Cal Poly to Host No. 8 USC for Three-Game Weekend Series
3/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | USC | BIG WEST
AUDIO STREAM -- FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
LIVE STATS -- FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
VIDEO STREAM | MATHIAS INTERVIEW | MUNDELL INTERVIEW
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Defending Big West baseball champion Cal Poly (6-11), which has split its last 10 games after a 1-6 start, continues an eight-game home stand with a three-game weekend series against 12-time NCAA national champion and No. 8-ranked Southern California (17-4) in Baggett Stadium (cap.: 2,800).
First pitches are set for 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. All three games of the series will be aired live on ESPN Radio 1280 with Tom Barket providing the play-by-play. The entire series also will be available on the internet. Links for live stats as well as audio and video streams are available on the baseball schedule page at www.GoPoly.com.
Cal Poly returned 19 lettermen, including six position starters and seven pitchers (three of the four starters), off the 2014 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 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, but its entire three-game series at TCU was wiped out by a record three-inch snowfall and icy conditions. Two weeks ago, Cal Poly fell at home to Santa Clara, 3-0, held to just three singles, followed by its first series win of the year at Pacific, taking Friday's game 11-3 and Saturday's contest 12-4 before losing the finale Sunday 11-8, letting 5-0 and 8-3 leads slip away. Last week, the Mustangs dropped a 5-2 decision at San Jose State, allowing four unearned runs in the second inning, before coming home and splitting a four-game series against Sacramento State. Cal Poly won the opener 6-2 and the finale 6-4 sandwiched around a pair of 2-0 shutouts by the Hornets.
USC, which dropped a 6-2 decision at UC Irvine in a midweek game, opened Pac-12 play last weekend by winning a three-game series at home against Washington State. The Trojans earned 10-3 and 11-0 victories, bookending a 4-2 setback Saturday. In the finale, freshman right-hander Mitch Hart improved to 4-0 with a two-hit shutout and five strikeouts. USC fell to visiting Fresno State 14-7 on Tuesday.
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 three weeks ago as a designated hitter, going 2-for-4 with a double, one RBI and three runs scored against CSU Bakersfield. Hitting .429 through 10 games with a 10-game hitting streak, Mathias is expected to return to defensive duty at second base in about two weeks.
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, takes 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, has moved 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.
Southern California returned 24 players, including eight position starters and seven pitchers, off a team which finished 29-24 a year ago and tied for fifth place in the Pac-12 with a 16-14 mark. Topping the list of returning veterans are catcher/designated hitter Jeremy Martinez (.297, 29 RBI in 2014), catcher Garrett Stubbs (.287, 18 RBI), third baseman Blake Lacey (.281, 19 RBI) and center fielder Timmy Robinson (.236, 30 RBI). The pitching staff is led by right-hander Brent Wheatley (4-3, 3.58 ERA in 2014), righty Jeff Paschke (3-3, 4.82 ERA) and southpaw Kyle Twomey (2-2, 3.11 ERA). Closer Kyle Davis (3-4, 1.12 ERA, nine saves) also returns.
Coached by Dan Hubbs (third year, 66-64, USC '93), USC has a .312 team batting average through 21 games, led by Stubbs (.449, 13 RBI, 13 steals), left fielder Bobby Stahel (.383, 12 RBI) and designated hitter David Oppenheim (.326, eight RBI). The Trojans have stolen 46 of 56 bases and sport a 2.86 staff ERA and .974 fielding percentage with 21 errors in 21 games.
USC has captured 12 national titles in baseball, the last in 1998, and has won 208 postseason games. The Trojans have appeared in 21 College World Series, the last in 2001, and made its 40th regional appearance in 2005.
Hubbs, associate head coach at USC in 2012, was elevated to head coach on February 13, 2013, the sixth head baseball coach at USC since 1930. Hubbs, who spent 12 seasons as the pitching coach at California before coming to USC, was a three-year (1991-93) letterman at USC and currently ranks fourth on the Trojans' career saves list (22) and eighth on the career strikeouts-per-inning chart (9.19). He posted a career record of 19-13 with a 3.58 ERA in 81 appearances (64 in relief).
Cal Poly and USC have played 29 baseball games against each other since the series began in 1953. The Trojans hold a 23-6 advantage, including a 16-0 victory in the nightcap of a doubleheader at Dedeaux Field. Cal Poly won the opener 5-1 as Matt Imhof allowed one run and five hits in seven innings, striking out seven, and catcher Chris Hoo produced a pair of RBI doubles. Larry Lee is 3-8 against USC while Hubbs is 1-1 against Cal Poly.
Junior designated hitter Mark Mathias was 7-for-15 in the Sacramento State series with two doubles and one RBI while junior shortstop Peter Van Gansen went 5-for-16 with a triple and one RBI. Both scored three times. Cal Poly split four games against the Hornets, one week after taking two of three games at Pacific for its first series win of the year. Mathias currently has a 10-game hitting streak while Van Gansen opened the season by hitting in eight straight games.
Van Gansen currently sports a .403 batting average, second best in the Big West, with five doubles and 12 RBI and also leads the Mustangs with eight multiple-hit contests. He has collected a hit in 14 of Cal Poly's 17 games and has reached base safely in 16 of 17 contests. Mathias has a .429 mark while junior first baseman Brian Mundell, who homered twice in the win over Sacramento State on Sunday, is hitting .400. Senior right fielder Zack Zehner sports a .273 average with a team-leading three home runs and 18 RBI in 17 games, while senior infielder Tommy Pluschkell has a .333 mark in 10 starts.
Ranked No. 13 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's preseason poll, No. 23 by the NCBWA and No. 24 by USA Today/ESPN in this year's preseason polls, 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 (402-295-2), 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 400th win March 7 at Pacific and surpassed Berdy Harr (297-249-6 from 1973-83) as Cal Poly's winningest head baseball coach during the Pacific series in 2011.
Next week Cal Poly hosts Dartmouth on Monday night before heading back out on the road for a three-game weekend non-conference series at Oregon State, the final series before opening defense of its Big West championship April 2-4 at Cal State Fullerton.
