Cal Poly Closes Out Regular Season With Big West Series at Northridge
5/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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LIVE STATS | AUDIO STREAM -- FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (42-10, 16-5 Big West), still in the hunt for its first Big West Conference championship after winning a series against first-place UC Irvine over the weekend, wraps up the regular season this weekend with a three-game Big West series against Cal State Northridge (18-32, 6-12 Big West) at Matador Field (cap.: 1,000) in Northridge.
First pitches are set for 3 p.m. Friday and 1 o'clock both Saturday and Sunday. All three games of the series will be aired live on ESPN Radio 1280 with Tom Barket providing the play-by-play. Links for live stats as well as an audio stream are available at www.GoPoly.com.
Ranked No. 5 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll and No. 6 by the National College Baseball Writers Association, Baseball America and Perfect Game this week, Cal Poly posted a 3-1 mark last week, defeating Pepperdine 5-1 on Tuesday and, after losing the opener of a Big West series against UC Irvine 3-2 on Friday, bounced back with 1-0 and 10-3 victories over the weekend to clinch the set and move to within a half-game of the Anteaters.
Cal Poly, which earned its school-record 42nd victory Tuesday with a 6-5 win over Saint Mary's in Moraga, has won 12 of 13 series of three games or more this season and split two games in a rain-shortened series at USC. The Mustangs also won nine of their 10 midweek games, including two shutouts against Santa Clara.
Near the end of the 2014 regular season, the Mustangs are hitting .297, best in the Big West, and have outscored the opposition 308-169 while the pitching staff has compiled a 2.92 ERA with 451 strikeouts and 177 walks in 463 innings. Cal Poly is No. 4 in the NCAA in winning percentage, No. 5 in strikeouts per nine innings, No. 7 with 10 shutouts and No. 12 in fielding percentage.
Cal State Northridge salvaged one win in its three-game Big West series at UC Santa Barbara last weekend, earning a 4-1 win Sunday after dropping 4-3 and 6-0 decisions. The Matadors' longest winning streak this season is three games and Cal State Northridge owns a series win over Hawai'i with 2-2 splits against both Washington State and Seattle.
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 27-3 at home this season and have won 97 of their last 123 home games for a winning percentage of 78.9 percent. At 17-3 on March 16, 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 52 games are sophomore second baseman Mark Mathias (pictured above) (.377, 32 RBI, has hit safely in 38 of his last 41 games), junior right fielder Nick Torres (.310, 14 doubles, five home runs, 43 RBI), junior outfielder Zack Zehner (.329, seven doubles, 13 RBI) and senior catcher Chris Hoo (.3143, 13 doubles, 36 RBI).
Senior third baseman Jimmy Allen (.293, 12 doubles, three triples, two home runs, 32 RBI) has claimed a pair of all-time school records in his four-year Mustang career, moving ahead of Ozzie Smith in career at-bats (794) and Luke Yoder in career doubles (55). Allen also is No. 2 in career hits (242), one behind Jon Macalutas, No. 8 in career RBIs (130) and tied with Dan Marple and Steve Rohlmeier at No. 10 in career triples (10).
In addition, junior closer Reed Reilly is No. 1 in career saves (24), No. 2 in career appearances (81) and No. 4 in career ERA (2.28) while junior starter Matt Imhof is No. 6 with 242 career strikeouts.
Mathias has gone 65-for-158 (.411) during his run of hitting safely in 38 of his last 41 games, including a 17-game hitting streak snapped five weeks ago and a 14-game streak halted two weeks ago.
The Mustangs had a 12-game winning streak -- longest in a single season in Cal Poly history -- snapped in the Long Beach State series. A 14-game winning streak was compiled by the 2012 (last seven games of season) and 2013 (first seven games) squads at Cal Poly. The Mustangs are 6-3 against the Pac-12, 3-0 against the Big 12, 5-1 against the West Coast, 5-1 against the WAC and 2-0 versus the Mountain West this season.
Cal State Northridge, 31-26 a year ago and 15-12 for fourth place in the Big West, returned 18 letter winners, including five position starters and 10 pitchers. Top returnees included infielder Michael Livingston (.280 in 2013), catcher Alexis Mercado (.275, 26 RBI) and second baseman Ryan Raslowsky (.288). The pitching staff is led by southpaws Jerry Keel (7-3, 2.59 ERA in 2013) and John Salas (4-6, 3.49 ERA) and righty Calvin Copping (5-5, 3.90 ERA).
Coached by Greg Moore (first season, 18-32, San Francisco '99), Cal State Northridge sports a .257 team batting average, led by left fielder Nick Blaser (.327, 23 RBI), shortstop Brett Balkan (.288, 22 RBI) and Raslowsky (.278, 10 RBI, 15 steals). The Matadors have compiled a 3.87 staff ERA and have committed 50 errors in 50 games, a .974 fielding percentage.
In addition to its Big West title in 2002, Cal State Northridge claimed the Western Athletic Conference crown in 1996, both under Mike Batesole, now head coach at Fresno State. Cal State Northridge captured NCAA Division II national titles in 1970 and 1984 under Bob Hiegert.
Moore spent the past three seasons as the associate head coach at San Francisco, where he oversaw pitching, admissions, community service and summer placement. Moore began his collegiate coaching career at USF in 2002 as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Dons. He served in that capacity until 2009, when he took a position as the pitching coach at Washington for one season before heading back to his alma mater. Moore played collegiate baseball for San Francisco and was named to the West Coast Conference All-Academic Team in 2001. As a player, he won the team's "Most Inspirational" award in back-to-back seasons and the award now bears his name. Moore earned his bachelor's degree in education and completed his master's in sports and fitness management at San Francisco in 2001.
Former Matadors who played in the Major Leagues include Jason Thompson, Adam Kennedy, Robert Fick, Lyman Bostock and Kameron Loe.
Cal Poly and Cal State Northridge have met 214 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1959. The Matadors hold a 117-97 advantage, though Cal Poly earned a series sweep a year ago in Baggett Stadium. Cal State Northridge won two of three games in 2012 at Matador Field. Cal Poly is 32-26 against Cal State Northridge since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Larry Lee is 25-13 against Cal State Northridge while Greg Moore is 0-0 against Cal Poly.
Five 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 their recent four-game slide. Cal Poly has won 12 of 13 series of three games or more this season (six sweeps) and 31 of 42 series, including 17 sweeps, over the last three years.
The current squad is the fourth in Cal Poly history to win 40 or more games, matching the school record of 41 victories with Sunday's win over UC Irvine and breaking the mark Tuesday at Saint Mary's. The 1977 and 1992 Mustang squad also won 41 games while last year's team finished 40-19.
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 (391-282-2) 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 has a bye next week, the final week of the 2014 regular season. The 16 host sites for NCAA regional play will be announced Sunday, May 25, at 6 p.m. at NCAA.com and on the ESPN bottom ticker, with the entire 64-team field revealed Monday, May 26, at 9 a.m. on ESPNU.
