Cal Poly to Visit UC Riverside for Weekend Big West Series
4/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | UC RIVERSIDE | BIG WEST
FOLLOW ALL FORMER MUSTANGS IN THE PROS
LIVE STATS | VIDEO STREAM (ESPN3) (SUNDAY)
AUDIO STREAM -- FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (36-8, 12-3 Big West), coming off its first series loss of the year, takes a three-game losing streak, longest of the season, and concludes a seven-game road trip this weekend with a three-game Big West Conference series against UC Riverside (19-21, 7-5 Big West) at the Riverside Sports Complex (cap.: 2,500).
First pitches are set for 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 o'clock Sunday. All three games of the series will be aired live on ESPN Radio 1280 with Tom Barket providing the play-by-play. Sunday's game also will be broadcast on ESPN3 with Trent Schlom serving as play-by-play announcer. Links for live stats as well as an audio stream and Sunday's video stream 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. The losing streak reached three games with an 11-4 loss at Pepperdine on Tuesday.
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 seven of their eight midweek games so far, including two shutouts against Santa Clara.
Past the halfway point of the 2014 season, the Mustangs are hitting .295, best in the Big West, and have outscored the opposition 267-143 while the pitching staff has compiled a 2.89 ERA with 389 strikeouts and 148 walks in 392 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.
UC Riverside lost two of three games at UC Santa Barbara last weekend and is tied for third place with Long Beach State in the Big West. The Highlanders, who beat UNLV 8-2 on Tuesday afternoon, have compiled a trio of three-game winning streaks this season while losing six straight in early April. UC Riverside has won series against San Francisco, Bakersfield, Stony Brook, Cal State Northridge and UC Davis.
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 44 games are sophomore second baseman Mark Mathias (.393, 28 RBI, has hit safely in 31 of his last 33 games), junior right fielder Nick Torres (.328, 12 doubles, four home runs, 40 RBI), junior outfielder Zack Zehner (.309, four doubles, 11 RBI) and senior catcher Chris Hoo (.318, 13 doubles, 32 RBI). Senior third baseman Jimmy Allen (.295, 11 doubles, three triples, two home runs, 29 RBI), senior first baseman/left fielder Tim Wise (.289, five doubles, two triples, 19 RBI), sophomore designated hitter Brian Mundell (.282, 10 doubles, four home runs, 35 RBI) and sophomore shortstop Peter Van Gansen (.285, 18 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 22 games and 26 of their last 31 contests. Cal Poly is 6-3 against the Pac-12, 3-0 against the Big 12, 3-1 against the 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.
UC Riverside, 14-32 a year ago and 10-17 for eighth place in the Big West Conference, returned 23 letter winners, including six position starters and 10 pitchers. Top returnees included outfielders David Andriese (.335, 43 RBI in 2013) and Devyn Bolasky (.333, 13 RBI) and second baseman Joe Chavez (.313, 17 steals, 30 RBI). Top returning pitchers were right-handers Mitch Patito (3-4, 3.96 ERA in 2013) and Trevor Frank (2-8, 4.63 ERA) plus lefty Dylan Stuart (7-7, 4.00 ERA).
Coached by Doug Smith (10th year, 265-257, UC Riverside '75), UC Riverside has a .279 team batting average through 40 games, led by first baseman Francisco Tellez (.333, 11 doubles, 36 RBI), Bolasky (.320, 11 steals, 17 RBI), shortstop Nick Vilter (.313, 9 home runs, 29 RBI) and left fielder Thomas Walker (.308, 11 doubles, 18 RBI). The Highlanders sport a 3.83 staff ERA and .958 fielding percentage with 65 errors in 40 games.
UC Riverside, a member of the Big West since 2002, claimed the Big West title in 2007 and has qualified for the NCAA Division I regionals twice -- in 2003 and 2007. The Highlanders also earned NCAA Division II playoff berths nine times, capturing the national title in both 1977 and 1982.
Smith was assistant coach at UC Riverside from 1983-2004 before he was named head coach following the 2004 season. He is a 1975 graduate of UC Riverside, where he was a catcher for the Highlanders and was a part-time assistant coach at UC Riverside from 1976-80 while pursuing his master's degree at Cal Poly Pomona.
Cal Poly and UC Riverside have met 186 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1970. The Mustangs hold a 105-81 advantage, sweeping the Highlanders each of the last two years -- 4-1, 3-1 and 4-3 a year ago in Baggett Stadium and 11-2, 15-9 and 6-0 in 2012 in Riverside.
Cal Poly beat UC Riverside twice in three-game series five consecutive seasons until 2007 when the Highlanders took two of three at Baggett Stadium en route to the Big West title and started a string of four straight 2-1 series wins against the Mustangs that ended in 2011 when Cal Poly won two of three in Baggett Stadium. Cal Poly is 26-16 against UC Riverside since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Larry Lee is 20-13 against UC Riverside while Doug Smith is 11-16 against Cal Poly.
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 and Tuesday at Pepperdine. 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 (385-280-2) 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 will play its final four home games of the 2014 regular season next week, hosting Pepperdine on Tuesday and first-place UC Irvine for a three-game Big West Conference series Friday through Sunday.
