Cal Poly to Visit Sacramento State as 10-Game Road Trip Continues
3/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES:
CAL POLY | SAC STATE | BIG WEST
AUDIO: SAT. I | SAT. II | SUN-MON
LIVE STATS: SAT. I | SAT. II | SUN-MON
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly (11-5, 0-0 Big West), which won 10 of its first 12 games for the second time in three years and built a five-game winning streak before losing three of four games on the road last week, continues its 10-game road trip this weekend, visiting Western Athletic Conference member Sacramento State (9-6, 0-0 WAC) for a three-game series at John Smith Field (cap.: 1,200).
The weekend schedule has been adjusted due to weather forecasts. The two teams will play a doubleheader Saturday at 11 a.m. with the final game of the series set for Sunday or Monday at 1 p.m. All three games of the series will be aired live on ESPN Radio 1280 with Eric Burdick providing the play-by-play. Links for live stats as well as an audio stream are available on the baseball schedule page at www.GoPoly.com.
Check www.gopoly.com frequently for schedule confirmation.
Cal Poly returned 16 lettermen (two position starters and eight pitchers (four with six or more starts in 2015), but more than two-thirds of the 34-man roster are freshmen or sophomores. The nine returning position players, starters and reserves, hit a combined .230 a year ago and, while eight of last year's 13 pitchers return, their win-loss record combined was 15-18 with an 8.70 ERA.
Despite all the youth, Cal Poly swept Pacific four weeks ago, split four games against a pair of nationally ranked teams -- No. 19 Michigan and No. 14 UCLA -- defeated Pepperdine 6-5 on Kevin Morgan's ninth-inning one-out single to right field, and swept San Francisco by scores of 2-1, 10-5 and 7-6. Pepperdine snapped the Mustangs' five-game winning streak with a 12-4 triumph, scoring 11 runs in the second inning to overcome an early 2-0 deficit in Cal Poly's first road game of the year and the Mustangs lost two of three games at Grand Canyon last weekend.
Sacramento State, which has played just three games at John Smith Field so far, won two of three games at Auburn, lost two of three at No. 5 LSU, swept a three-game series against South Dakota State and was swept at Arizona over the weekend by scores of 3-1, 23-1 and 8-4. The Hornets opened a 13-game home stand Tuesday afternoon with a 6-1 victory over William Jessup, an NAIA Christian liberal arts school in Rocklin, Calif.
Cal Poly opened the 2015 season 1-6 and was eight games under the .500 mark before turning things around. The Mustangs hit .303 over their final 23 games, improved their defense by fielding at a .980 clip, won 17 of their final 26 games (including 13 of 15 at home) and made a run for the Big West title.
Sacramento State returned 17 players, including seven position starters and eight pitchers, off a team which finished 33-27 a year ago and placed fourth in the Western Athletic Conference title with a 16-11 mark. The Hornets won the WAC regular-season and tournament titles in 2014 and qualified for the NCAA regional hosted by Cal Poly, posting a 1-2 mark.
Topping the list of returning veterans are designated hitter Devin Lehman (.282, 20 RBI in 2015), left fielder Chris Lewis (.275, 32 RBI) and third baseman Dan Deely (.262, 21 RBI). The pitching staff is led by southpaw Sam Long (7-4, 2.81 ERA in 2015), right-hander Justin Dillon (6-6, 3.67 ERA) and righty Ryan Smith (2.33 ERA, three saves).
Coached by Reggie Christiansen (sixth year, 165-149, Menlo '98), Sacramento State has a .255 team batting average through 15 games, led by outfielder Matt Smith (.406, 11 RBI), outfielder Blake Edmonson (.350) and infielder Kody Reynolds (.288, five RBI). The Hornets sport a 5.18 staff ERA and .961 fielding percentage with 22 errors in 15 games.
Sacramento State, which moved to Division I in 1990, made its first NCAA regional appearance in 2014. The Hornets qualified for the Division II playoffs four times. Christiansen was associate head coach under John Smith at Sacramento State in 2009 and 2010. Before that, he was head coach for four seasons at South Dakota State, compiling a 96-113 record. Christiansen was an assistant under former Cal Poly head coach Ritch Price at Kansas for two seasons and coached four seasons at Menlo College, including one as head coach. He earned his bachelor's degree at Menlo in 1998 and his master's at Kansas in 2004.
Cal Poly and Sacramento State have met 64 times on the baseball field since the series began back in 1950. The Mustangs hold a 47-17 advantage, winning both of the meetings between the two teams in the 2014 San Luis Obispo Regional and splitting four games against the Hornets in 2015, also at Baggett Stadium. Prior to the 2014 regional, the two teams had not met since 2009 when Cal Poly swept a three-game series against the Hornets at Baggett Stadium.
Sacramento State was a member of the Big West Conference from 1997-2002. Cal Poly is 35-14 against Sacramento State since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Larry Lee is 11-3 against Sacramento State while Reggie Christiansen is 2-4 against Cal Poly.
Cal Poly's 2016 roster is led by catcher/first baseman Brett Barbier (.253, nine doubles, four triples, three home runs, 34 RBI in 2015) and outfielder John Schuknecht (.237, six home runs, 24 RBI).
The Mustangs have used nine position players and eight pitchers who are wearing a Cal Poly uniform for the first time this season. The Mustangs' lineup in the season-opening Pacific series included 11 freshmen (nine true freshmen and a pair of redshirts) as well as three community college transfers. In the second game of the Grand Canyon series last weekend, six true freshmen were in the starting lineup along with one transfer.
Cal Poly's pitching staff is led by sophomore southpaw Kyle Smith (5-7, 3.95 ERA in 2015) and sophomore righty Erich Uelmen (0-1, 7.08 ERA). Also challenging for spots in the starting rotation are junior right-hander Slater Lee (1-1, 6.27 ERA in 2015), freshman right-hander Cam Schneider and junior right-hander Justin Calomeni (1-3, 5.00 ERA), who earned two wins and a save, all in relief, in his first week of action two weeks ago following his recovery from a knee injury.
Topping the list of relievers are freshman southpaws Thomas Triantos (Livermore High School) and Justin Bruihl (Casa Grande High School in Petaluma) along with sophomore right-hander Andrew Bernstein (3-3, 5.01 ERA) and redshirt freshman Austin Dondanville.
Through 16 games, Barbier is Cal Poly's top hitter with a .417 average and 11 RBI, followed by junior third baseman Michael Sanderson (.340, three doubles, 10 RBI), freshman center fielder Alex McKenna (.322, two home runs, nine RBI), Schuknecht (.317, five doubles, two home runs, 19 RBI) and freshman shortstop Kyle Marinconz (.300, five doubles, seven RBI). Both McKenna (Pacific series) and Schuknecht (San Francisco series) have earned Big West Field Player of the Week honors this season.
Sophomore left fielder Josh George is hitting .293 with eight RBI.
Cal Poly owns a .281 team batting average, has stolen nine of 14 bases (4-for-4 against Grand Canyon), sports a .963 fielding percentage with 23 errors in 16 games and has compiled a 4.48 staff ERA.
Cal Poly has produced 12 winning seasons since 2000. The Mustangs were 17-11 at home last season and have won 123 of their last 160 home games for a winning percentage of 76.9 percent. Cal Poly won each of its four Big West series at home in 2015, compiling a 10-2 mark, but lost all four conference road series, two games to one, despite winning the opener each time.
Cal Poly has finished fourth or higher in the Big West 12 times in its last 14 seasons and has posted ten 30-victory campaigns since 2000. The Mustangs have produced 13 non-losing seasons in the last 16 years.
Lee (432-314-2), in his 14th season with the Mustangs, has guided Cal Poly to 11 finishes in the upper half of the Big West standings in the last 13 years. He earned his 400th win March 7, 2015, 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 concludes its 10-game road trip with a three-game series at Wichita State (Thursday-Saturday, March 24-26).
