Cal Poly to Close Out 2016 Season by Hosting UC Davis This Weekend
5/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES:
CAL POLY | UC DAVIS | BIG WEST
AUDIO STREAM:
THURSDAY | FRIDAY | SATURDAY
LIVE STATS: THURSDAY | FRIDAY SATURDAY
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly (30-24, 10-11 Big West), tied for fifth place with UC Riverside and CSUN in the Big West Conference standings, a half-game behind fourth-place Hawai'i, after losing two of three games to the Highlanders over the weekend, wraps up the 2016 baseball season this weekend with a three-game home series against UC Davis (16-34, 4-17 Big West).
First pitches inside Baggett Stadium (cap.: 2,800) are set for 6 p.m. PDT both Thursday and Friday and 1 o'clock Saturday. 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 audio and video streams are available on the baseball schedule page at www.GoPoly.com.
Cal Poly was ranked No. 19 four weeks ago by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper with a 25-13 record after sweeping No. 11 UC Santa Barbara, moving into a tie for first place with Cal State Fullerton in the Big West. The Mustangs, however, lost eight of their next nine games, swept by Long Beach State and CSUN, to fall out of the title and playoff picture. 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 eight of 14 weekend series, including victories over No. 14 UCLA and No. 19 Michigan and the sweep against the Gauchos. The Mustangs, who hit just .180 against Long Beach State and .177 against CSUN, exploded for a .337 mark in winning two of three games at home against UC Irvine two weeks ago. Last week, Cal Poly earned its second and third wins of the year when trailing after six innings, defeating CSU Bakersfield 6-4 to snap an eight-game road losing streak, and losing two of three games at UC Riverside, taking the finale 6-4 to halt an eight-game Big West slide on the road.
UC Davis has won two series this season, taking two of three games against UC Santa Barbara and sweeping Pacific. The Aggies won just nine of their first 35 games before a midseason stretch of winning seven of eight, but UC Davis, swept by CSUN and Long Beach State the last two weekends, will bring a seven-game losing streak to this weekend's series against the Mustangs.
UC Davis returned 18 players, including two position starters and nine pitchers (no weekend starters), off a team which finished 30-26-1 a year ago and seventh in the Big West Conference at 9-15.
Topping the list of returning veterans are outfielder Tanner Bily (.255, 20 RBI, eight steals in 2015), first baseman Spencer Henderson (.252, 15 RBI) and infielder Brad Pluschkell (.227, 11 RBI). The pitching staff is led by right-hander Zach Stone (3-3, 1.14 ERA, 14 saves in 2015) and southpaws Orlando Razo (4-2, 3.27 ERA) and Henderson (3-1, 1.12 ERA).
Coached by Matt Vaughn (fifth season, 115-158-1, UC Davis '92), UC Davis sports a .267 team batting average, led by Bily (.326, eight doubles, 24 RBI, 16 of 26 steals), outfielder Mark Cardinalli (.320, five doubles, 16 RBI), catcher Logan Denholm (.289, 10 doubles, four home runs, 27 RBI) and designated hitter Cameron Olson (.286, 12 doubles, three triples, five home runs, 28 RBI). The Aggies have compiled a 5.04 staff ERA, led by left-hander Robert Garcia (3-4, 2.71 ERA) and righties Justin Mullins (2-4, 4.57 ERA) and Nat Hamby (3-6, 4.97 ERA).
UC Davis has committed 81 errors in 50 games for a .958 fielding percentage and has stolen 75 of 116 bases.
UC Davis has appeared in one NCAA Division I regional (2008) and seven in Division II, making two appearances in the Division II College World Series (1995, 2003). The Aggies won the California Collegiate Athletic Association regular-season title in 2004 and nine Northern California Athletic Conference championships.
Vaughn was an assistant at UC Davis for 19 seasons before he was elevated to head coach following the 2011 season. Vaughn pitched for the Aggies from 1989-92, starting 26 games and winning nine. He earned honorable mention All-Northern California Athletic Conference honors as a senior.
Cal Poly and UC Davis have met 39 times on the baseball field since the series began in 1951. Thirty-three of those meetings are over the last 11 seasons after the Aggies announced their intention to move to Division I, a transfer that was completed in time for the 2008 season. The Mustangs hold a 30-9 advantage in the series after losing two of three to the Aggies in Davis last season.
Cal Poly had won eight consecutive series against UC Davis before the Aggies took two of three games in 2012 in Davis. Cal Poly is 25-8 against UC Davis, including a 17-1 mark in Baggett Stadium, since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Larry Lee is 25-8 against UC Davis while Matt Vaughn is 4-8 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 10 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 in 2015), freshman right-hander Cam Schneider and, since early April, 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 54 games, junior Brett Barbier (pictured above) is Cal Poly's top hitter with a .359 average, 13 doubles, three home runs and 29 RBI, followed by sophomore outfielder Josh George (.297, five doubles, 14 RBI), junior third baseman Michael Sanderson (.295, 11 doubles, 32 RBI) and freshman middle infielder Kyle Marinconz (.287, 14 doubles, 23 RBI).
Barbier had a 16-game hitting streak and a 40-game streak of reaching base safely snapped April 30 by Long Beach State, and also had 11- and 12-game streaks earlier this year. Senior right fielder John Schuknecht is hitting .264 with 13 doubles, six home runs and a Big West-leading 44 RBI) while freshman catcher Nick Meyer has a .278 mark with seven doubles and 21 RBI. Meyer also has thrown out 21 would-be base stealers and has picked off 10 other runners.
Freshman center fielder Alex McKenna (Pacific series), hitting .272 with six home runs and 27 RBI, and Schuknecht (San Francisco, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine) have earned Big West Field Player of the Week honors this season while Uelmen (Sacramento State) and Kyle Smith (UC Santa Barbara) 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. Schuknecht also hit two home runs, including a grand slam, and drove in eight runs in the UC Irvine series while Sanderson was 7-for-13 in the UC Riverside series.
Cal Poly owns a .269 team batting average, has stolen 34 of 48 bases, sports a .963 fielding percentage with 77 errors in 54 games and has compiled a 4.17 staff ERA.
Cal Poly has clinched its 14th winning season since 2000 and has reached the 30-win mark for the 11th time since 2000. The Mustangs were 17-11 at home last season and have won 134 of their last 176 home games for a winning percentage of 76.1 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.
Lee (453-335-2), 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.
