Cal Poly to Visit Santa Clara for Midweek Rematch on Tuesday Night
4/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | SANTA CLARA
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly (16-20, 5-4 Big West), which fell into fifth place in the Big West Conference by losing two of three games at UC Santa Barbara over the weekend, concludes a four-game road trip Tuesday night with a single non-conference game at Santa Clara (16-22, 4-11 West Coast) in Stephen Schott Stadium (cap.: 1,500).
First pitch is set for 6 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 (15-14) since the 1-6 start. A three-game series at TCU was wiped out by a record three-inch snowfall and icy conditions at the end of February, but the Mustangs earned their first series win of the year at Pacific in early March, split a four-game series against Sacramento State, won one of three games against No. 8 USC, claimed a series win at No. 19 Oregon State and went 1-2 at Cal State Fullerton before avenging a 10-inning 9-8 walk-off loss at Pepperdine on March 31 with a 9-1 triumph a week later in Baggett Stadium. Cal Poly swept Hawai'i and turned 5-1 and 6-2 deficits into a 10-6 win over Fresno State last Tuesday, ending a 5-0 home stand.
Santa Clara jumped to a 6-3 start with a series win over Cincinnati and a 2-2 split with Eastern Michigan, but lost nine of its next 11 to fall back. After winning a series against Pacific in late March, the Broncos lost 10 of 12, swept by No. 6 TCU last weekend in Fort Worth by scores of 1-0, 6-1 and 9-2. Santa Clara also has been swept by San Francisco, Pepperdine and Kansas State.
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 in the third week of the season as a designated hitter, going 2-for-4 with a double, one RBI and three runs scored against CSU Bakersfield on Feb. 24. Hitting .347 through 29 games with hits in each of his first 11 games, Mathias started at second base for the first time three weeks ago at Pepperdine.
Junior Peter Van Gansen returned to anchor the middle infield at shortstop while junior Brian Mundell, Cal Poly's designated hitter the last two years, took over at first base this spring. Senior Jordan Ellis returned for another season in center field while senior Zack Zehner, drafted in the seventh round by Toronto last June, moved from left field to right field this spring to replace Torres.
Mundell is now Cal Poly's designated hitter while Zehner is back in left field.
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 are 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, and senior right-hander Danny Zandona (4-0, 3.49 ERA).
Santa Clara returned 20 players, including eight position starters and 11 pitchers, off a team which finished 26-30 a year ago and tied for fourth place in the West Coast Conference at 16- 11. The Broncos are in their 133rd year of competition in baseball, earning 2,226 wins with 12 NCAA regional appearances (the last in 1997) and one trip to the College World Series (1962).
Topping the list of returning veterans are shortstop Jose Vizcaino Jr. (.323, 28 RBI, 11 steals in 2014), catcher Stevie Berman (.322, 23 RBI) and left fielder TJ Braff (.309, 21 RBI). The pitching staff is led by Peter Hendron (6-4, 4.34 ERA in 2014), Reece Karalus (6-2, 2.25 ERA, 11 saves) and Jacob Steffens (2-5, 3.90 ERA).
Santa Clara's top hitters so far this spring are Vizcaino (.312, 10 doubles, six home runs, 25 RBI, eight steals), Berman (.305, seven doubles, six RBI) and second baseman Austin Fisher (.288, five doubles, 10 RBI). The Broncos are hitting .246 as a team, have stolen 24 of 46 bases, have committed 57 errors in 38 games (.960 fielding percentage) and sport a 4.46 staff ERA.
Coached by Dan O'Brien (fourth season at Santa Clara (82-117), 19th season overall (536-400-1), UC San Diego '95), Santa Clara has finished first in the West Coast Conference four times, the last in 2001. O'Brien, who earned his 500th career win last season, was head coach at UC San Diego for 14 seasons, compiling a 454-283-1 record, before he was hired as Santa Clara's head coach on June 30, 2011, replacing Mark O'Brien. The Tritons qualified for the NCAA Division II West Regional five times in the last eight seasons under Dan O'Brien, making two trips to the Division II College World Series.
Cal Poly and Santa Clara have played 80 baseball games against each other since the series began in 1956. The Broncos hold a 42-38 advantage. Cal Poly won both meetings in midweek games a year ago -- 8-0 on Feb. 18 at Steven Schott Stadium and 6-0 at Baggett Stadium on March 4. Cal Poly won the last four meetings in the series before the Broncos posted a 3-0 victory on March 3 in Baggett Stadium as Kevin George and Reece Karalus combined on a three-hit shutout.
Larry Lee is 15-14 against Santa Clara while O'Brien is 3-4 against Cal Poly.
Tuesday's starting pitchers will be freshman right-hander Jarred Zill (1-1, 3.07 ERA) for Cal Poly and junior right-hander Peter Hendron (2-1, 5.01 ERA) for Santa Clara.
Junior second baseman Mark Mathias (pictured above) went 6-for-13 in the UC Santa Barbara series with three RBI while junior right fielder John Schuknecht and junior shortstop Peter Van Gansen both had five hits. As a team, Cal Poly is hitting .306 over its last 14 games since losing to Dartmouth on March 23.
Mathias has bumped his average up 45 points to .347 over the last 11 games, going 18-for-39 (.462) since the start of Big West play April 2. Junior shortstop Peter Van Gansen is hitting .342 with eight doubles and 21 RBI, hitting his first career Mustang home run April 17 at UC Santa Barbara, a three-run shot. Van Gansen has reached base safely in 34 of Cal Poly's 36 games and has produced 11- and eight-game hitting streaks.
Mundell currently sports a .323 batting average with six doubles, five home runs and 21 RBI. Junior first baseman Ryan Drobny and senior outfielder Zack Zehner both sport .284 averages -- Zehner with five home runs and a team-leading 29 RBI in 35 games. Senior outfielder Jordan Ellis has a .283 mark with seven doubles, 12 RBI and a pair of four-hit games this season while sophomore catcher Brett Barbier is hitting .264 with 18 RBI, collecting 11 of those RBI in back-to-back games against Hawaii and Fresno State.
Cal Poly was 29-5 at home last season and has won 103 of its last 137 home games for a winning percentage of 75.2 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Lee (412-304-2), 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 plays its next two Big West Conference series in Baggett Stadium, hosting Long Beach State this Friday through Sunday and CSUN next weekend. Game times for both series are 6, 6 and 1 p.m.
Photo of Mark Mathias courtesy of Ray Ambler | RA Photos
