Cal Poly to Open Big West Schedule by Hosting Cal State Fullerton
4/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES:
CAL POLY | FULLERTON | BIG WEST
AUDIO STREAM:
FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
LIVE STATS:
FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
VIDEO STREAM | LARRY LEE INTERVIEW
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly (17-10, 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, opens Big West Conference play this weekend by hosting defending conference champion and 2015 College World Series participant Cal State Fullerton (39-25, 3-0 BWC) for a three-game series inside Baggett Stadium (cap.: 2,800).
First pitches are set for 6 p.m. both Friday and Saturday and 1 o'clock on Sunday. All three games 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 seven games above the .500 mark. The Mustangs, however, enter Big West play with a three-game losing streak after falling to Santa Clara 10-1 on Tuesday.
Cal State Fullerton opened its season by losing two of three games at Stanford, then won three straight series against Indiana, Texas Tech and Wichita State. The Titans opened Big West play last weekend by sweeping CSUN by scores of 7-4, 2-1 and 8-5 and earned a 4-2 win over San Diego on Tuesday night.
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 State Fullerton returned 23 letter winners, including six starting position players and eight pitchers, off a team which finished 39-25 a year ago, claimed the Big West title with a 19-5 mark and won the Fullerton Regional and Louisville Super Regional en route to a spot in the College World Series for the 17th time.
Top returnees include utility player Josh Vargas (.332, 16 RBI, 13 steals in 2015), third baseman/catcher Jerrod Bravo (.318, 25 RBI) and outfielder Tyler Stieb (.297, 11 doubles, 23 RBI, 12 steals). Top returning pitchers include right-handers Connor Seabold (5-4, 3.26 ERA) and Miles Chambers (5-3, 2.17 ERA) and southpaw John Gavin (5-3, 2.17 ERA).
Coached by Rick Vanderhook (fifth season, 177-91, Trinity '03), Cal State Fullerton has a .243 team batting average through 28 games, led by outfielder Dalton Blaser (.355, six doubles, 16 RBI), first baseman Tanner Pinkston (.291, nine doubles, 19 RBI) and shortstop Timmy Richards (.278, four home runs, 11 RBI). The Titans have stolen 23 of 34 bases, sport a Big West-leading 2.45 staff ERA and have compiled a .982 fielding percentage with 19 errors in 28 games.
Cal State Fullerton has won 28 conference titles in 41 Division I seasons, has appeared in 37 regionals, including each of the last 24 years, along with 12 Super Regionals and 17 College World Series, capturing national championships in 1979, 1984, 1995 and 2004. Cal State Fullerton is 562-182 since late 1992 at Goodwin Field and have never had a losing season in 41 Division I seasons.
Vanderhook returned home to Cal State Fullerton on June 24, 2011, where he spent the better part of a quarter century as a player and assistant coach under head coaches Augie Garrido, Larry Cochell and George Horton; he was also an assistant coach along side now-departed head coach Dave Serrano from 1997-2004 and spent three seasons as an assistant coach to John Savage at UCLA from 2009-11.
Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton have met 104 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1966. The Titans hold a 65-39 advantage, winning two of three games at Goodwin Field last season. Cal Poly swept the 2014 series in Baggett Stadium and has enjoyed some recent success with 12 victories in the last 27 meetings over the last nine seasons, winning series at home in 2007, 2011 and 2014.
Cal Poly is 17-53 against Cal State Fullerton since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Larry Lee is 13-26 against Cal State Fullerton while Rick Vanderhook is 6-6 as a head coach 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). 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 27 games, Barbier is Cal Poly's top hitter with a .400 average and 15 RBI, followed by Schuknecht (.320, nine doubles, two triples, three home runs, 27 RBI), junior third baseman Michael Sanderson (.308, six doubles, 14 RBI) and freshman middle infielder Kyle Marinconz (.305, seven doubles, 12 RBI, 11-game hitting streak). Near the .300 mark are sophomore left fielder Josh George (.298, five doubles, 11 RBI) and freshman center fielder Alex McKenna (.296, five home runs, 20 RBI).
Both McKenna (Pacific series) and Schuknecht (San Francisco series) have earned Big West Field Player of the Week honors this season while Uelmen (pictured above) 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 .277 team batting average, has stolen 13 of 22 bases (4-for-4 against Grand Canyon), sports a .958 fielding percentage with 44 errors in 27 games and has compiled a 4.19 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 (440-321-2), 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 hosts Cal on Tuesday for a 5 p.m. non-conference game before traveling to Hawai'i for a Big West series Friday through Sunday.
