Cal Poly Steps Away From Big West Play, Hosts Santa Clara on Tuesday
4/10/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES:
CAL POLY | SANTA CLARA | BIG WEST
LIVE STATS | AUDIO STREAM | VIDEO STREAM
MUSTANGS CLINCH HAWAI'I SERIES | HILITES
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly (12-18, 4-2 Big West), which has opened Big West play with two-to-one series wins against UC Irvine and Hawai'i, steps away from conference action Tuesday night and wraps up a four-game home stand with a single non-conference contest against Santa Clara (7-24, 3-6 West Coast).
First pitch inside Baggett Stadium (cap.: 2,800) will be at 6 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN Radio 1280 with Chris Sylvester providing the play-by-play. Links for live stats and audio and video streams are available on the baseball schedule page at www.GoPoly.com.
Despite having 25 freshmen and sophomores on the roster a year ago, including as many as six true freshmen and a community college transfer in the starting lineup, Cal Poly posted a 32-25 mark in 2016, won nine of 15 weekend series, including victories over No. 14 UCLA and No. 19 Michigan and a sweep against College World Series participant UC Santa Barbara.
Eight position players who started at least 27 games a year ago are on the 2017 roster and the pitching rotation features all four returning starters off the 2016 squad, including weekend starters Erich Uelmen (5-3, 3.68 ERA), Kyle Smith (6-6, 3.64 ERA) and Jarred Zill (4-3, 2.79 ERA). Sophomore right-hander Cam Schneider also returns after starting seven games a year ago.
Despite the presence of a large number of veterans, the Mustangs struggled in all facets of the game during their season-opening 11-game road trip. The pitching staff's ERA was 5.50 with opposing batters hitting a robust .286. Defensively, Cal Poly committed five errors in the middle game at Pacific, three more in three other contests and sported a .955 fielding percentage with 18 errors in the 11 games.
And the offense struggled as well, as the Mustangs hit just .233 and were shut out four times. During one stretch, Cal Poly failed to score in 25 consecutive innings, a school Division I record. Pacific and San Diego State both blanked the Mustangs twice en route to series sweeps.
The numbers improved during Cal Poly's 12-game home stand inside Baggett Stadium -- the team splitting the 12 contests -- and the Mustangs have hit .338 in their first six Big West games in addition to compiling a 3.98 staff ERA and a .979 fielding percentage with just five errors.
Last week, the Mustangs did not play a midweek game during the first week of Spring Quarter and won two of three games against Hawai'i at home. The two teams traded 10-run decisions in a Saturday doubleheader after Friday's contest was rained out, then the Mustangs clinched the series with a 7-1 triumph Sunday. Sophomore center fielder Alex McKenna went 8-for-15 at the plate with four RBI and three runs scored while senior infielder Michael Sanderson was 6-for-12 with four runs scored.
Santa Clara split four games against Northwestern in early March before losing 11 of its next 12 contests, snapping the streak with a 15-12 win over West Coast Conference leader San Diego. The Broncos' other wins this season are against Washington, Connecticut, Portland and, last Friday night, Loyola Marymount 10-3 in the opener of a West Coast series in Los Angeles. The Lions bounced back with 6-3 and 5-1 wins to take the series.
Santa Clara is coming off a 23-29 campaign, including a 10-17 mark for ninth place in the West Coast Conference. The Broncos return 18 lettermen, including five of the 10 position starters and six pitchers. Sixth-year head coach Dan O'Brien has 15 newcomers on the squad this season.
Santa Clara's top three returnees this spring are left fielder Tyler Meditz (.284, five home runs, 26 RBI), right fielder Grant Meylan (.274, nine RBI) and third baseman John Cresto (.263, six home runs, 20 RBI). One starting pitcher returns, senior righthander Steven Wilson (5-5, 3.92 ERA).
Santa Clara, which played its first 11 games at home this season, sports a .246 team batting average with 58 doubles and 25 home runs and has compiled a 5.79 staff ERA and a .957 fielding percentage with 49 errors in 31 games. The Broncos have stolen just 13 of 31 bases.
Cresto currently sports a .320 average with 10 doubles, six home runs and 17 RBI. First baseman Jake Brodt is hitting .317 with 13 doubles and 14 RBI while Meditz owns a .245 mark with three home runs and nine RBI. Center fielder Andre Nnebe is hitting .302 with seven doubles, three home runs and 19 RBI.
Sophomore Alex Barden (0-0, 7.30 ERA) will start on the mound for Santa Clara on Tuesday night, facing Cal Poly junior Kyle Smith (0-2, 8.14 ERA) (pictured above) in a matchup of southpaws.
Coached by Dan O'Brien (sixth season, 122-178 at Santa Clara (21st season overall, 576-461-1), UC San Diego '95), Santa Clara has finished first in the West Coast Conference four times, the last in 2001. The Broncos are in their 135th year of competition in baseball, earning 2,241 wins with 12 NCAA regional appearances (the last in 1997) and one trip to the College World Series (1962).
O'Brien, who earned his 500th career win in 2014, was head coach at UC San Diego for 14 seasons, compiling a 454-283-1 record, before he was hired as Santa Clara's head coach on June 30, 2011, replacing Mark O'Brien. The Tritons qualified for the NCAA Division II West Regional five times in the last eight seasons under Dan O'Brien, making two trips to the Division II College World Series.
Cal Poly and Santa Clara have played 84 baseball games against each other since the series began in 1956. The Broncos hold a 43-41 advantage, including a 10-1 triumph and a 6-2 loss a year ago. The two teams also split a pair of midweek games in 2015. This year, Cal Poly defeated Santa Clara 11-7 on Feb. 28 at Stephen Schott Stadium, snapping a six-game losing streak.
Second baseman Kyle Marinconz drove in three runs with a double, a walk and a sacrifice fly while third baseman Michael Sanderson knocked in two with a double and triple. Cal Poly let an early 2-0 lead slip away, rebounded with four runs in the fourth and three in the seventh for a 10-4 advantage and held on for its second win of the year. Freshman right fielder Bradlee Beesley established a new Cal Poly Division I record by drawing five walks. Santa Clara pitchers issued 13 walks and hit three Cal Poly batters, but the Mustangs stranded 14 runners on the basepaths.
Cal Poly has won seven of the last nine meetings. Larry Lee is 18-15 against Santa Clara while Dan O'Brien is 4-7 against Cal Poly.
Cal Poly's 2017 roster is led by seven returning position starters and eight pitchers who tossed 20 or more innings in 2016.
Outfielder Josh George (.306, seven doubles, 16 RBI in 2016) and catcher Nick Meyer (.301, seven doubles, 21 RBI) both hit above the .300 mark a year ago. Meyer was a second-team All-Big West selection and also was named Big West Freshman Field Player of the Year after picking off a Big West-leading 10 runners and threw out 22 would-be base stealers, second in the conference.
Middle infielder Kyle Marinconz (.284, 15 doubles, 25 RBI), an All-Big West honorable mention, joined Meyer on Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team. Third baseman Michael Sanderson (.296, 12 doubles, 33 RBI), a second-team All-Big West selection in 2016, outfielder Kevin Morgan (.269, 15 RBI), outfielder Alex McKenna (.261, six home runs, 27 RBI) and shortstop Brett Binning (.225) also return.
A pair of true freshmen -- infielder Bradlee Beesley (.407, 19 RBI at San Leandro High School) and outfielder/designated hitter Scott Ogrin (.412, 18 RBI at Valencia High School) -- were in the starting lineup on Opening Day along with community college transfer Elijah Skipps (Cypress College) at first base.
Cal Poly's top hitter through 30 games is McKenna with a .344 mark, including six doubles and 14 RBI. He is 12-for-25 (.480) over his last five games. Sanderson, who missed the four-game weekend series against Nebraska with a leg injury, owns a .340 average with seven doubles, a triple and nine RBI while George, who broke out of a 0-for-22 slump with two hits in the finale of the Nebraska series and three more at Fresno State, is hitting at a .273 clip with seven doubles and 17 RBI. Freshman second baseman Bradlee Beesley is hitting .270, shortstop Kyle Marinconz .265 with 12 extra-base hits and 19 RBI and Meyer .254 with 19 RBI.
Uelmen, who has struck out 48 batters over 49 1/3 innings, leads the Mustang pitching corps. His record is just 1-5 because in a recent streak of three consecutive starts over 20 2/3 innings, he received zero runs from his teammates. Four weeks ago against Wichita State, he pitched seven strong innings with 10 strikeouts but was not involved in the 13-inning decision, a 5-4 Mustang win. He gave up two earned runs and four hits over six innings in a 3-2 loss to Nebraska three weeks ago and one earned run and seven hits over six frames in a non-decision 10-inning 3-2 win at UC Irvine two weeks ago. Uelmen's only win was in the season opener at Cal on Feb. 18.
Howard picked up his first win with seven scoreless innings against Wichita State four weeks ago, notching a career-high 11 strikeouts, and notched his second win in the Hawai'i series, allowing just three hits and striking out nine over 5 2/3 innings. Sophomore righty Bobby Ay (1-3) earned his first win last Sunday, pitching into the eighth inning for the first time and allowing a run and five hits with six strikeouts.
A year ago Cal Poly earned its 14th winning season since 2000 and reached the 30-win mark for the 11th time this century. The Mustangs were 23-8 at home last season and have won 140 of their last 186 home games for a winning percentage of 75.3 percent.
Cal Poly, which earned NCAA regional berths in 2009, 2013 and 2014, has finished fourth or higher in the Big West 12 times in its last 14 seasons, including back-to-back fourth-place finishes after capturing its first Big West championship in 2014.
Lee (467-354-2) 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. Lee's previous 14 clubs at Cal Poly have averaged 32.5 wins per season. Lee earned 460 wins in 16 seasons at Cuesta College and, in his 15th season at Cal Poly, notched his 460th Mustang victory on March 13 against Gonzaga.
In addition to the four games already played against Pac-12 schools, Cal Poly's 2017 schedule also includes a three-game set at UCLA in late April. The schedule features 14 games against 2016 NCAA regional qualifiers, a 12-game home stand in March and 28 contests in all inside Baggett Stadium. All 56 Mustang games this spring will be played in the Golden State.
Cal Poly continues Big West play with a three-game series Thursday through Saturday at UC Davis. The middle game Friday night will be played at Raley Field, home of the Sacramento River Cats.
