Cal Poly Resumes Big West Play With Home Series Against UCSB
4/20/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | UCSB | BIG WEST
AUDIO STREAM:
FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
LIVE STATS:
FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
VIDEO STREAM | VIDEO PREVIEW
MUSTANGS IN THE PROS (pdf)
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly (22-13, 4-2 Big West), which won 10 of its first 12 games for the second time in three years and opened Big West Conference play with series wins over Cal State Fullerton and Hawai'i, resumes Big West play this weekend with a three-game series against Blue-Green rival and nationally ranked UC Santa Barbara (25-7-1, 5-1 Big West).
First pitches are set for 6 p.m. PDT both Friday and Saturday and 1 o'clock PDT on Sunday. All three games of the series at Baggett Stadium (cap.: 2,800) 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.
Fans should expect parking delays in the Baggett Stadium area, particularly on Saturday and Sunday, due to other events and are advised to plan appropriately, such as arriving early or parking in outlying lots and walking to Baggett Stadium.
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 six of nine weekend series, including victories over No. 14 UCLA and No. 19 Michigan, and is nine games above the .500 mark for the third time this season. The Mustangs bounced back from Friday's 6-3 loss at Hawai'i to win the series with 5-4 and 5-2 triumphs and beat Fresno State 7-1 in a non-conference affair Tuesday night.
UC Santa Barbara, ranked No. 9 by Baseball America and No. 11 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper this week, has lost just one series so far this season, dropping two of three games at Oregon. The Gauchos swept a four-game series against San Francisco to open the year and also own series wins over Hartford, Connecticut, USC and, in Big West play, Long Beach State and CSUN. UCSB split three games with College of Charleston two weeks ago with a win, a loss and a tie and defeated Nevada 5-4 on Monday.
Coached by Andrew Checketts (fifth year, 163-94-3, Oregon State '98), UC Santa Barbara returned 16 letter winners, including just two starting position players and seven pitchers, off a team which finished 40-17-1 a year ago, placed second in the Big West with a 16-8 mark and hosted an NCAA regional.
Top returnees include outfielder Andrew Calica (.329, 13 doubles, 19 RBI in 2015), infielder Billy Frederick (.321, seven RBI) and infielder JJ Muno (.163). Top returning pitchers include right-hander Shane Bieber (8-4, 2.24 ERA) and southpaw Kyle Nelson (3-1, 0.75 ERA).
This spring, outfielder Devon Gradford leads all Gaucho hitters with a .370 average, followed by catcher Dempsey Grover (.333, 10 doubles, 19 RBI) and first baseman Austin Bush (.305, 24 RBI). The Gauchos are hitting .270 as a team with 42 steals in 61 attempts, has compiled a 3.59 staff ERA and has committed 31 errors in 33 games for a .976 fielding percentage.
UC Santa Barbara's starting pitchers this weekend will be Bieber (7-1, 2.74 ERA) on Friday, Noah Davis (3-1, 3.81 ERA) on Saturday and Joe Record (4-3, 4.18 ERA) on Sunday. All are right-handers. Nelson has a 6-0 mark and 1.14 ERA with four saves as the closer.
Cal Poly counters with sophomore southpaw Kyle Smith (4-3, 2.77 ERA) on Friday, followed by sophomore right-hander Erich Uelmen (4-0, 2.90 ERA) and sophomore right-hander Jarred Zill (3-1, 2.73 ERA).
UCSB claimed Big West titles in 1972 and 1986 and has qualified for the NCAA Division I regionals nine times, including 2013 and 2015, compiling a 7-22 win-loss record in Division I postseason competition.
Checketts spent three seasons as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator under George Horton at Oregon before coming to UC Santa Barbara. He was on the UC Riverside staff for seven years and began his coaching career at Riverside Community College, where he served as pitching coach and helped the team to their second consecutive California State championship in 2001. Checketts played one season at Florida and three at Oregon State.
Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara have met 220 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1942. The Gauchos hold a 119-101 advantage, winning two of three at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium a year ago. Cal Poly bounced back from a 7-6 loss in the opener to earn 8-7 and 1-0 victories in the 2014 series at Baggett Stadium.
Cal Poly is 47-44 against UCSB since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Larry Lee is 31-23 against UC Santa Barbara while Andrew Checketts is 7-9 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 only two returning starting position players.
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 in mid-March, 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). Third spot in the weekend rotation has been filled with junior right-hander Slater Lee (1-1, 6.27 ERA), freshman right-hander Cam Schneider and, for the last three weeks, sophomore righty Jarred Zill (4-1, 3.18 ERA).
Topping the list of relievers are junior right-hander Justin Calomeni (1-3, 5.00 ERA in 2015), 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 35 games, Barbier is Cal Poly's top hitter with a .384 average, 11 doubles and 19 RBI, followed by freshman middle infielder Kyle Marinconz (.321, 10 doubles, 17 RBI), junior third baseman Michael Sanderson (.288, six doubles, 19 RBI) and sophomore left fielder Josh George (.282, five doubles, 12 RBI).
Both freshman 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. McKenna went 8-for-14 and hit for the cycle in the San Jose State series, bumping his average up 41 points.
Cal Poly owns a .270 team batting average, has stolen 16 of 26 bases, sports a .961 fielding percentage with 53 errors in 35 games and has compiled a 3.68 staff ERA.
Cal Poly has produced 12 winning seasons since 2000. The Mustangs were 17-11 at home last season and have won 128 of their last 169 home games for a winning percentage of 75.7 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.
One year after capturing its first Big West title, 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.
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 (445-324-2), 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 plays four games on the road, visiting Cal on Tuesday for a 5 p.m. non-conference contest and Long Beach State for a three-game Big West series Friday through Sunday at Blair Field.
