Cal Poly to Host San Jose State in Final Big West Conference Tune-Up
3/31/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | SJSU | BIG WEST
AUDIO STREAM: FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
LIVE STATS: FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
VIDEO STREAM: FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (16-7, 0-0 Big West), which won 10 of its first 12 games for the second time in three years and has won four of six series this season, plays its final Big West Conference tune-up series this weekend, hosting Mountain West Conference member San Jose State (8-16, 3-8 MWC) for three games inside Baggett Stadium (cap.: 2,800).
First pitches are 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 Dave Grant 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 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 has won four of six weekend series, including victories over No. 14 UCLA and No. 19 Michigan, and is nine games above the .500 mark for the first time this year.
San Jose State opened its season by splitting a four-game series against UC Irvine but has not won a series in 2016, losing two of three to Fresno State, UNLV and Loyola Marymount and getting swept by New Mexico. The Spartans, who let a 6-5 lead slip away as Stanford scored four times in the top of the ninth inning, answered with four in the bottom of the ninth for a 10-9 win Monday but fell to Santa Clara 8-5 on Wednesday, letting a 4-2 lead slip away in the final three innings.
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.
San Jose State returned 13 letter winners, including six starting position players and 12 pitchers, off a team which finished 13-44 a year ago and placed seventh in the Mountain West Conference at 6-24. Top returnees include infielder Ozzy Braff (.298, seven doubles in 2015), outfielder Brett Bautista (.297, 11 doubles, 27 RBI) and catcher Joe Stefanski (.262, 17 RBI). Top returning pitchers include Josh Nasheed (3-5, 7.04 ERA in 2015), Matt Brown (2-6, 4.44 ERA) and Hilario Tovar (1-5, 9.32 ERA).
Coached by Dave Nakama (fourth season, 56-139, Willamette '84), San Jose State has a .270 team batting average through 24 games, led by utility player Shane Timmons (.376, 14 RBI), Braff (.329, four home runs, 13 RBI) and shortstop Aaron Pleschner (.294, 16 RBI), whose walk-off single in the 10th inning lifted the Spartans to a 3-2 win Saturday. The Spartans have stolen 13 of 27 bases, sport a 6.06 staff ERA and have compiled a .972 fielding percentage with 26 errors in 24 games.
San Jose State has made four NCAA appearances, the last time in 2002 at the Stanford Regional; the Spartans earned Western Athletic Conference regular-season titles in 2000 and 2009. The Spartans' lone College World Series appearance was in 2000.
Nakama was associate head coach at Washington from 2010-12 before he was hired as head coach at San Jose State in September 2012. He also served as an assistant at Stanford from 1997-98 and 2002-09. Nakama was head coach at Mission College in San Jose from 1992-96 as well as at San Francisco State from 1999-2001; he was an infielder at Willamette and began his coaching career at Northern Colorado in 1984; he also has worked at Iowa, Yavapai College and DeAnza College.
Cal Poly and San Jose State have played 92 baseball games against each other since the series began in 1947. The Spartans hold a 48-43-1 advantage after splitting two midweek games a year ago. Cal Poly is 20-22-1 against San Jose State since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Larry Lee is 13-6-1 against San Jose State while Nakama is 1-5 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 four 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 freshmen Austin Dondanville and Spencer Howard.
Through 23 games, Barbier is Cal Poly's top hitter with a .395 average and 13 RBI, followed by Schuknecht (.330, nine doubles, two triples, three home runs, 27 RBI) and junior third baseman Michael Sanderson (.307, four doubles, 13 RBI). Near the .300 mark are freshman shortstop Kyle Marinconz (.295, seven doubles, 11 RBI) and sophomore left fielder Josh George (.295, three doubles, eight RBI).
Both center fielder Alex McKenna (Pacific series) and Schuknecht (San Francisco series) have earned Big West Field Player of the Week honors this season while Uelmen was named Big West Pitcher of the Week for his performance in the Sacramento State series.
Cal Poly owns a .273 team batting average, has stolen 11 of 18 bases (4-for-4 against Grand Canyon), sports a .962 fielding percentage with 34 errors in 23 games and has compiled a 3.89 staff ERA.
Cal Poly has produced 12 winning seasons since 2000. The Mustangs were 17-11 at home last season and have won 124 of their last 161 home games for a winning percentage of 77.0 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 (439-318-2), 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 visits Cal for a single game on Tuesday before returning home to open Big West Conference play Friday through Sunday against Cal State Fullerton.
