Cal Poly Clinches Hawai'i Baseball Series Sunday With 7-1 Triumph

Sunday, April 9

1 pm

12-18, 4-2

Hawai'i

19-11, 1-2

Hawai'i

Cal Poly

Cal Poly Clinches Hawai'i Baseball Series Sunday With 7-1 Triumph

4/9/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS/INTERVIEW

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Sophomore right-hander Bobby Ay worked into the eighth inning for the first time in his Mustang career, earning his first victory of the season, while Michael Sanderson and Alex McKenna combined for seven hits as Cal Poly clinched its three-game Big West Conference series against Hawai'i with a 7-1 victory before 1,724 Sunday afternoon inside Baggett Stadium.

Ay (1-3) (pictured at right below) allowed one run and five hits over 7 1/3 innings with six strikeouts for the Mustangs, who remain in third place with a 4-2 mark in the Big West, a game behind co-leaders Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State.

Cal Poly is 12-18 for the season while Hawai'i fell to 19-11 and 1-2.

Sanderson (pictured above) produced his second career four-hit game as a Mustang, going 4-for-4 with a double, scoring twice, while McKenna was 3-for-5 with two RBI, collecting multiple hits in each game of the series.

Josh George and Brett Binning each added two hits as Cal Poly, which pounded out 22 hits in Saturday's nightcap 15-5 victory, added 14 more hits Sunday.

The loss went to Hawai'i senior right-hander Neil Uskali (4-2), a Cuesta College transfer who gave up five runs and nine hits over 6 2/3 innings with one walk and two strikeouts.

Cal Poly led all the way, scoring twice in the third inning on a balk and the first of McKenna's three hits. The Mustangs added a run in the fourth as Sanderson doubled, moved to third on a throwing error and came home on a sacrifice fly by Colby Barrick.

Cal Poly pulled away with two runs in both the seventh and eighth innings.

In the seventh, McKenna singled up the middle for his second RBI and Kyle Marinconz's single to center field made it 5-0. After Hawai'i scored its lone run of the game in the top of the eighth on Alex Fitchett's fielder's choice, Mustang third baseman Brett Binning singled through the left side of the Rainbow Warrior infield, scoring the final two runs of the game.

Binning also added a bloop double off the handle of the bat down the left-field line to spark Cal Poly's third-inning rally.

Sophomore right-hander Michael Clark secured the final five outs for his third save of the season.

Hawai'i third-base coach Rusty McNamara was ejected from the game in the second inning after Fitchett was called out for leaving third too early on an apparent sacrifice fly by Johnny Weeks.

Umpires also reversed a call in the third inning after a conference requested by Mustang head coach Larry Lee. Dylan Vchulek was called safe when Sanderson, playing first base, took a wide throw from third baseman Binning and returned to the bag too late. After the conference, Sanderson was ruled to have touched the base with his foot prior to Vchulek's arrival.

For the series, McKenna went 8-for-15 with a double and four RBI, raising his average 26 points to .344, while Sanderson was 6-for-12 with a double, lifting his average 23 points to .340.

Second baseman Scott Ogrin had his best series as a Mustang, going 5-for-11 to lift his average 45 points to .214, and right fielder Colby Barrick is hitting .404 for the season after he went 4-for-11 in the series.

Cal Poly closes a four-game home stand Tuesday night with a single 6 p.m. non-conference game against Santa Clara.

Photo above of Michael Sanderson courtesy of Matt Brown | Matt Brown Photography
Photo above right of Bobby Ay courtesy of Jack Duffy