him this season.
Cal Poly's pitching staff had compiled a stingy 1.34 ERA in its first 10 games this season before giving up 16 runs to USC last Sunday and 15 more to Seattle on Saturday. The staff ERA is now 3.29.
Sophomore right-hander Casey Bloomquist (2-0, 1.64 ERA) will start on the mound for Cal Poly on Sunday, to be faced by Seattle sophomore lefty Connor Moore (1-2, 3.26 ERA).
