Cal Poly Resumes Big West Title Chase at Home This Weekend vs. CSUN
4/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | CSUN | BIG WEST
AUDIO STREAM: FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
LIVE STATS: FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
VIDEO STREAM | SERIES PREVIEW VIDEO
FOLLOW ALL FORMER MUSTANGS IN THE PROS
KRUKOW'S KLUBHOUSE FEATURE BY BASEBALL AMERICA
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly (19-22, 7-5 Big West), which climbed into fourth place in the Big West by winning two of three games at home against Long Beach State (the Mustangs' first series win over the Dirtbags since 2010) last weekend, continues defense of its conference championship this weekend by hosting CSUN (26-17, 5-10 Big West) at Baggett Stadium (cap.: 2,800).
First pitch is set for 6 p.m. both Friday and Saturday and 1 o'clock 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 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 Mustangs were swept by the Bears as well as Grand Canyon the following week. Cal Poly is 18-16 since the 1-6 start and is just one game behind UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara in the loss column atop the Big West standings.
Cal Poly owns series wins over Pacific, Oregon State, Hawaii and Long Beach State and is 9-4 since falling eight games below the .500 mark April 4. Last weekend at Baggett Stadium, the Mustangs beat the 49ers 6-1 in Friday's opener and 4-3 on Zack Zehner's leadoff home run in the 12th inning Saturday before letting a 9-2 lead evaporate in a 10-inning 12-11 setback Sunday. Cal Poly also let a 4-0 lead slip away in a 5-4 loss at CSU Bakersfield on Tuesday.
CSUN bolted to a 19-5 start with series wins over Utah Valley, Seattle, George Washington and Dartmouth, but the Matadors are 7-12 since and have won just five of 15 Big West games. CSUN claimed its first conference series win last weekend, taking two of three games against UC Riverside, scoring twice in the bottom of the ninth inning in Sunday's series finale for a 10-9 victory. The Matadors fell at San Diego State 5-3 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 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 .364 through 34 games with hits in each of his first 11 games as well as his last 11 contests, Mathias started at second base for the first time four weeks ago at Pepperdine. He is hitting .459 (28 of 61) over his last 16 games to lift his average 62 points.
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).
CSUN returned 15 players, including seven position starters and nine pitchers, off a team which finished 18-38 a year ago and tied for eighth place in the Big West Conference at 6-18. Topping the list of returning veterans are outfielder Chester Pak (.292, 10 doubles, 28 RBI in 2014), utility player Nick Blaser (.302, nine doubles, 23 RBI), catcher Nick Murphy (.270, 11 RBI) and infielder Ryan Raslowsky (.269, 10 RBI, 15 steals). The pitching staff is led by southpaw Jerry Keel (0-11, 3.64 ERA in 2014) and right-hander Anthony Cortez (2-0, 2.42 ERA).
CSUN's top hitters this spring are outfielder Elias Orona (.349, four doubles, five RBI), Raslowsky (.303, nine doubles, nine RBI), first baseman Nolan Bumstead (.318, four doubles, 13 RBI) and infielder Yusuke Akitoshi (.306, six doubles, 27 RBI). The Matadors are hitting .266 as a team, are 54 of 75 in stolen bases, have committed 48 errors in 43 games (.971 fielding percentage) and sport a 2.62 staff ERA.
Coached by Greg Moore (second season, 44-55, San Francisco '99), CSUN claimed its lone Big West title in 2002, and captured the Western Athletic Conference crown in 1996, both under Mike Batesole, now head coach at Fresno State. CSUN captured NCAA Division II national titles in 1970 and 1984 under Bob Hiegert.
Moore spent the past three seasons as the associate head coach at San Francisco, where he oversaw pitching, admissions, community service and summer placement. Moore began his collegiate coaching career at USF in 2002 as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Dons. He served in that capacity until 2009, when he took a position as the pitching coach at Washington for one season before heading back to his alma mater.
Moore played collegiate baseball for San Francisco and was named to the West Coast Conference All-Academic Team in 2001. As a player, he won the team's "Most Inspirational" award in back-to-back seasons and the award now bears his name. Moore earned his bachelor's degree in education and completed his master's in sports and fitness management at San Francisco in 2001.
Former Matadors who played in the Major Leagues include Jason Thompson, Adam Kennedy, Robert Fick, Lyman Bostock and Kameron Loe.
Cal Poly and Cal State Northridge have met 217 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1959. The Matadors hold a 117-100 advantage, though Cal Poly swept CSUN a year ago at Matador Field to clinch the Big West title. The Mustangs also swept the Matadors two years ago in Baggett Stadium. Cal Poly is 35-26 against CSUN since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Larry Lee is 28-13 against CSUN while Greg Moore is 0-3 against Cal Poly.
CSUN will start right-hander Calvin Copping (5-4, 2.85 ERA) on Friday, southpaw Jerry Keel (4-5, 2.28 ERA) on Saturday and righty Rayne Raven (5-3, 2.26 ERA) on Sunday. Cal Poly will send to the mound right-hander Casey Bloomquist (4-2, 3.08 ERA) on Friday and lefty Kyle Smith (4-5, 3.43 ERA on Saturday. Sunday's Mustang starter is undecided.
Mathias went 6-for-15 in the Long Beach State series with two RBI and three runs scored while Zehner was 5-for-14 with a double, triple, home run, four RBI and four runs scored. Senior third baseman Tommy Pluschkell and senior center fielder Jordan Ellis each had four hits. As a team, Cal Poly is hitting .300 over its last 20 games since losing to Dartmouth on March 23.
Junior shortstop Peter Van Gansen is second on the team behind Mathias in hitting, sporting a .323 mark with 10 doubles, two triples, a pair of three-run home runs (his first two homers as a Mustang) and 25 RBI. Van Gansen has reached base safely in 38 of Cal Poly's 41 games and has produced 11- and eight-game hitting streaks.
Zehner has a .290 average and leads the team with six home runs and 35 RBI while Mundell currently sports a .303 mark with nine doubles, five home runs and 26 RBI. Ellis has a .287 mark with seven doubles, four triples, 16 RBI and a pair of four-hit games this season.
Cal Poly was 29-5 at home last season and has won 106 of its last 144 home games for a winning percentage of 73.6 percent. At 17-3 on March 16, 2014, 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 (415-306-2), 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 its final midweek game of the season Tuesday, hosting San Jose State at 6 p.m., before hitting the road for a weekend Big West Conference series at UC Irvine.
