Cal Poly Baseball to Visit Pepperdine for Midweek Game Tuesday
3/31/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | PEPPERDINE | BIG WEST
AUDIO STREAM | VIDEO STREAM | LIVE STATS
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Defending Big West baseball champion Cal Poly (9-15), which has won eight of 17 games after a 1-6 start, including series wins over Pacific and No. 19 Oregon State, on Tuesday plays its final non-conference game prior to Big West Conference play, visiting Pepperdine (14-15) at Eddy D. Field Stadium (cap.: 1,800).
First pitch is set for 3 p.m. and the game will be aired live on ESPN Radio 1280 with Tom Barket providing the play-by-play. 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 has played near .500 baseball since the 1-6 start, though its entire three-game series at TCU was wiped out by a record three-inch snowfall and icy conditions at the end of February. After falling at home to Santa Clara, 3-0, held to just three singles, on March 3, the Mustangs earned their first series win of the year at Pacific, split a four-game series against Sacramento State, won one of three games against No. 8 USC and claimed a series win at No. 19 Oregon State over the weekend.
Pepperdine, which defeated Cal Poly twice en route to the San Luis Obispo Regional title a year ago in Baggett Stadium, was four games under the .500 mark prior to sweeping Portland by scores of 5-1, 9-5 and 3-1 (11 innings) last weekend in Portland. The Waves swept Butler and won three of four games against Hawai'i, but have lost series to Tulane, Washington, BYU and Loyola Marymount.
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 five weeks ago as a designated hitter, going 2-for-4 with a double, one RBI and three runs scored against CSU Bakersfield on Feb. 24. Hitting .338 through 17 games with hits in each of his first 11 games, Mathias is expected to return to defensive duty at second base perhaps as early as this weekend.
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.
Pepperdine returned 18 players, including three position starters and six pitchers, off a team which finished 43-18 a year ago and first in the West Coast Conference with an 18-9 mark. The Waves, who lost to TCU in the Fort Worth Regional a year ago, have appeared in 27 regionals, one Super Regional and two College World Series, capturing the 1992 national championship.
Topping the list of returning veterans are catcher Aaron Barnett (.359, 27 RBI in 2014), second baseman Hutton Moyer (.306, 24 doubles, 22 RBI, 15 of 19 steals) and first baseman Brad Anderson (.282, 28 RBI). The pitching staff is led by right-handers Jackson McClelland (8-3, 3.48 ERA in 2014) and A.J. Puckett (2-2, 3.58 ERA).
Coached by Steve Rodriguez (12th year, 383-286, Pepperdine '01), Pepperdine has a .266 team batting average through 29 games, led by right fielder Jordan Qsar (.298, 13 RBI), Barnett (.298, 10 RBI) and shortstop Manny Jefferson (.291, 18 RBI). The Waves have stolen 15 of 25 bases and sport a 3.90 staff ERA and .966 fielding percentage with 40 errors in 29 games.
Rodriguez was an assistant at Pepperdine for four seasons before he was elevated to head coach shortly after the 2003 season. He guided the Waves to five straight NCAA regional appearances (2004-08) and five West Coast Conference titles (2004-06, 2012 and 2014). Rodriguez was a fifth-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 1992 and played professionally for seven seasons with the Red Sox, Tigers, Dodgers and Expos organizations, reaching the Major Leagues with the Tigers and Red Sox, both in 1995. He was a two-time All-American at Pepperdine.
Cal Poly and Pepperdine have met 56 times in baseball since the series began in 1947. The Waves hold a 34-22 advantage. The two teams split a pair of midweek games in 2014 and Pepperdine earned 2-1 and 10-6 wins over the Mustangs in the San Luis Obispo Regional. Cal Poly is 12-19 against Pepperdine since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Larry Lee is 9-12 against his alma mater while Steve Rodriguez is 12-9 against Cal Poly.
Tuesday's starting pitchers will be sophomore right-hander Chandler Blanchard (0-1, 2.95 ERA) for Pepperdine and sophomore right-hander Justin Calomeni (pictured above) (1-3, 5.68 ERA) for Cal Poly.
Sophomore catcher Brett Barbier, junior first baseman Brian Mundell and senior center fielder Jordan Ellis all had five hits in the Oregon State series. Senior right fielder Zack Zehner added a pair of home runs while junior right fielder John Schuknecht hit a grand slam and knocked in six runs in the series. The Mustangs hit 294 in the series, outhit Oregon State in each game, compiled a 2.08 staff ERA and did not commit an error.
Van Gansen currently sports a .384 batting average, second in the Big West, with five doubles, two triples and 14 RBI and also leads the Mustangs with nine multiple-hit contests. He has collected a hit in 19 of Cal Poly's 25 games, has reached base safely in 24 of 25 contests and takes a nine-game hitting streak into Tuesday's game. Mathias has a .338 mark while Mundell is hitting .346. Zehner sports a .250 average with a team-leading five home runs and 22 RBI in 25 games, while senior outfielder Jordan Ellis has a .269 mark with a four-game hitting streak.
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 (405-299-2), 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.
Cal Poly opens defense of its Big West championship Thursday through Saturday at Cal State Fullerton.
