Cal Poly Rallies to Beat UC Davis 10-5 in Final Game of 2016 Season

Saturday, May 28

1 pm

32-25, 12-12

UC Davis

17-36, 5-19

UC Davis

Cal Poly

Cal Poly Rallies to Beat UC Davis 10-5 in Final Game of 2016 Season

5/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Entering the final game of the 2016 baseball season, Cal Poly had scored double-digit runs just four times, equalling the low mark set in 2006.

Make it five.

Right fielder John Schuknecht smashed a three-run double in the first inning and catcher Nick Meyer produced his first four-hit game as a Mustang as Cal Poly came from behind in the final four innings to beat UC Davis 10-5 on a sun-splashed Saturday afternoon in Baggett Stadium.

Schuknecht's hit gave the Mustangs an early 3-0 lead. UC Davis rallied for 4-3 and 5-4 leads before Cal Poly scored the final six runs of the game to clinch the Big West series, two games to one, and close out the 2016 season on a winning note.

Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs, with 24 freshmen and sophomores on their 34-man roster, managed to wrap up the year seven games above the .500 mark at 32-25 and finished tied for fourth place with Hawaii and UC Riverside in the Big West Conference, all with 12-12 records.

Cal Poly finished in the upper half of the Big West standings for the 13th time in the last 17 seasons (12 of 14 under Lee), posted a winning mark for the 13th time since 2000 and has won 30 or more games 11 times over the last 17 campaigns.

"This is a good way to finish the season," Lee said. "We played well on Thursday and Saturday."

Cal Poly has started as many as six true freshmen and a community college transfer in a game this season and utilized 10 position players and eight pitchers who were wearing a Mustang uniform for the first time this season.

"Our young guys now understand how much of a grind the college baseball season is and what they have to do to prepare for a season, both mentally and physically," Lee added.

Meyer (pictured above, right) singled four times and scored twice, lifting his batting average to a final .295 mark. Meyer went 18-for-43 (.419) over the final 11 games of the season to raise his average 41 points.

Left fielder Josh George, Schuknecht, third baseman Michael Sanderson and designated hitter Kevin Morgan each added two hits as Cal Poly outhit UC Davis 15-13.

One of Morgan's hits was a solo home run, his second of the season, tying the game at 4-4 in the fourth inning. Both of Schuknecht's hits were doubles.

Aside from Schuknecht's three-run double in the first inning, perhaps the other key hit by the Mustangs was provided by second baseman Kyle Marinconz as his two-run double capped a three-run rally in the seventh inning and gave Cal Poly an 8-5 lead.

Cal Poly added two more runs in the eighth on a run-scoring triple by senior Connor O'Hare (pictured above, left), his first extra-base hit and first RBI as a Mustang, and an RBI single by Brett Binning.

Sanderson's run-scoring single in the fifth inning tied the game at 5-5 and the Mustangs scored the go-ahead run in the seventh when George came home on a wild pitch moments before Marinconz doubled home a pair of runs.

George, who missed three weeks of the season in late April and early May due to a shoulder injury, produced five multiple-hit games over the last eight contests, going 12-for-31 (.387) to finish the year at .306.

First baseman Brett Barbier, who went hitless Saturday but drew three walks, finished the year with a team-leading .352 average, reaching base in all but one of Cal Poly's 57 games this season. He tied the school record by being hit by a pitch 17 times, his 41 walks just missed the all-time top 10 and his .492 on-base percentage is No. 5 in Cal Poly's 22 Division I campaigns.

Junior right-hander Slater Lee (3-1), who pitched 2 2/3 innings in relief, scattering four hits with two strikeouts, earned the victory and junior righty Justin Calomeni earned his second save of the series and eighth of the year with two scoreless frames and a pair of strikeouts.

The loss went to Chris Brown (1-5), the second of five UC Davis pitchers as he allowed the tying and go-ahead runs in the sixth and seventh innings.

UC Davis' 13 hits included three singles by left fielder Mark Cardinalli. Right fielder Guillermo Salazar and second baseman Cameron Briggs each added two hits and a pair of RBI.

Cal Poly has won series against UC Davis at home each of the last seven times and is 19-2 all-time against the Aggies in Baggett Stadium. The Mustangs finish the year 23-8 at home.

Schuknecht, O'Hare and Barbier, a redshirt junior who is graduating in June, all played their final game in Baggett Stadium and were honored in a pregame ceremony.

The Mustangs hit .284 in the series, led by Meyer, who was 6-for-11 with four runs scored, and George, 5-for-12 with two doubles, a pair of RBI and four runs scored. The Mustang pitching staff compiled a 2.67 ERA with 27 strikeouts over 27 innings.