First-Place Cal Poly Resumes Big West Play at Long Beach State This Weekend
4/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly (25-14, 7-2 Big West), which won 10 of its first 12 games for the second time in three years and moved into a tie for first place with Cal State Fullerton in the Big West Conference by sweeping Blue-Green rival UC Santa Barbara last weekend, continues Big West play this weekend with a three-game series at Long Beach State (23-16, 6-6 Big West).
First pitches at Blair Field (cap.: 3.000) are set for 6 p.m. PDT Friday, 2 p.m. 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 an audio stream are available on the baseball schedule page at www.GoPoly.com.
Ranked No. 19 this week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, 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 was 15-18 with an 8.70 ERA.
Despite all the youth, Cal Poly has won seven of 10 weekend series, including victories over No. 14 UCLA and No. 19 Michigan and a sweep of the No. 11 Gauchos, and is 11 games above the .500 mark for the second time. Facing a team in first place in the Big West for the third straight week, the Mustangs posted 7-0, 10-5 and 4-3 wins over UC Santa Barbara, which entered the series with an RPI of 8. On Tuesday, Cal Poly dropped a 5-4 non-conference decision at No. 20 Cal.
Long Beach State, ranked as high as No. 17 this season before losing two of three games at UC Riverside last weekend, was 14-5 after winning the first three games of a four-game set against Columbia on March 17-19. Since then, the Dirtbags have won just nine of 20 contests, splitting their first 12 Big West games. Long Beach State won two of three against CSUN and UC Irvine but lost two of three to UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside.
Long Beach State returned 18 letter winners, including seven starting position players and nine pitchers, off a team which finished 28-26 a year ago and placed sixth in the Big West with an 11-13 mark. The Dirtbags have claimed eight Big West titles (the last in 2008), and have made 20 NCAA regional appearances (the last in 2014) and four trips to the College World Series (the last in 1998).
Top returnees include shortstop Garrett Hampson (.296, nine doubles, thee triples, 17 RBI), first baseman/outfielder Luke Rasmussen (.315, six home runs, 17 RBI) and designated hitter/outfielder Brock Lundquist (.289, 14 doubles, three home runs, 19 RBI). Top returning pitchers include righthanders Chris Mathewson (6-6, 1.94 ERA), Darren McCaughan (4-2, 2.47 ERA) and Tanner Brown (4-3, 3.45 ERA), all right-handers. Closer Ty Provencher (3-2, 1.80 ERA, seven saves) also returns.
Long Beach State's top hitters so far this spring are Hampson (.309, eight doubles, 17 RBI, 15 of 23 steals), third baseman Zack Domingues (.294, 32 hits (all singles), six RBI) and Rasmussen (.258, 10 doubles, five home runs, 28 RBI), The Dirtbags are hitting .246 as a team, have stolen 44 of 74 bases, have committed 35 errors in 39 games (.977 fielding percentage) and sport a 3.43 staff ERA, led by Mathewson (4-3, 3.31 ERA), Brown (5-3, 3.67 ERA) and McCaughan (6-1, 2.59 ERA). Provencher has just one save while Chris Rivera (1-2, 4.58 ERA) has earned 11 saves so far.
Coached by Troy Buckley (sixth year, 171-149, Santa Clara '90), Long Beach State defeated Cal Poly two games to one for four consecutive years until the Mustangs won two of three last year at Baggett Stadium. This year's Dirtbags are 14-8 at Blair Field and 9-8 on the road. Former Dirtbags in the Major Leagues include Jason Giambi, Evan Longoria, Troy Tulowitzki and Jered Weaver.
Buckley, a 10-year pitching coach for the Dirtbags before he was hired as head coach prior to the 2011 season, previously served three years as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Santa Clara. He was a coach in the Montreal Expos organization from 1996 to 1997. Buckley was a ninth-round draft pick of the Minnesota Twins in 1989, spending three years in the Twins organization, and was 1988 West Coast Conference Player of the Year and a second-team All-American as a catcher at Santa Clara.
Cal Poly and Long Beach State have met 140 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1957. The Dirtbags hold an 89-51 advantage, salvaging one win, a 10-inning 12-11 slugfest, in last year's series finale at Baggett Stadium after the Mustangs had posted 6-1 and 4-3 triumphs.
Long Beach State was 16-2 in a six-year stretch against the Mustangs until Cal Poly won two of three in 2009, its first series win at Blair Field since 1997, and also won two of three in 2010 and 2015 in San Luis Obispo. Cal Poly is 18-47 against Long Beach State since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season.
Larry Lee is 12-27 against Long Beach State while Troy Buckley is 9-6 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 four 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 39 games, Barbier is Cal Poly's top hitter with a 15-game hitting streak, a .384 average, 11 doubles and 22 RBI, followed by freshman middle infielder Kyle Marinconz (.310, 10 doubles, 20 RBI). Four other Mustangs are near the .300 mark -- sophomore left fielder Josh George (.294, five doubles, 13 RBI), freshman catcher Nick Meyer (.297, six doubles, 15 RBI), junior third baseman Michael Sanderson (.280, seven doubles, 23 RBI) and senior right fielder John Schuknecht (.282, 12 doubles, two triples, four home runs, 34 RBI).
Freshman center fielder Alex McKenna (Pacific series) and Schuknecht (San Francisco and UC Santa Barbara series) have earned Big West Field Player of the Week honors this season while Uelmen (Sacramento State) and Kyle Smith (UC Santa Barbara series) have been named Big West Pitcher of the Week. McKenna went 8-for-14 and hit for the cycle in the San Jose State series, bumping his average up 41 points, while Schuknecht was 6-for-12 in the UC Santa Barbara series with five RBI and four runs scored.
Cal Poly owns a .273 team batting average, has stolen 22 of 33 bases, sports a .963 fielding percentage with 55 errors in 39 games and has compiled a 3.65 staff ERA.
Cal Poly has produced 12 winning seasons since 2000. The Mustangs were 17-11 at home last season and have won 131 of their last 172 home games for a winning percentage of 76.3 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 another 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 (448-325-2), 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 its midweek game at home against Santa Clara on Tuesday night before going back out on the road to face CSUN on Friday through Sunday.
