20-22, 8-5
CSUN
26-18, 5-11
Bloomquist Earns Fifth Win as Cal Poly Opens CSUN Series With 6-2 Victory
5/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Junior right-hander Casey Bloomquist scattered six hits over 8 2/3 innings and senior third baseman Tommy Pluschkell knocked in a pair of runs as Cal Poly opened its Big West Conference baseball series against CSUN with a 6-2 victory Friday night in Baggett Stadium.
Bloomquist (5-2) struck out seven and walked two for the Mustangs, who have won 10 of their last 14 games and seven of eight at home, improving to 20-22 overall and 8-5 in the Big West for fourth place. Cal Poly is two games behind UC Irvine, which is playing out of conference this weekend, and the Mustangs remain one game back in the loss column.
CSUN, which opened the season with 19 wins in its first 24 games, fell to 26-18 and 5-11.
Pluschkell drove in a pair of insurance runs for the Mustangs with a sixth-inning single and an eighth-inning safety squeeze bunt. Junior shortstop Peter Van Gansen, sophomore catcher Brett Barbier and senior center fielder Jordan Ellis both had two of Cal Poly's 10 hits. One of Ellis' hits was a triple, his fifth of the year.
Although Cal Poly has won seven straight games against CSUN, the Mustangs had to overcome a 2-1 deficit for Friday's victory.
An RBI triple by junior second baseman Mark Mathias extended his hitting streak to 12 games and gave Cal Poly a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Mathias opened his 2015 season with an 11-game hitting streak and his career best is a 17-game streak as a sophomore en route to Big West Field Player of the Year honors.
CSUN bounced back with two in the fourth. Back-to-back doubles by Yusuke Atikoshi and Chester Pak produced the first run and Nick Blaser singled to score Pak.
Cal Poly regained the upper hand in the bottom of the fourth with three runs. Senior left fielder Zack Zehner singled and, with two outs, junior first baseman Ryan Drobny singled to left to drive home Zehner. Drobny advanced to third when the ball bounced past Elias Orona and he scored on a wild pitch.
Pluschkell's heroics in the sixth and eighth gave Bloomquist (pictured above) some breathing room. He was one pitch from his second complete game of the year but walked pinch-hitter Albee Weiss with his 131st pitch of the contest. Senior right-hander Danny Zandona was summoned from the bullpen and secured the final out on a called third strike.
CSUN was held to six hits, including two singles by Blaser and William Colantono.
The loss went to Matador starter Calvin Copping (5-5) as the junior right-hander allowed four runs (one earned) and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings with no walks and one strikeout.
Second game of the series will be played Saturday night at 6 with freshman southpaw Kyle Smith (4-5, 3.43 ERA) to start on the mound for Cal Poly, facing CSUN senior left-hander Jerry Keel (4-5, 2.28 ERA).
The series finale Sunday will start at 1 o'clock.
Photo of Casey Bloomquist courtesy of Owen Main | www.fansmanship.com
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bloomquist, Casey (5-2)
L: Copping, Calvin (5-5)
Batting:
2B: Akitoshi, Yusuke 1 ; Pak, Chester 1
RBI: Pak, Chester 1 ; Blaser, Nick 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Akitoshi, Yusuke 1 ; Pak, Chester 1
Batting:
3B: Mathias, Mark 1 ; Ellis, Jordan 1
RBI: Mathias, Mark 1 ; Drobny, Ryan 1 ; Pluschkell, Tommy 2
SH: Pluschkell, Tommy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Zehner, Zack 1 ; Barbier, Brett 1 ; Ellis, Jordan 2 ; Drobny, Ryan 1 ; Schuknecht, John 1
HBP: Mathias, Mark 1
