Cal Poly Completes Sweep of San Francisco Series With 7-6 Victory

Sunday, March 6

1 pm

10-2

San Francisco

2-11

U. San Francisco

Cal Poly

Cal Poly Completes Sweep of San Francisco Series With 7-6 Victory

3/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Senior right fielder John Schuknecht capped a strong week at the plate with a double and two-run home run Sunday, lifting Cal Poly to a 7-6 victory over San Francisco and a sweep of their three-game non-conference series at Baggett Stadium.

Schuknecht produced three doubles, a triple and a home run, knocking in five runs, in the series as Cal Poly completed a 12-game season-opening home stand with a 10-2 record.

San Francisco, despite outhitting Cal Poly 14-10 in Sunday's game, slipped to 2-11.

Schuknecht (pictured above) led off the third inning with a double and eventually scored to give Cal Poly a 3-0 lead.

After San Francisco rallied to tie the game with three runs in the fifth, junior catcher Brett Barbier snapped the deadlock with an RBI single in the sixth inning and Schuknecht followed with his second home run of the season, a two-run shot to straightaway center field more than 410 feet from home plate, giving the Mustangs a 6-3 advantage.

USF scored a run in the seventh and Cal Poly restored its three-run lead with a run in the eighth on a wild pitch, carrying a 7-4 cushion into the ninth.

The visiting Dons scored twice on a single by designated hitter Blake Valley and a throwing error on a stolen base attempt, but Mustang junior right-hander Justin Calomeni recorded a popup to shortstop and a pair of strikeouts for his first save.

Calomeni earned two wins earlier in the week, including Friday's 2-1 decision over San Francisco. The Mustangs also won Friday's nightcap 10-5. Sunday's game was moved from Saturday due to rain.

"This is a good way to finish off our 12-game home stretch," said 14th-year Mustang head coach Larry Lee. "Now it's time to get on the road and also to get back a couple of our offensive players by the following weekend."

Freshman catcher Nick Meyer was sidelined with an illness this week while freshman shortstop Dylan Doherty has yet to play a game due to a hamstring pull.

Cal Poly hit .340 in the series with seven doubles, three triples and one home run, but the Mustang pitching staff allowed 3.67 earned runs per contest and USF hit .312 in the series.

"We swung the bats well, but on the pitching end we have big areas of concern," Lee added.

Freshman southpaw Thomas Triantos (1-0) secured five outs in relief of starter Erich Uelmen for the win. The loss went to Thomas Ponticelli (0-1), the second of four San Francisco pitchers.

Schuknecht and Barbier each collected two of Cal Poly's 10 hits and first baseman Cooper Moore recorded two RBI with a bases-loaded walk in the first inning and a single in the third.

San Francisco's 14 hits included three each by third baseman Allen Smoot and Valley.

For the series, third baseman Michael Sanderson went 5-for-9 with two doubles, a triple and four RBI while Schuknecht was 7-for-14 with four runs scored. Barbier went 6-for-14 with two RBIs and shortstop Kyle Marinconz was 5-for-12 with a triple and one RBI.

Cal Poly plays the first of 10 consecutive road games Tuesday at Pepperdine. The Mustangs follow that with three-game series at Grand Canyon, Sacramento State and Wichita State before returning home March 29 to face CSU Bakersfield.

Photo of shortstop Brett Binning courtesy of Owen Main | www.fansmanship.com