Second Game of Baseball Series at TCU Postponed Due to Snow, Cold
2/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | TCU | BIG WEST
BERNSTEIN PITCHES MUSTANGS PAST CSU BAKERSFIELD
AUDIO STREAM: FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
LIVE STATS: FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
VIDEO STREAM (Saturday only)
NOTE: For the second straight day, the baseball game between Cal Poly and TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, has been postponed due to snow and cold temperatures. After a three-inch snowfall Friday, freezing rain and morning temperatures in the upper 20s hit the Fort Worth area Saturday morning. The two teams will attempt to play a single game Sunday at 11 a.m. PST. The weather forecast for Sunday calls for temperatures in the mid-40s with a 50 percent chance of morning showers. Return to this page for further updates.
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Defending Big West Conference baseball champion Cal Poly (2-6), a perfect 2-0 in Tuesday games after being swept by Baylor and Grand Canyon, returns to the state of Texas for a three-game weekend series against Texas Christian (7-1) at Lupton Stadium (cap.: 4,500) in Fort Worth.
First pitches are set for 4:30 p.m. Friday, noon Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday (all PST). All three games of the series will be aired live on ESPN Radio 1280 with Eric Burdick providing the play-by-play. The Friday and Sunday contests also will be televised by Fox Sports Southwest Plus and Fox College Sports. Links for live stats as well as audio and video streams are available at www.GoPoly.com.
Cal Poly returned 19 lettermen, including six position starters and seven pitchers (three of the four starters), off the 2914 squad which posted a school-record 47 victories, claimed its first Big West Conference title and earned its third NCAA regional appearance in the last six years, hosting a regional for the first time.
And the Mustangs carried a national ranking as high as No. 13 into its opening series at Baylor, but the then-unranked Bears earned 8-6, 8-6 and 6-0 victories at Baylor Ballpark, handing Cal Poly its first series sweep since the end of the 2011 campaign. After a 7-6 win over host Fresno State on Feb. 17, Cal Poly committed eight errors and was held to a .206 team batting average as Grand Canyon posted 10-4, 4-2 and 9-3 triumphs, handing the Mustangs their first sweep at home since the 2010 season (Houston). Cal Poly bounced back with a 13-2 win over CSU Bakersfield on Tuesday.
TCU, ranked No. 1 for the second straight week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and Nos. 2-7 in the other major Division I baseball polls this week, swept Southern Illinois two weeks ago, won two of three games at Arizona State last weekend and has won midweek games against Texas-Arlington and Texas Southern. Senior right-hander Preston Morrison was named national pitcher of the week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper after tossing an 88-pitch, nine-inning complete game in a 3-0 win over Arizona State. He allowed two hits over the final eight innings and retired 23 of the final 25 batters he faced, allowing the Sun Devils only four base runners and striking out five.
Cal Poly's 2015 roster is led by junior second baseman Mark Mathias, the 2014 Big West Field Player of the Year with a .386 batting average who has earned numerous preseason All-America honors. Mathias underwent labrum surgery on his right shoulder Dec. 2 and returned to the lineup Tuesday as a designated hitter, going 2-for-4 with a double, one RBI and three runs scored. He is expected to return to defensive duty at second base in about a month.
Junior Peter Van Gansen returns to anchor the middle infield at shortstop while junior Brian Mundell, Cal Poly's designated hitter the last two years, will take over at first base this spring. Senior Jordan Ellis returns for another season in center field while senior Zack Zehner, drafted in the seventh round by Toronto last June, will move from left field to right field this spring to replace Torres.
Cal Poly's pitching staff is led by junior Casey Bloomquist (12-2, 1.56 ERA a year ago), another preseason All-American, along with sophomores Justin Calomeni (8-2, 3.68 ERA) and Slater Lee (3-2, 6.20 ERA). All are right-handers. Replacing Reilly as the Mustangs' closer is senior southpaw Taylor Chris (4-1, 1.61 ERA, 5 saves), who allowed just one earned run in 27 Big West innings a year ago.
TCU returned 13 players, including four position starters and eight pitchers, off a team which finished 48-18 a year ago and second in the Big 12 Conference at 17-7. The Horned Frogs won the Big 12 Tournament and advanced to the College World Series, defeating Pepperdine in the Super Regionals. Topping the list of returning veterans are second baseman Garrett Crain (.324, 19 RBI, eight steals in 2014), center fielder Cody Jones (.265, 18 RBI, 29 steals), shortstop Keaton Jones (.266, 21 RBI, nine steals) and third baseman Derek Odell (.265, 35 RBI, eight steals). The pitching staff is led by Tyler Alexander (10-3, 2.36 ERA in 2014), Riley Ferrell (3-1, 0.79 ERA, 15 saves) and Preston Morrison (9-4, 1.32 ERA).
TCU's top hitters so far this spring are left fielder Dane Steinhagen (.409), Odell (.321, five RBI), Cody Jones (.323, three RBI) and Crain (.333, three RBI). The Horned Frogs are hitting .289 as a team, have stolen 16 of 21 bases, have committed just four errors in eight games (.987 fielding percentage) and sport a 1.27 staff ERA.
Coached by Jim Schlossnagle (12th season, 472-222, Elon '92), TCU was ranked fifth in all the final polls of the 2014 season. The Horned Frogs have appeared in 10 NCAA Regionals, four NCAA Super Regionals and two College World Series (2010, 2014) during Schlossnagle's first 11 seasons at the helm. Relief pitcher Riley Ferrell was named Louisville Slugger National Player of the Year after recording a school-record 15 saves along with a 3-1 record and 0.79 ERA over 31 appearances as a sophomore a year ago.
Cal Poly and TCU are meeting for the first time this weekend. Prior to the Mustangs' trip to Baylor two weeks ago, Cal Poly's last trip to Texas was during the 2009 season when the Mustangs won two of three games at Houston. Cal Poly also played at Rice in 2007.
Cal Poly's rotation this weekend will begin with junior right-hander Casey Bloomquist on Friday, followed by freshman southpaw Kyle Smith on Saturday and sophomore right-hander Justin Calomeni on Sunday. Smith has 16 batters over 9 1/3 innings, including eight in his first start last Saturday against Grand Canyon and seven more in a 3 1/3-inning relief stint at Baylor.
Junior shortstop Peter Van Gansen went 4-for-13 in the Grand Canyon series while senior right fielder Zack Zehner was 3-for-10. No other Mustang starter hit over .300 in the series. Zehner and Van Gansen both went 5-for-12 in the Baylor series a week earlier. Against CSU Bakersfield on Tuesday, Van Gansen went 4-for-6 with three RBI, extending his season-opening hitting streak to eight games. He also leads the Mustangs with five multiple-hit contests.
Ranked No. 13 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's preseason poll, No. 23 by the NCBWA and No. 24 by USA Today/ESPN, Cal Poly won 13 of 14 series of three games or more a year ago, including seven sweeps, split two games in a rain-shortened series at USC and won nine of its 10 midweek games, shutting out Santa Clara twice.
Cal Poly was 29-5 at home last season and has won 97 of its last 126 home games for a winning percentage of 76.2 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. Last year's squad also produced the school's 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.
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 were 6-3 against the Pac-12, 3-0 against the Big 12, 5-3 against the West Coast, 7-1 against the WAC and 2-0 versus the Mountain West last season.
Cal Poly has produced 12 winning seasons since 2000. The Mustangs won 32 of 43 series, including 18 sweeps, over the last three years and have the third-most victories over the last three seasons in the West Region -- 123 -- exceeded only by Oregon (138) and Oregon State (137). Last year's squad was the fourth in Cal Poly history to win 40 or more games, posting a 47-12 mark. The 1977 and 1992 Mustang squads each won 41 games while the 2013 team finished 40-19.
Cal Poly was ranked throughout the 2014 season, reaching the top 20 in all five major Division I polls after splitting a doubleheader at USC on March 2, moving into the top 10 following its 3-1 series win over Cal on March 24 and attaining a program-first No. 1 ranking by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper on April 21 after its sweep of Cal State Fullerton. The Mustangs finished Nos. 18-20 in the five polls with their 47-12 mark.
Lee (398-290-2), in his 13th season with the Mustangs, has guided Cal Poly to 10 finishes in the upper half of the Big West standings in the last 12 years. He earned his 300th win on May 5, 2012, in a 12-7 decision at UC Davis. He surpassed Berdy Harr (297-249-6 from 1973-83) as Cal Poly's winningest head baseball coach during the Pacific series a week earlier.
Next week, Cal Poly hosts Santa Clara on Tuesday before going back out on the road for a three-game weekend series Friday through Sunday at former Big West rival Pacific.
