18-11, 1-1
Cal State Fullerton
18-12, 4-1
Cal Poly Evens Big West Series Against Cal State Fullerton With 1-0 Win
4/9/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Sophomore left fielder Josh George's one-out bases-loaded sacrifice fly to center field tallied the only run of the contest as Cal Poly evened its Big West Conference baseball series against Cal State Fullerton at a game apiece with a 10-inning 1-0 triumph Saturday afternoon inside Baggett Stadium.
With one out, Kyle Marinconz singled deep in the hole at shortstop, Brett Barbier doubled off the wall in the left-field corner and John Schuknecht was intentionally walked to load the bases.
Cal State Fullerton brought in Miles Chambers from the bullpen and also inserted Hunter Cullen into the lineup in center field. George (pictured above), perhaps Cal Poly's best bunter with a team-leading five sacrifice bunts this season, instead produced the game's other sacrifice, a fly ball deep enough to left-center field on the first pitch thrown by Chambers, scoring Marinconz from third base.
With its fourth walk-off win of the season, Cal Poly snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 18-11 for the year and 1-1 in Big West games. Cal State Fullerton, now 18-12 and 4-1, had its six-game winning streak halted.
Through the first nine scoreless innings of the game, Cal Poly had three decent chances to score.
In the third inning, the Mustangs loaded the bases with two outs, but Barbier grounded out to shortstop. Michael Sanderson was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Ruben Cardenas on Nick Meyer's single to right in the seventh, an inning in which Cal Poly loaded the bases again.
And in the ninth, Meyer's long fly ball to left-center field, which could have scored Ben Polshuk from first base, was caught by a diving Tyler Stieb.
In all, Cal Poly stranded 11 runners on the basepaths.
Mustang junior right fielder Justin Calomeni (3-2) pitched 2 2/3 innings in relief of starter Erich Uelmen for the win, allowing one hit and two walks with three strikeouts.
Uelmen, still unbeaten at 4-0, threw 121 pitches over 7 1/3 scoreless innings, giving up just two hits, walking four and striking out six.
The loss went to John Gavin (1-2), the second of three Cal State Fullerton pitchers used in the game, though it was Chambers who surrendered the game-ending sacrifice fly. Starter Colton Eastman tossed 6 2/3 scoreless innings with six hits, three walks and five strikeouts.
Cal Poly's nine-hit offensive attack included two singles each by Marinconz and Kevin Morgan. Barbier's double in the 10th inning was Cal Poly's first extra-base hit in three games.
The three Cal State Fullerton hits, all singles, were by Tanner Pinkston, Josh Vargas and Hank LoForte. The Titans stranded six runners and Cal Poly helped its cause by turning three double plays, all in the final four innings.
The Mustangs have won five of their last eight games against the four-time College World Series champion Titans.
Saturday's game, originally scheduled for a 6 p.m. start, was moved up to 12:30 p.m. because of impending rain in the forecast.
Final game of the series will be played Sunday at 1 o'clock with Cal Poly sophomore right-hander Jarred Zill (1-1, 2.87 ERA) to face Cal State Fullerton junior right-hander Blake Quinn (3-1, 2.06 ERA), a transfer from Fresno State.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Calomeni, Justin (3-2)
L: Gavin, John (1-2)
Batting:
SH: Vargas, Josh 1
Batting:
2B: Barbier, Brett 1
RBI: George, Josh 1
SH: Doherty, Dylan 1
SF: George, Josh 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Marinconz, Kyle 1
HBP: Doherty, Dylan 1
PO: George, Josh 1
