Cal Poly to Visit Santa Clara for Final Big West Tuneup Tuesday Night
4/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES:
CAL POLY | SANTA CLARA | BIG WEST
AUDIO STREAM | VIDEO STREAM | LIVE STATS
LARRY LEE VIDEO INTERVIEW
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly (17-9, 0-0 Big West), which won 10 of its first 12 games for the second time in three years and has won four of seven series this season, plays its final Big West Conference tune-up game Tuesday night, visiting West Coast Conference member Santa Clara (12-14, 2-4 WCC) for a single game inside Stephen Schott Stadium (cap.: 1,500).
First pitch is set for 6 p.m. and the game 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 seven weekend series, including victories over No. 14 UCLA and No. 19 Michigan, and is eight games above the .500 mark for the third time this year.
Santa Clara opened its season by winning a series against Notre Dame, earned a victory over No. 19 Michigan during the second week and split four-game series against both Massachusetts-Lowell and Hawai'i. The Broncos have opened West Coast Conference play with 1-2 series losses against both San Francisco and Saint Mary's and own a pair of midweek wins over San Jose State.
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.
Santa Clara returned 24 letter winners, including eight starting position players and 11 pitchers, off a team which finished 26-28 a year ago and placed seventh in the West Coast Conference at 12-15. Top returnees include catcher Stevie Berman (.336, four home runs, 27 RBI in 2015) and outfielders Grant Meylan (.259, 13 RBI, five steals) and TC Florentine (.246, 15 RBI, four steals). Top returning pitchers include Mitchell White (3-2, 3.62 ERA, five saves in 2015), Steven Wilson (3-4, 3.94 ERA) and Eric Lex (4-4, 4.42 ERA), all right-handers.
Santa Clara's top hitters so far this spring are Meylan (.324, two doubles, eight RBI), catcher/infielder Kyle Cortopassi (.295, five doubles, 11 RBI) and shortstop John Cresto (.289, four home runs, eight RBI). The Broncos are hitting .232 as a team, have stolen 20 of 31 bases, have committed 38 errors in 26 games (.962 fielding percentage) and sport a 3.62 staff ERA.
Coached by Dan O'Brien (fifth season at Santa Clara (104-139), 20th season overall (558-422-1), UC San Diego '95), Santa Clara has finished first in the West Coast Conference four times, the last in 2001. The Broncos are in their 134th year of competition in baseball, earning 2,236 wins with 12 NCAA regional appearances (the last in 1997) and one trip to the College World Series (1962).
O'Brien, who earned his 500th career win in 2014, was head coach at UC San Diego for 14 seasons, compiling a 454-283-1 record, before he was hired as Santa Clara's head coach on June 30, 2011, replacing Mark O'Brien. The Tritons qualified for the NCAA Division II West Regional five times in the last eight seasons under Dan O'Brien, making two trips to the Division II College World Series.
Cal Poly and Santa Clara have played 81 baseball games against each other since the series began in 1956. The Broncos hold a 42-39 advantage, and the two teams split a pair of midweek games a year ago -- Santa Clara winning 3-0 on March 3 in Baggett Stadium and Cal Poly answering with a 10-6 triumph on April 21 at Steven Schott Stadium. Cal Poly has won five of the last six meetings.
Larry Lee is 16-14 against Santa Clara while O'Brien is 3-5 against Cal Poly.
Tuesday's starting pitchers will be freshman right-hander Craig Colen (pictured above) (0-0, 3.38 ERA) for Cal Poly and sophomore righty Mitchell White (2-3, 2.62 ERA), averaging 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings, for Santa Clara. Colen pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in two relief appearances on the mound last weekend against San Jose State.
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). 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 in early March 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 26 games, Barbier is Cal Poly's top hitter with a .402 average and 15 RBI, followed by Schuknecht (.320, nine doubles, two triples, three home runs, 27 RBI), sophomore left fielder Josh George (.311, five doubles, 11 RBI) and freshman center fielder Alex McKenna (.311, five home runs, 20 RBI). Junior third baseman Michael Sanderson (.307, six doubles, 13 RBI) and freshman middle infielder Kyle Marinconz (.304, seven doubles, 12 RBI) also are above the .300 mark.
Both 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 .282 team batting average, has stolen 13 of 22 bases (4-for-4 against Grand Canyon), sports a .958 fielding percentage with 42 errors in 26 games and has compiled a 4.02 staff ERA.
Cal Poly has produced 12 winning seasons since 2000. The Mustangs were 17-11 at home last season and have won 125 of their last 164 home games for a winning percentage of 76.2 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 (440-320-2), 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.
Cal Poly returns home to open Big West Conference play Friday through Sunday against Cal State Fullerton.
