Schuknecht Slam, Bloomquist Four-Hitter Lift Cal Poly Over Oregon State

Friday, March 27

Corvallis, OR

5:35 pm

8-14

Oregon State

20-6

Cal Poly

Oregon State

Schuknecht Slam, Bloomquist Four-Hitter Lift Cal Poly Over Oregon State

3/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

CORVALLIS, Oregon – Junior right fielder John Schuknecht drove in five runs, four with a seventh-inning grand slam, as Cal Poly upset No. 19 Oregon State 8-1 in the opener of a three-game non-conference baseball series Friday night at Goss Stadium.

Leading 2-1, Cal Poly scored six times in the seventh to break the game open. Junior first baseman Brian Mundell singled to knock in the first run, a throwing error allowed the second run to score and Schuknecht cleared the bases with a 370-foot shot over the left field wall for his first homer of the year and his first career slam as a Mustang.

Junior right-hander Casey Bloomquist (2-2) earned his second straight win and first complete game of the season, allowing one run and four hits.

With the win, Cal Poly snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 8-14 on the year. Oregon State fell to 20-6 as the Mustangs earned their first win over the Beavers in six tries since moving to Division I 21 years ago. Oregon State is now 13-1 at home this year.

Cal Poly compiled a 13-hit offensive attack, led by sophomore catcher Brett Barbier with four singles, his first four-hit game as a Mustang. Senior left fielder Zack Zehner added two hits, including a solo home run in the fourth for the first run of the game, and senior center fielder Jordan Ellis singled twice.

For Zehner, it was his fourth home run of the year and team-leading 19th RBI.

Oregon State's three hits included a triple by leadoff hitter Jeff Hendrix and two singles by first baseman/catcher KJ Harrison. Shortstop Trever Morrison also singled for the Beavers, who entered the game with a robust .303 team batting average and 24 home runs in 25 games.

Bloomquist threw 96 pitches for his third career complete game, inducing Oregon State batters to ground out 17 times. He struck out three and did not walk a batter. Bloomquist retired the first nine Oregon State batters of the game and set the Beavers down in order six times.

Zehner's home run gave Cal Poly a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Oregon State responded quickly as Hendrix tripled leading off the bottom of the fourth and scored on a groundout.

Schuknecht's sacrifice fly with one out and the bases loaded in the sixth inning snapped the 1-1 tie and set the stage for Cal Poly's six-run explosion in the seventh. Schuknecht (pictured above) opened the season with a four-hit game at Baylor, then went through a 3-for-45 slump before producing a three-hit game against USC last weekend.

The loss went to Oregon State junior right-hander Andrew Moore (2-1) as he gave up four runs (three earned) and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings with two walks and three strikeouts.

Second game of the series will be played Saturday at 1:35 p.m. with Cal Poly to send freshman southpaw Kyle Smith (1-4, 4.88 ERA) to the mound against Oregon State freshman right-hander Drew Rasmussen (3-0, 1.36 ERA).

Rasmussen earned national player of the week honors from several media outlets after pitching a perfect game against Washington State last Saturday.