Cal Poly Resumes Big West Conference Play This Weekend at CSUN
5/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | CSUN | BIG WEST
AUDIO STREAM: SAT 1 | SAT 2 | SUNDAY
LIVE STATS: SAT 1 | SAT 2 | SUNDAY
VIDEO STREAM (ESPN3): SATURDAY 2
CAL POLY EARNS 6-2 WIN OVER SANTA CLARA
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly (26-17, 7-5 Big West), which won 10 of its first 12 games for the second time in three years, fell out of a tie for first place with Cal State Fullerton in the Big West Conference by losing all three games at Long Beach State and snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over Santa Clara on Tuesday night, resumes Big West Conference play this weekend with a three-game series at CSUN (25-16, 4-11 Big West).
With Friday's rainout, the two teams will play an 11 a.m. doubleheader Saturday at Matador Field (cap.: 1,000) and a single game Sunday at 1 o'clock. 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 an audio stream are available on the baseball schedule page at www.GoPoly.com.
Saturday's nightcap will be available on ESPN3.com with Sam Farber (play-by-play), Wes Clements (analyst) and Megan Reza (sideline). There is no video stream for Saturday's opener or for the series finale Sunday.
Ranked No. 19 last week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper before getting swept by the Dirtbags, 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 seven of 11 weekend series, including victories over No. 14 UCLA and No. 19 Michigan and a sweep of No. 11 UC Santa Barbara, and is nine games above the .500 mark for the fifth time. The Mustangs hit just .180 and fell into a fourth-place tie with UC Riverside in the Big West by dropping 14-3, 2-0 and 4-1 decisions to Long Beach State at Blair Field, but bounced back Tuesday with a 6-2 triumph over Santa Clara inside Baggett Stadium as Michael Sanderson and Dylan Doherty both knocked in two runs and Bobby Ay earned his first collegiate victory, allowing one earned run and five hits over six innings with four strikeouts.
CSUN sprinted to a 20-4 start in non-conference play with series wins over Northern Colorado, George Washington and Houston Baptist along with a 2-2 split against Portland and a 4-0 weekend with two wins each against Connecticut and William & Mary. The Matadors, however, have won just four of 15 Big West games, winning the Hawai'i series and falling to Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside. CSUN is 5-12 since its 20-4 start.
CSUN returned 18 letter winners, including seven starting position players and five pitchers, off a team which finished 33-24 a year ago and placed eighth in the Big West Conference at 8-16. Top returnees include infielder William Colantono (.280, 19 RBI in 2015), shortstop Yusuke Akitoshi (.286, 32 RBI, 11 steals) and third baseman Nolan Bumstead (.284, 17 RBI). Top returning pitchers include Rayne Raven (7-4, 2.18 ERA in 2015), Angel Rodriguez (2-0, 3.04 ERA, two saves) and Conner O'Neil (3-2, 1.89 ERA, 12 saves), all right-handers.
CSUN's top hitters so far this spring are second baseman Fred Smith (.339, seven doubles, 18 RBI, six steals), first baseman/left fielder Branden Berry (.311, eight doubles, eight home runs, 33 RBI) and Akitoshi (.311, nine doubles, four triples, 17 RBI, 21 steals).
CSUN's pitching rotation for the weekend series begins with right-hander Angel Rodriguez (4-4, 3.36 ERA) on Friday, followed by southpaw Kenny Rosenberg (4-1, 3.07 ERA) on Saturday and righty Andrew Weston (6-4, 3.26 ERA) on Sunday. Rosenberg leads the Big West with 90 strikeouts over 73 1/3 innings.
Cal Poly will go with the same weekend starting rotation it has used over the last five weekends -- southpaw Kyle Smith (5-4, 2.93 ERA) and right-handers Erich Uelmen (5-1, 3.20 ERA) and Jarred Zill (4-2, 2.98 ERA), all sophomores. Uelmen suffered his first loss of the year last Saturday at Long Beach State despite allowing just two runs over eight innings in the 2-0 setback.
The Matadors are hitting .271 as a team, have stolen 54 of 68 bases, have committed 34 errors in 41 games (.979 fielding percentage) and sport a 3.30 staff ERA.
Coached by Greg Moore (third season, 76-78, San Francisco '99), CSUN claimed its lone Big West title in 2002, and captured the Western Athletic Conference crown in 1996, both under Mike Batesole, now head coach at Fresno State. CSUN captured NCAA Division II national titles in 1970 and 1984 under Bob Hiegert.
Moore was associate head coach for three seasons at San Francisco, where he oversaw pitching, admissions, community service and summer placement. Moore began his collegiate coaching career at USF in 2002 as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Dons. He served in that capacity until 2009, when he took a position as the pitching coach at Washington for one season before heading back to his alma mater. Moore played collegiate baseball for San Francisco and was named to the West Coast Conference All-Academic Team in 2001. As a player, he won the team's "Most Inspirational" award in back-to-back seasons and the award now bears his name. Moore earned his bachelor's degree in education and completed his master's in sports and fitness management at San Francisco in 2001.
Former Matadors who played in the Major Leagues include Jason Thompson, Adam Kennedy, Robert Fick, Lyman Bostock and Kameron Loe.
Cal Poly and Cal State Northridge have met 220 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1959. The Matadors hold a 118-102 advantage, though Cal Poly swept CSUN in 2013 at Baggett Stadium as well as two years ago at Matador Field to clinch the Big West title and won two of three games at Baggett Stadium in 2015. Cal Poly is 37-27 against CSUN since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Larry Lee is 30-14 against CSUN while Greg Moore is 1-5 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). 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, for the last five weeks, 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 43 games, Barbier is Cal Poly's top hitter with a .368 average, 11 doubles and 22 RBI, followed by freshman middle infielder Kyle Marinconz (.302, 10 doubles, 20 RBI). Barbier had a 16-game hitting streak and a 40-game streak of reaching base safely snapped Saturday. Sophomore left fielder Josh George is hitting .294 with five doubles and 13 RBI, junior third baseman Michael Sanderson sports a .282 average with eight doubles and 26 RBI, senior right fielder John Schuknecht is hitting .278 with 12 doubles, two triples, four home runs and a Big West-leading 35 RBI and freshman catcher Nick Meyer has a .271 mark with six doubles and 15 RBI. Meyer also has thrown out 16 would-be base stealers and has picked off 10 other base runners.
Freshman center fielder Alex McKenna (Pacific series) and Schuknecht (San Francisco and UC Santa Barbara) 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.
Cal Poly owns a .268 team batting average, has stolen 25 of 37 bases, sports a .963 fielding percentage with 61 errors in 43 games and has compiled a 3.80 staff ERA.
Cal Poly has produced 12 winning seasons since 2000. The Mustangs were 17-11 at home last season and have won 132 of their last 173 home games for a winning percentage of 76.3 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 and has posted ten 30-victory campaigns since 2000. The Mustangs have produced 13 non-losing seasons in the last 16 years.
Lee (449-328-2), 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 plays at CSU Bakersfield on Tuesday and returns to Big West Conference action Friday through Sunday inside Baggett Stadium against UC Irvine, with first pitches set for 6 p.m. both Friday and Saturday and 1 o'clock Sunday.
Photo above of Kyle Smith courtesy of Ray Ambler | RA Photos
