27-27, 15-7
UC Riverside
21-31, 7-15
Uelmen Tosses Six-Hit Shutout as Cal Poly Defeats UC Riverside 1-0
5/25/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Junior right-hander Erich Uelmen shattered his career high with 12 strikeouts and tossed a six-hit shutout as Cal Poly defeated UC Riverside 1-0 in a Big West Conference baseball series opener Thursday night before 1,364 inside Baggett Stadium.
Uelmen, who threw 127 pitches, had struck out 10 batters in a game twice before this season against Pacific and Wichita State. He improved to 4-8 on the year with his second straight win, allowing just one walk.
With the victory, Cal Poly evened its overall record at 27-27 and improved to 15-7 in Big West games, still tied for second place in conference with Cal State Fullerton, a 6-3 winner over Big West champion Long Beach State.
Uelmen (pictured at left and above) threw his second career shutout and third complete game. He blanked Sacramento State 4-0 with a five-hitter a year ago and also went the distance in a 6-2 win over UCLA, also in 2016.
Uelmen allowed one UC Riverside runner to reach third base and two others to make it to second base. He retired the last eight Highlander batters of the game, retired the side in order four times and became the first Mustang in 23 Division I seasons to toss two career shutouts.
UC Riverside had runners at first and second with one out in the second inning, but a grounder to third and a strikeout ended the threat. The Highlanders also had runners at second and third with two outs in the fourth before another strikeout quelled the uprising.
And first baseman Cade Peters doubled down the left-field line with one out in the seventh, but two ground balls dashed the threat.
Senior first baseman Michael Sanderson (pictured at right) knocked in the only run of the game.
Alex McKenna drew a leadoff walk in the first inning, stole second and came home on Sanderson's two-out single up the middle.
Aside from the first inning, Cal Poly had just two other baserunners reach second base.
McKenna singled to open the sixth and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Bradlee Beesley, but was left stranded there. Cal Poly had runners at first and second with two outs in the eighth, but could not score any insurance runs.
Last 1-0 game played at Baggett Stadium was a year ago on April 9 as Cal Poly edged Cal State Fullerton in 10 innings. Uelmen and Justin Calomeni combined on the three-hit shutout and a sacrifice fly by Josh George scored Kyle Marinconz with the winning run in the walk-off victory.
Each team had six hits.
McKenna led Cal Poly with a pair of singles. Peters produced two singles and a double for UC Riverside and designated hitter Yeager Taylor added two singles.
UC Riverside's Angel Landazuri (4-5) pitched well in defeat, allowing just one run and four hits over seven innings with one walk and three strikeouts.
Second game of the three-game series will be played Friday night at 6 with sophomore right-hander Spencer Howard (7-1, 2.24 ERA) of Cal Poly to face UC Riverside junior right-hander Ryan Lillie (2-6, 4.76 ERA).
The series finale will be played Saturday at 1 o'clock.
Photos courtesy of Cal Poly Baseball Student Manager Jack Duffy
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Uelmen, Erich (4-8)
L: Landazuri, Angel (4-5)
Batting:
2B: Peters, Cade 1
Base Running:
SB: Peters, Cade 1
CS: de Los Reyes, Skyler 1
Batting:
RBI: Sanderson, Michael 1
SH: Beesley, Bradlee 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McKenna, Alex 1
SB: McKenna, Alex 1
