No. 4 Cal Poly to Visit Hawai'i for Three-Game Big West Series
4/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | HAWAI'I | BIG WEST
IMHOF PLACED ON MIDSEASON GOLDEN SPIKES WATCH LIST
MUSTANGS BEAT SAINT MARY'S TO END LONG HOME STAND
LIVE STATS | VIDEO STREAM
AUDIO STREAM -- FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (27-5, 5-1 Big West), which has won 20 of 22 home games this season and moved up one position in four of the five major NCAA Division I polls this week, plays its first game on the road in over a month this weekend, visiting Hawai'i (14-16, 2-4 Big West) for a three-game Big West Conference series Friday through Sunday in Les Murakami Stadium (cap.: 4,312).
First pitch is set for 9:35, 9:35 and 4:05 p.m. (all PDT) and all three games of the series will be aired live on ESPN Radio 1280 with Eric Burdick providing the play-by-play. Links for live stats as well as audio and video streams are available at www.GoPoly.com.
Ranked No. 4 by Perfect Game and Baseball America and No. 6 by the NCBWA, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and USA Today/ESPN this week, Cal Poly posted another 3-1 week, defeating Bakersfield 6-1 on Tuesday followed by a Big West series win over rival UC Santa Barbara, bouncing back from an 8-6 loss in the opener with 8-7 and 1-0 triumphs. On Tuesday, the Mustangs concluded an 18-game home stand with a 6-2 win over Saint Mary's.
Cal Poly has won eight 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 five midweek games so far, including two shutouts against Santa Clara, and have not lost back-to-back games this season.
Past the halfway point of the 2014 season, the Mustangs are hitting .298 and have outscored the opposition 204-104 while the pitching staff has compiled a 3.05 ERA with 294 strikeouts and 103 walks in 283 innings. Cal Poly is No. 1 in the NCAA in strikeouts per nine innings, No. 3 in winning percentage and No. 13 in fielding percentage.
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 20-2 at home this season and have won 90 of their last 115 home games for a winning percentage of 78.2 percent. At 17-3 three 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.
Hawai'i opened its 2014 campaign by losing all four games of the Oregon series, then won six of seven against Albany and Pepperdine before losing six of seven to Texas and Nevada. The Rainbow Warriors opened Big West play by winning two of three games at UC Santa Barbara before getting swept by UC Irvine at home last weekend.
Cal Poly, 40-19 a year ago for its first 40-win season in Division I and third overall, returned 19 letter winners, including eight position starters and seven pitchers, off its 2013 squad which swept five series and won 10 of 15 weekend series.Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs went 1-2 in the Los Angeles Regional hosted by UCLA, falling to the Bruins 6-4 on the second day. UCLA went on to capture its first national title.
Cal Poly won its first seven games of the 2013 season and sprinted to a 13-1 start. Never losing more than three games in a row, Cal Poly steadily climbed 17 games over the .500 mark during the next seven weeks of play. A late-season surge with 11 wins in their last 14 games enabled the Mustangs to post their third 40-win season in school history, falling one victory shy of the record of 41 wins in both 1977 and 1992. The Mustangs finished second in the Big West for the second straight year.
Topping Cal Poly's list of returnees are senior third baseman Jimmy Allen (.299, 39 RBI) and junior relief pitcher Reed Reilly (2.29 ERA, 14 saves), both of whom were drafted last June but chose to return to Cal Poly for another season.
Also returning were outfielders Nick Torres (.333, seven home runs, 49 RBI) and Jordan Ellis (.323, 18 RBI), infielders Tim Wise, Peter Van Gansen and John Schuknecht, catcher Chris Hoo and designated hitter Brian Mundell (.265, 11 home runs, 42 RBI).
Joining Reilly on the pitching staff were starters Matt Imhof (7-3, 2.74 ERA), Casey Bloomquist (6-2, 5.02 ERA) and Bryan Granger (5-4, 5.37 ERA) and relievers Taylor Chris (1-0, 2.55 ERA) and Danny Zandona (2-1, 4.50 ERA), among others.
Hawai'i, 16-35 a year ago and 11-16 for seventh place in the Big West, returned 19 letter winners, including seven position starters and seven pitchers. Top returnees include first baseman Marc Flores (.280, 17 RBI in 2013) and outfielder Kalei Hanawahine (.286, 10 RBI). The pitching staff is led by right-hander Matt Cooper (3-8, 3.14 ERA in 2013) and southpaws Lawrence Chew (2-2, 5.23 ERA) and Scott Squier (0-6, 3.44 ERA). Lefty Jarrett Arakawa (7-6, 2.88 ERA in 2012), a redshirt in 2013, also returns.
Coached by Mike Trapasso (13th season, 374-345, Oklahoma State '87), Hawai'i sports a .244 team batting average, led by designated hitter Marcus Doi (.351, 10 RBI), outfielder Adam Hurley (.333, six RBI) and Flores (.303, seven doubles, three homers, 25 RBI). The Rainbow Warriors have compiled a 3.58 staff ERA and have committed 44 errors in 30 games, a .963 fielding percentage.
Cooper (3-2, 1.60 ERA) will start on the mound for Hawai'i on Friday, followed by righty Scott Kuzminsky (3-3, 3.30 ERA) and Squier (2-2, 3.04 ERA).
Hawai'i played its first Big West season in baseball in 2013 after 33 years in the Western Athletic Conference, claiming titles in 1991, 1992 and 2011 and the tournament crown in 2010. Cal Poly also played in the WAC in 1995 and 1996 before joining the Big West. The Rainbow Warriors reached the College World Series in 1980, finishing second, and have made 13 NCAA regional appearances.
Trapasso has led the Rainbows to winning records in eight of the last 10 seasons and 30 or more wins eight times in his 12-year tenure. He was named WAC Coach of the Year three times. Trapasso was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech for seven years and at Missouri and South Florida for three seasons each. He was a pitcher at Oklahoma State from 1984-86 and, drafted four times, pitched briefly for two years in the minor leagues.
Cal Poly and Hawai'i are meeting for the second time in 16 years this weekend. The Mustangs won two of three games against the Rainbow Warriors in a Big West series a year ago in Baggett Stadium, winning the first two by scores of 8-3, 3-2 and falling 7-6 in the finale. Cal Poly has a 9-7 advantage in the series which began in 1995. Larry Lee is 2-1 against Hawai'i while Trapasso is 1-2 against Cal Poly.
Cal Poly's top hitters after 32 games are sophomore second baseman Mark Mathias (.375, 25 RBI, 17-game hitting streak snapped by Bakersfield last week), junior right fielder Nick Torres (.331, 10 doubles, four home runs, 30 RBI, 11-game hitting streak snapped by UC Santa Barbara last week), senior third baseman Jimmy Allen (.320, 10 doubles, 26 RBI), sophomore designated hitter Brian Mundell (.312, nine doubles, three home runs, 27 RBI) and junior center fielder Jordan Ellis (.308, 14 RBI). Senior catcher Chris Hoo (.283, 10 doubles, 26 RBI) and junior outfielder Zack Zehner (.290, eight RBI) are near the .300 mark.
Mathias (pictured above) has gone 35-for-79 (.443) during his run of hitting safely in 21 of his last 22 games while Mundell has lifted his average 30 points in the last two weeks by going 10-for-24 (.412).
The Mustangs have won three straight, nine of their last 10 games and 17 of their last 19. Cal Poly is 6-3 against the Pac-12, 3-0 against both the Big 12 and West Coast and 4-1 against the WAC this season.
A year ago, Cal Poly surpassed the 30-win mark for the ninth time in the last 14 years and clinched its 11th winning season since 2000 by sweeping UC Riverside in early May. The Mustangs moved 21 games above the .500 mark for the first time in their 19-year Division I history by sweeping Cal State Northridge on May 17-19. Cal Poly was 13-1 on the year after sweeping a doubleheader at Kansas State by 13-10 and 6-2 scores in early March.
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 (376-277-2) 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, which hasn't played on the road since March 9, next week will visit Bakersfield on Tuesday before returning home to host four-time defending Big West champion Cal State Fullerton for a three-game series Thursday through Saturday in Baggett Stadium.
