Cal Poly Resumes Big West Play at Home Versus Long Beach State
4/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | LONG BEACH STATE | BIG WEST
MUSTANGS AVENGE LOSS WITH VICTORY AT SANTA CLARA
VAN GANSEN NAMED TO BROOKS WALLACE AWARD LIST
FOLLOW ALL THE MUSTANGS IN THE PROS (2015)
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly (17-20, 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 and bounced back with a non-conference win at Santa Clara on Tuesday, plays its next two Big West Conference series at home, starting Friday night with Long Beach State (21-15, 7-5 Big West) in Baggett Stadium (cap.: 2,800).
First pitch is set for 6 p.m. both 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. 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 (16-14) 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 week, ending a 5-0 home stand, before dropping two of three Big West games at UC Santa Barbara over the weekend. The Mustangs avenged an earlier loss with a 10-6 win over Santa Clara on Tuesday.
Long Beach State, which fell 4-2 at Loyola Marymount on Tuesday, owns series sweeps against Wichita State and CSUN and won two of three games against UC Riverside last weekend at Blair Field. The 49ers also own series wins over Utah Valley, Michigan and a non-conference series against Cal State Fullerton while losing Big West series to UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara.
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 .355 through 30 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).
Long Beach State returned 15 players, including two position starters and five pitchers, off a team which finished 34-26 a year ago, placed second in the Big West at 17-7 and qualified for the NCAA Gainesville Regional, going 2-2. The 49ers have claimed eight Big West titles (the last in 2008), and have made 20 NCAA regional appearances and four trips to the College World Series (the last in 1998).
Topping the list of returning veterans are shortstop Garrett Hampson (.308, 13 doubles, 19 RBI, nine steals in 2014) and catcher Eric Hutting (.241, five doubles, nine RBI). The pitching staff is led by right-handers Kyle Friedrichs (2-1, 4.10 ERA in 2014) and Ty Provencher (5-5, 1.77 ERA, five saves).
Long Beach State's top hitters so far this spring are Hampson (.308, 13 RBI, 14 of 17 steals), right fielder Zack Rivera (.269, nine doubles, three home runs, 24 RBI) and first baseman Daniel Jackson (.258, five doubles, seven RBI). The 49ers are hitting .240 as a team, have stolen 43 of 62 bases, have committed 42 errors in 36 games (.971 fielding percentage) and sport a 2.69 staff ERA, led by freshman right-hander Chris Mathewson (5-3, 1.28 ERA), junior righty Tanner Brown (4-2, 2.18 ERA) and Friedrichs (5-2, 2.30 ERA). Provencher has five saves and a 3-1 record with a 1.10 ERA.
Coached by Troy Buckley (fifth year, 141-122, Santa Clara '90), Long Beach State has hosted Cal Poly each of the last two years and has beaten the Mustangs two games to one each of the last four years. This year's squad is 17-6 at Blair Field but 4-9 on the road. Former Dirtbags in the Major Leagues include Jason Giambi, Evan Longoria, Troy Tulowitzki and Jered Weaver.
Buckley, a 10-year pitching coach for the Dirtbags before he was hired as head coach prior to the 2011 season, previously served three years as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Santa Clara. He was a coach in the Montreal Expos organization from 1996 to 1997. Buckley was a ninth-round draft pick of the Minnesota Twins in 1989, spending three years in the Twins organization, and was 1988 West Coast Conference Player of the Year and a second-team All-American as a catcher at Santa Clara.
Cal Poly and Long Beach State have met 137 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1957. The Dirtbags hold an 88-49 advantage, winning two of three games at Blair Field a year ago including a 1-0 decision in the finale as the Dirtbags scored an unearned run in the first inning and Nick Sabo and Ty Provencher made it stand up in a two-hit shutout.
Long Beach State was 16-2 in a six-year stretch against the Mustangs until Cal Poly won two of three in 2009, its first series win at Blair Field since 1997, and also won two of three in 2010 in San Luis Obispo. Cal Poly is 16-46 against Long Beach State since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Larry Lee is 10-26 against Long Beach State while Troy Buckley is 8-4 against Cal Poly.
Junior second baseman Mark Mathias 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 15 games since losing to Dartmouth on March 23.
Mathias has bumped his average up 53 points to .355 over the last 12 games, going 20-for-42 (.476) since the start of Big West play April 2. Junior shortstop Peter Van Gansen is hitting .347 with eight doubles, a pair of three-run home runs over the last four games (his first two homers as a Mustang) and 24 RBI. Van Gansen has reached base safely in 35 of Cal Poly's 37 games and has produced 11- and eight-game hitting streaks.
Mundell currently sports a .320 batting average with seven doubles, five home runs and 23 RBI. Senior outfielder Zack Zehner is hitting .287 with five home runs and a team-leading 30 RBI in 36 games while senior outfielder Jordan Ellis has a .282 mark with seven doubles, 12 RBI and a pair of four-hit games this season. Junior first baseman Ryan Drobny is hitting .274 while sophomore catcher Brett Barbier is hitting .261 with 20 RBI, collecting 11 of those RBI in back-to-back games against Hawaii and Fresno State and 14 RBI in his last six contests.
Cal Poly was 29-5 at home last season and has won 104 of its last 141 home games for a winning percentage of 75.9 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 (413-304-2), 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.
Next week Cal Poly plays at CSU Bakersfield on Tuesday night and returns home to host CSUN over the weekend. Game times for the Big West series are 6, 6 and 1 p.m.
