No. 3/4/5 Cal Poly to Visit No. 17 Pepperdine for Single Game on Tuesday
4/28/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | PEPPERDINE | BIG WEST
MUSTANGS DROP SLIGHTLY IN NATIONAL POLLS
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (36-7, 12-3 Big West), coming off its first series loss of the year and back-to-back losses for the first time this season, continues a seven-game road trip Tuesday afternoon with a non-conference game at No. 17 Pepperdine (30-9, 14-4 West Coast) at Eddy D. Field Stadium (cap.: 1,800).
First pitch is set for 3 p.m. in Malibu and the game will be aired live on ESPN Radio 1280 with Tom Barket providing the play-by-play. Links for live stats as well as audio and video streams are available at www.GoPoly.com.
Ranked No. 3 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, No. 4 by Baseball America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, No. 5 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll and No. 9 by Perfect Game this week, Cal Poly posted its first non-winning week of the year, going 2-2 with a 12-5 midweek win over San Jose State, then hitting the road and dropping two of three games to Long Beach State at Blair Field. The Mustangs won Friday's opener 6-3 before falling 7-2 and 1-0 on the weekend, losing a series to the Dirtbags for the fourth straight year.
Cal Poly has won 10 of 11 series of three games or more this season and split two games in a rain-shortened series at USC. The Mustangs also have won each of their seven midweek games so far, including two shutouts against Santa Clara.
Past the halfway point of the 2014 season, the Mustangs are hitting .297, best in the Big West, and have outscored the opposition 263-132 while the pitching staff has compiled a 2.74 ERA with 382 strikeouts and 145 walks in 384 innings. Cal Poly is No. 4 in the NCAA in strikeouts per nine innings, No. 2 in winning percentage and No. 10 in fielding percentage.
Pepperdine was idle last weekend for Spring Semester finals. The Waves won two of three games at home against San Francisco on April 17-19 and have won 17 of their last 20 games to vault into first place in the West Coast Conference. Pepperdine swept Utah Valley, Santa Clara, Portland and Saint Mary's and also have won series against St. John's, BYU and San Francisco. The Waves also split four games against Hawai'i and lost a series to Pacific.
Cal Poly won 18 consecutive home games, including the final seven of the 2013 season, before Cal snapped the streak March 22. The Mustangs are 24-2 at home this season and have won 94 of their last 119 home games for a winning percentage of 79 percent. At 17-3 five weeks ago, Cal Poly posted the program's second-best 20-game start in its 110-year history. The 1997 Mustangs opened the year 18-2. The current squad also produced its best-ever 30-game start at 25-5, exceeding the 23-7 start by the 2009 team, 22-8 opening by the 2013 squad and 21-9 start of the 1997 club.
Cal Poly's top hitters after 43 games are sophomore second baseman Mark Mathias (.393, 28 RBI, has hit safely in 31 of last 33 games), junior right fielder Nick Torres (.329, 12 doubles, four home runs, 40 RBI), junior outfielder Zack Zehner (.314, four doubles, 10 RBI) and senior catcher Chris Hoo (.323, 13 doubles, 32 RBI) (pictured above). Senior third baseman Jimmy Allen (.290, 11 doubles, three triples, 28 RBI), senior first baseman/left fielder Tim Wise (.289, five doubles, two triples, 19 RBI) and sophomore designated hitter Brian Mundell (.289, 10 doubles, four home runs, 35 RBI) are near the .300 mark.
Mathias has gone 55-for-125 (.440) during his run of hitting safely in 31 of his last 33 games, including a 17-game hitting streak snapped four weeks ago and a 14-game streak halted last weekend).
The Mustangs had a 12-game winning streak -- longest in a single season in Cal Poly history -- snapped last weekend and have won 18 of their last 21 games and 26 of their last 30 contests. Cal Poly is 6-3 against the Pac-12, 3-0 against both the Big 12 and West Coast, 5-1 against the WAC and 2-0 versus the Mountain West this season. A 14-game winning streak was compiled by the 2012 (last seven games of season) and 2013 (first seven games of season) squads at Cal Poly.
Pepperdine, 27-24 a year ago and 13-11 for fifth place in the West Coast Conference, returned 20 letter winners, including four position starters and eight pitchers. Top returnees included catcher Kolten Yamaguchi (.309, 18 RBI in 2013), infielder Austin Davidson (.287, 24 RBI) and outfielder Bryan Langlois (.279, 25 RBI). Top returning pitchers were right-handers Corey Miller (5-5, 2.71 ERA in 2013) and Eric Karch (5-5, 3.47 ERA) and southpaw Aaron Brown (6-3, 4.95 ERA).
Coached by Steve Rodriguez (11th year, 356-262, Pepperdine '01), Pepperdine has a .290 team batting average through 39 games, led by catcher Aaron Barnett (.352, 17 RBI), Brown (.342, 11 doubles, three triples, eight home runs, 35 RBI) and outfielder Brandon Caruso (.330, 11 RBI). Second baseman Hutton Moyer (.324, 19 doubles, three triples, 17 RBI) and first baseman Brad Anderson (.317, 22 RBI) also are hitting above .300. The Waves sport a 2.22 staff ERA and .982 fielding percentage with 27 errors in 39 games.
Pepperdine has appeared in 26 NCAA regionals, the last time in 2012, and has made two College World Series appearances, capturing the national title in 1992.
Rodriguez was an assistant at Pepperdine for four seasons before he was elevated to head coach shortly after the 2003 season. He guided the Waves to five straight NCAA regional appearances (2004-08) and four West Coast Conference titles (2004-06, 2012). Rodriguez was a fifth-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 1992 and played professionally for seven seasons with the Red Sox, Tigers, Dodgers and Expos organizations, reaching the Major Leagues with the Tigers and Red Sox, both in 1995. He was a two-time All-American at Pepperdine.
Cal Poly and Pepperdine have met 52 times in baseball since the series began in 1947. The Waves hold a 31-21 advantage, including an 8-6 victory in Baggett Stadium and a 5-3 triumph at Eddy D. Field Stadium in 2013. Jimmy Allen's two-out home run in the 10th inning on May 1, 2012, lifted Cal Poly to a 2-1 victory in Baggett Stadium, the only meeting between the two clubs in 2012. Cal Poly is 11-16 against Pepperdine since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Larry Lee is 8-9 against his alma mater while Steve Rodriguez is 9-8 against Cal Poly.
Tuesday's starting pitchers will be junior southpaw Aaron Brown (8-1, 2.39 ERA) for Pepperdine and freshman right-hander Slater Lee (3-1, 5.17 ERA) for Cal Poly. Brown is a weekend starter for the Waves who was placed on the College Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher of the Year Award watch list last week and has struck out 75 batters in 71 2/3 innings.
Three weeks ago, Cal Poly reached the 30-win mark for the 10th time in the last 15 years and has already clinched its 12th winning season since 2000. The Mustangs were as many as 31 games above the .500 mark for the first time in their 20-year Division I history before losing twice at Long Beach State. Cal Poly has won 10 of 11 series of three games or more this season (six sweeps) and 29 of 40 series, including 17 sweeps, over the last three years.
Lee, in his 12th season with the Mustangs, has guided Cal Poly to five 3-0 starts with season-opening series sweeps over San Diego in 2005, Fresno State in 2006, Oklahoma State in 2012, San Francisco last year and Kansas State this season. The Mustangs have finished in the upper half of the conference standings 10 times in the last 12 years.
Lee (385-279-2) earned his 300th win on May 5, 2012, in a 12-7 decision at UC Davis. Lee 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).
Cal Poly concludes its seven-game road trip this weekend with a three-game Big West Conference series Friday through Sunday at UC Riverside.
