Cal Poly Clinches CSUN Series With 7-1 Victory Saturday Night

Saturday, May 2

6 pm

21-22, 9-5

CSUN

26-19, 5-12

CSUN

Cal Poly

Cal Poly Clinches CSUN Series With 7-1 Victory Saturday Night

5/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Sophomore catcher Brett Barbier drove in four runs and freshman southpaw Kyle Smith scattered six hits over eight innings for his fifth win as Cal Poly defeated CSUN 7-1 in the second game of a Big West Conference baseball series Saturday night before 1,134 in Baggett Stadium.

Barbier doubled to drive in three runs in the first inning and singled to knock in another run in the seventh. He has 19 RBI in his last 12 games after collecting seven RBI in his first 25 games of the season.

With the win, Cal Poly improved to 21-22 overall and 9-5 for fourth place in the Big West, 1 1/2 games behind UC Irvine, which is playing out of conference this weekend. The Mustangs have won 11 of their last 15 games, including eight of their last nine home contests.

Cal Poly led all the way, scoring three times on Barbier's bases-loaded two-bagger in the first inning and, after CSUN tallied its lone run in the third frame, the Mustangs added two insurance runs in both the fifth and seventh innings.

That was more than enough for Smith (5-5) (pictured above), who evened his record by striking out six Matadors. Freshman right-hander Erich Uelmen faced the minimum three batters in the ninth.

Elias Orona doubled with two outs in the third and came home on Ryan Raslowski's single to left field, cutting Cal Poly's lead to 3-1.

In the Mustang fifth, the bases were loaded with two outs on a walk and two hit batters before senior center fielder Jordan Ellis singled up the middle to drive in two and make it a 5-1 game.

RBI singles by Barbier and Ryan Drobny produced the pair of Mustang runs in the seventh.

Cal Poly's eight hits included two each by Barbier and junior second baseman Mark Mathias, extending his hitting streak to 13 games.

Raslowski and shortstop Yusuke Akitoshi both had two of CSUN's six hits.

The loss went to Matador senior lefty Jerry Keel (4-6) as he allowed five runs (four earned) and four hits in 4 2/3 innings with three walks and six strikeouts. Four Matadors followed Keel to the mound.

Cal Poly clinched the series with Saturday's win — the Mustangs won Friday 6-2 — and have won five series this season, all in the last nine weeks. The Mustangs won series against Pacific, Oregon State, Hawai'i and Long Beach State in addition to splitting four games against Sacramento State.

Final game of the CSUN series will be played Sunday afternoon at 1 o'clock with Cal Poly sophomore right-hander Slater Lee (1-0, 4.70 ERA) to face CSUN junior right-hander Rayne Raven (5-3, 2.26 ERA).

Members of the 1964 Cal Poly baseball team, the first Mustang squad to qualify for an NCAA regional, were honored Saturday night in the third inning. The team, which was 21-15 under head coach Bill Hicks, split two games in the NCAA Division II West Regional at Blair Field in Long Beach, defeating Chapman College after falling to Sacramento State. Those in attendance at Saturday's reunion were pitcher Pete Cocconi, pitcher Robert Dorn, infielder Jack Hoover, outfielder George Montgomery, outfielder Al Montna, pitcher Jeff Pankratz and pitcher Terry Ward.

1964 Team Picture
Front Row (from left) -- Terry Carl, Jim Ramos, Ernie Bigham, Don Yoshino, John Garcia, Bob Phillips and Don Cole.
Middle Row (from left) -- Jack Hoover, Rich Johnson, Tommy Kemph, John Jones, Fred Del Dotto and Ed Schun.
Back Row (from left) -- Ron Ulman, Charles Casele, Pete Cocconi, Al Montna, Joe Zinani, Wayne West and Terry Ward.