Friday, April 30
Santa Barbara, CA
5 p.m.
at
UC Santa Barbara
Cal Poly catcher Myles Emmerson tries to tag out a UC Riverside base runner in Sunday's game. Emmerson leads the Big West with four pickoffs.
Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics
Cal Poly to Visit UC Santa Barbara for Four-Game Big West Series
4/27/2021 12:31:00 PM | Baseball
WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | UC SANTA BARBARA | BIG WEST
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (19-17 overall, 9-11 Big West), which won 10 of 13 games, including series wins over USC and then-No. 6 UCLA, after a 1-3 start, but has lost eight of its last 13 contests after opening Big West play by winning three of four at CSUN, continues conference play this weekend by visiting No. 27 UC Santa Barbara (26-12, 17-7 Big West) for a four-game set inside Caesar Uyesaka Stadium (cap.: 1,000).
Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs and the Gauchos of 10th-year head coach Andrew Checketts clash Friday at 5 p.m. followed by a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday and the finale Sunday, also at 1 o'clock.
All four games of the series will be broadcast on ESPN Radio (1280 AM and 101.7 FM) 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.
Coming off a 13-2 performance in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 campaign, UC Santa Barbara returned 24 of 31 letter winners, including nine position starters and 11 pitchers. Top returnees are infielder McClain O'Connor (.238, 12 RBIs, five steals in 2020), infielder Marcos Castanon (.288, 17 RBIs) and outfielder Steele Ledford (.283, four RBIs). The pitching staff is paced by right-hander Michael McGreevy (2-0, 0.99 ERA in 2020) and southpaws Rodney Boone (2-1, 2.53 ERA) and Zach Torra (3-0, 0.36 ERA).
UC Santa Barbara opened its 2021 season series wins over Santa Clara and Pepperdine before losing four games to Oregon. The Gauchos swept San Francisco, then opened Big West play with a 2-2 series split at Cal State Fullerton, a four-game sweep versus UC Davis and 3-1 series wins over Hawai'i, CSUN and UC San Diego before splitting four games at Long Beach State. The Gauchos are 17-7 in Big West games, two games behind first-place UC Irvine (16-4).
More than halfway through its 56-game schedule this season, Cal Poly fell below the .500 mark in Big West games by dropping three of four games to UC Irvine two weeks ago and split four games with UC Riverside, all eight games played at home. The Mustangs beat the Highlanders 4-2 in the opener as Drew Thorpe struck out seven over seven innings for his fourth win and Kyle Scott tossed two scoreless frames for his fourth save. Cal Poly also won the second game of the series 8-2 with Andrew Alvarez striking out 12 over eight innings for his fifth win, all career highs, and outfielder Reagan Doss drove in three runs with three hits, including a double. UC Riverside bounced back with 9-6 and 6-3 wins to gain the split, and the Highlanders outhit Cal Poly in all four contests. Doss was 7-for-13 with six RBIs in the first three games of the series.
Drew Thorpe and Dylan Villalobos combined on a two-hitter in Cal Poly's season-opening 4-0 win over Nevada, but the Mustangs stranded 38 runners on the base paths in the remaining three games of the series. It was a different story at USC as Cal Poly won two of three games in late February, its first win of a three-game set against USC in 27 Division I seasons. Thorpe and Andrew Alvarez combined on a three-hitter in a 2-1 victory Friday night at Dedeaux Field, the Mustangs parlayed 16 hits into a 9-4 triumph and the Trojans jumped to a 6-0 lead in the first two innings and held on for a 7-6 win to salvage one victory in the series.
In March, Cal Poly notched its first series sweep since April 2019 with a 3-0 whitewashing against Utah Valley. Boise State transfer Travis Weston tossed a complete-game two-hitter with a career-high 11 strikeouts in a 5-1 win while Andrew Alvarez, another lefty, tossed six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and teamed with three relievers on a 6-0 shutout in the finale.
No. 6 UCLA visited San Luis Obispo and the Mustangs earned a series win against the Bruins for the first time since Cal Poly's Big West Conference championship season in 2014. The Mustangs won the opener 5-4, overcoming an early 3-0 deficit. Three Mustang pitchers combined to strike out 14 Bruins. In the middle game, Cal Poly produced a pair of five-run rallies and a 17-hit offensive attack, but that wasn't enough as UCLA erased an early 5-0 deficit with 11 runs in the second, third and fourth frames, then held on for a 13-12 victory. Lee and Cole Cabrera belted two-run home runs and Emmerson also knocked in two runs as Cal Poly clinched the series in the finale with an 8-5 victory.
Cal Poly opened Big West play with a 13-10 setback in its series opener at Matador Field, but bounced back with 7-6, 12-1 and 10-8 victories. Emmerson went 10-for-18 (.556) with three consecutive three-hit games for the Mustangs and Lee knocked in 10 runs. After losing three of four games against UC San Diego in the second week of Big West play, Cal Poly hosted San Jose State for a three-game non-conference set. Following a pair of lopsided games — Cal Poly winning 10-1 Thursday and San Jose State taking the middle game 10-2 — the Mustangs rode the combined three-hit pitching of Travis Weston and Kyle Scott to a 3-0 shutout in the series finale.
At Long Beach State three weeks ago, Cal Poly dropped the opener 7-0, then bounced back with a 7-5 triumph in the doubleheader opener as Alvarez pitched seven scoreless innings. After a 2-1 loss in the nightcap, Cal Poly earned the split with a 5-1 win Sunday thanks to Bryan Woo's 5 2/3 scoreless innings of relief and a career-high eight strikeouts plus two hits each from Cole Cabrera, Myles Emmerson and Brooks Lee. UC Irvine won three of four games at Cal Poly two weeks ago, the Mustangs earning a walk-off 4-3 win in Saturday's first game by rallying for three unearned runs in the ninth inning capped by Nick Marinconz's long single off the left-field wall.
Gaucho Notes
UC Santa Barbara's top hitters 38 games into its season are right fielder Zach Rodriguez (.388, seven home runs, 39 RBIs), shortstop Jordan Sprinkle (.380, 11 doubles, four home runs, 23 RBIs, 16 of 19 steals) and Castanon (.373, five home runs, 25 RBIs). The pitching staff has been paced by McGreevy (5-1, 2.97 ERA), Boone (8-1, 1.88 ERA) and Torra (1-0, 3.68 ERA). Like Torra, Cory Lewis (4-2, 3.95 ERA) and James Callahan (2-2, 6.06 ERA) also have started five games. Five different relievers have one or two saves.
Coached by Checketts (10th season, 1315-192-4, Oregon State '98), UC Santa Barbara has a .291 team batting average through 38 games. The Gauchos have stolen 55 of 70 bases, sport a 3.87 staff ERA with opponents hitting .235 and have compiled a .975 fielding percentage with 35 errors in 38 games.
UC Santa Barbara is ranked No. 4 nationally in sacrifice flies (23), ninth in being hit by pitches (65), 15th in hits (382), 19th in runs scored (280), 22nd in triples (11), 25th in strikeouts per nine innings (10.50), 27th in stolen bases (55) and 29th in scoring (7.4). The Gauchos' four shutouts are 18th. Individually, Boone is second with his eight wins, McGreevy is sixth in walks allowed per nine innings (0.85) and seventh in strikeout-to-walk radio (11.67), Broc Mortensen, a former Cal Poly football player who played two seasons of baseball at Cuesta College before transferring to UC Santa Barbara, is No. 9 in hit by pitches (16) and Jordan Sprinkle is 27th in stolen bases (16).
UCSB claimed Big West titles in 1972, 1986 and 2019 and has qualified for the NCAA Division I regionals 11 times, including 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2019, compiling a 13-26 win-loss record in Division I postseason competition, including 6-2 in 2016 en route to regional and super regional triumphs and a berth in the College World Series and an 0-2 mark in the 2019 Stanford Regional.
Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara have met 232 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1942. The Gauchos hold a 120-112 advantage. Cal Poly swept the then-No. 9-ranked Gauchos in Baggett Stadium in 2016 and also swept UCSB four years ago in Santa Barbara and in 2018 in Baggett Stadium.
Needing another sweep in 2019 to claim a share of the Big West title and the automatic qualifying spot in the postseason, Cal Poly won the first two games by 3-0 and 4-3 scores at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium before the Gauchos clinched the title and playoff berth with a 7-0 victory in the series finale. The two Blue-Green rivals did not play each other in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cal Poly is 58-45 against UCSB since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Larry Lee is 42-24 against UC Santa Barbara while Andrew Checketts is 8-20 against Cal Poly.
Checketts spent three seasons as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator under George Horton at Oregon before coming to UC Santa Barbara. He was on the UC Riverside staff for seven years and began his coaching career at Riverside Community College, where he served as pitching coach and helped the team to their second consecutive California State championship in 2001. Checketts played one season at Florida and three at Oregon State.
Mustang Notes
Before the 2020 season was halted on March 11 due to COVID-19, Cal Poly won two of three games in the MLB4 Tournament at Scottsdale, Ariz., rallying for two runs on sacrifice flies in the bottom of the ninth inning for a walk-off 9-8 triumph over defending national champion Vanderbilt and also shutting out Connecticut 5-0 behind the combined two-hit pitching of Taylor Dollard and Dylan Villalobos.
The Mustangs, however, won just three of their next 13 contests to finish 5-11. One of those victories was a 10-inning 5-4 decision over No. 5 Michigan inside Baggett Stadium as Taison Corio singled with one out and the bases loaded.
Lee welcomed back 20 lettermen off last year's squad, including seven position starters. The 2021 Mustang roster also has been bolstered by the addition of three transfers from Boise State, which dropped its baseball program last summer, and one from Washington State, first baseman/designated hitter Matt Lopez.
Catcher Myles Emmerson led the squad a year ago with his .317 average, but no other Mustang starter finished above .280. Emmerson is the only one of the five seniors on last year's squad who returned this season under the NCAA rule allowing every 2020 spring sport athlete another year of eligibility due to COVID-19.
Last year's freshman class, which includes the likes of shortstop Brooks Lee, infielder Nick Marinconz and pitchers Drew Thorpe, Derek True and Kyle Scott, is considered one of Lee's strongest and the lineup also will feature the likes of veterans Cole Cabrera in center field, Taison Corio at second base and Tate Samuelson, who has moved from first base across the diamond to third base this year.
In addition to Thorpe, Scott and True, the pitching staff is led by returnees Andrew Alvarez in the starting rotation and Bryan Woo and Dylan Villalobos out of the bullpen. Thorpe is the Friday night starter while Alvarez starts one of the games in the Saturday doubleheaders.
All three Boise State transfers have played prominent roles with the Mustangs this spring. Southpaw Travis Weston is Cal Poly's other Saturday starter, Joe Yorke has started all but one game at first base and Reagan Doss roams the grass in the outfield.
Leading the squad's hitters 36 games into the season is Lee with a .357 average (No. 8 in the Big West), 16 doubles, three triples, seven home runs and 36 RBIs. Lee claimed back-to-back Big West Player of the Week awards after going 7-for-12 against Utah Valley and 7-for-14 versus UCLA, driving in 14 runs in the two series, and had a nine-game hitting streak halted by CSUN and a 12-game streak stopped by UC Irvine. Lopez is hitting .352 with seven doubles and 24 RBIs while Emmerson sports a .291 mark with seven doubles, a triple and 15 RBIs.
Thorpe (4-3, 3.70 ERA), Weston (3-5, 3.47 ERA) and Alvarez (5-2, 4.38 ERA) remain anchored in the starting rotation while Bryan Woo, Derek True, Kyle Scott (four saves) and Dylan Villalobos have worked the most innings out of the bullpen so far.
Bits and Pieces
For the second time in the last five years, Cal Poly is playing all of its games in the Golden State. The 2017 squad also played all 56 games in California, going 28-28. The Mustangs also will play 33 of their 56 games inside Baggett Stadium, opening the season with 25 of their first 36 games at home.
Cal Poly won the Big West title in 2014 and has placed second six times (including three straight from 2017-19), third four times and fourth six times since 2000, posting a combined record of 310-258 in its first 23 years as a member of the Big West. Cal Poly has had just three losing seasons since 2000 and has reached the 30-win mark 12 times this century. The Mustangs have won 200 of their last 295 home games for a 67.8 winning percentage.
Lee (565-447-2) surpassed Fresno State's Bob Bennett for the Big West record for overall wins with the 2-1 series-opening win at USC in late February. During the UC Davis series in 2019, Lee eclipsed Cal Poly alum and former Long Beach State head coach Dave Snow with his 219th conference win. Snow guided the Dirtbags to 218 Big West wins from 1989-2001.
Lee reached the 500-victory milestone on April 20, 2018, with a 5-4 triumph over Long Beach State. He earned 460 wins in 16 seasons at Cuesta College and notched his 460th Mustang victory on March 13, 2017 against Gonzaga and his 1,000th career victory with a 3-0 triumph at UC Santa Barbara on May 23, 2019. He currently has a 1,025-688-5 record over 34-plus seasons as a head coach and coached his 1,000th game as Cal Poly's head coach on April 1, a 10-1 win over UC San Diego.
Next week, Cal Poly goes back out on the road to play a four-game Big West series at CSU Bakersfield. First pitches with the Roadrunners are set for 3 p.m. Friday, a noon doubleheader Saturday and a 1 o'clock finale Sunday.
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (19-17 overall, 9-11 Big West), which won 10 of 13 games, including series wins over USC and then-No. 6 UCLA, after a 1-3 start, but has lost eight of its last 13 contests after opening Big West play by winning three of four at CSUN, continues conference play this weekend by visiting No. 27 UC Santa Barbara (26-12, 17-7 Big West) for a four-game set inside Caesar Uyesaka Stadium (cap.: 1,000).
Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs and the Gauchos of 10th-year head coach Andrew Checketts clash Friday at 5 p.m. followed by a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday and the finale Sunday, also at 1 o'clock.
All four games of the series will be broadcast on ESPN Radio (1280 AM and 101.7 FM) 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.
Coming off a 13-2 performance in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 campaign, UC Santa Barbara returned 24 of 31 letter winners, including nine position starters and 11 pitchers. Top returnees are infielder McClain O'Connor (.238, 12 RBIs, five steals in 2020), infielder Marcos Castanon (.288, 17 RBIs) and outfielder Steele Ledford (.283, four RBIs). The pitching staff is paced by right-hander Michael McGreevy (2-0, 0.99 ERA in 2020) and southpaws Rodney Boone (2-1, 2.53 ERA) and Zach Torra (3-0, 0.36 ERA).
UC Santa Barbara opened its 2021 season series wins over Santa Clara and Pepperdine before losing four games to Oregon. The Gauchos swept San Francisco, then opened Big West play with a 2-2 series split at Cal State Fullerton, a four-game sweep versus UC Davis and 3-1 series wins over Hawai'i, CSUN and UC San Diego before splitting four games at Long Beach State. The Gauchos are 17-7 in Big West games, two games behind first-place UC Irvine (16-4).
More than halfway through its 56-game schedule this season, Cal Poly fell below the .500 mark in Big West games by dropping three of four games to UC Irvine two weeks ago and split four games with UC Riverside, all eight games played at home. The Mustangs beat the Highlanders 4-2 in the opener as Drew Thorpe struck out seven over seven innings for his fourth win and Kyle Scott tossed two scoreless frames for his fourth save. Cal Poly also won the second game of the series 8-2 with Andrew Alvarez striking out 12 over eight innings for his fifth win, all career highs, and outfielder Reagan Doss drove in three runs with three hits, including a double. UC Riverside bounced back with 9-6 and 6-3 wins to gain the split, and the Highlanders outhit Cal Poly in all four contests. Doss was 7-for-13 with six RBIs in the first three games of the series.
Drew Thorpe and Dylan Villalobos combined on a two-hitter in Cal Poly's season-opening 4-0 win over Nevada, but the Mustangs stranded 38 runners on the base paths in the remaining three games of the series. It was a different story at USC as Cal Poly won two of three games in late February, its first win of a three-game set against USC in 27 Division I seasons. Thorpe and Andrew Alvarez combined on a three-hitter in a 2-1 victory Friday night at Dedeaux Field, the Mustangs parlayed 16 hits into a 9-4 triumph and the Trojans jumped to a 6-0 lead in the first two innings and held on for a 7-6 win to salvage one victory in the series.
In March, Cal Poly notched its first series sweep since April 2019 with a 3-0 whitewashing against Utah Valley. Boise State transfer Travis Weston tossed a complete-game two-hitter with a career-high 11 strikeouts in a 5-1 win while Andrew Alvarez, another lefty, tossed six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and teamed with three relievers on a 6-0 shutout in the finale.
No. 6 UCLA visited San Luis Obispo and the Mustangs earned a series win against the Bruins for the first time since Cal Poly's Big West Conference championship season in 2014. The Mustangs won the opener 5-4, overcoming an early 3-0 deficit. Three Mustang pitchers combined to strike out 14 Bruins. In the middle game, Cal Poly produced a pair of five-run rallies and a 17-hit offensive attack, but that wasn't enough as UCLA erased an early 5-0 deficit with 11 runs in the second, third and fourth frames, then held on for a 13-12 victory. Lee and Cole Cabrera belted two-run home runs and Emmerson also knocked in two runs as Cal Poly clinched the series in the finale with an 8-5 victory.
Cal Poly opened Big West play with a 13-10 setback in its series opener at Matador Field, but bounced back with 7-6, 12-1 and 10-8 victories. Emmerson went 10-for-18 (.556) with three consecutive three-hit games for the Mustangs and Lee knocked in 10 runs. After losing three of four games against UC San Diego in the second week of Big West play, Cal Poly hosted San Jose State for a three-game non-conference set. Following a pair of lopsided games — Cal Poly winning 10-1 Thursday and San Jose State taking the middle game 10-2 — the Mustangs rode the combined three-hit pitching of Travis Weston and Kyle Scott to a 3-0 shutout in the series finale.
At Long Beach State three weeks ago, Cal Poly dropped the opener 7-0, then bounced back with a 7-5 triumph in the doubleheader opener as Alvarez pitched seven scoreless innings. After a 2-1 loss in the nightcap, Cal Poly earned the split with a 5-1 win Sunday thanks to Bryan Woo's 5 2/3 scoreless innings of relief and a career-high eight strikeouts plus two hits each from Cole Cabrera, Myles Emmerson and Brooks Lee. UC Irvine won three of four games at Cal Poly two weeks ago, the Mustangs earning a walk-off 4-3 win in Saturday's first game by rallying for three unearned runs in the ninth inning capped by Nick Marinconz's long single off the left-field wall.
Gaucho Notes
UC Santa Barbara's top hitters 38 games into its season are right fielder Zach Rodriguez (.388, seven home runs, 39 RBIs), shortstop Jordan Sprinkle (.380, 11 doubles, four home runs, 23 RBIs, 16 of 19 steals) and Castanon (.373, five home runs, 25 RBIs). The pitching staff has been paced by McGreevy (5-1, 2.97 ERA), Boone (8-1, 1.88 ERA) and Torra (1-0, 3.68 ERA). Like Torra, Cory Lewis (4-2, 3.95 ERA) and James Callahan (2-2, 6.06 ERA) also have started five games. Five different relievers have one or two saves.
Coached by Checketts (10th season, 1315-192-4, Oregon State '98), UC Santa Barbara has a .291 team batting average through 38 games. The Gauchos have stolen 55 of 70 bases, sport a 3.87 staff ERA with opponents hitting .235 and have compiled a .975 fielding percentage with 35 errors in 38 games.
UC Santa Barbara is ranked No. 4 nationally in sacrifice flies (23), ninth in being hit by pitches (65), 15th in hits (382), 19th in runs scored (280), 22nd in triples (11), 25th in strikeouts per nine innings (10.50), 27th in stolen bases (55) and 29th in scoring (7.4). The Gauchos' four shutouts are 18th. Individually, Boone is second with his eight wins, McGreevy is sixth in walks allowed per nine innings (0.85) and seventh in strikeout-to-walk radio (11.67), Broc Mortensen, a former Cal Poly football player who played two seasons of baseball at Cuesta College before transferring to UC Santa Barbara, is No. 9 in hit by pitches (16) and Jordan Sprinkle is 27th in stolen bases (16).
UCSB claimed Big West titles in 1972, 1986 and 2019 and has qualified for the NCAA Division I regionals 11 times, including 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2019, compiling a 13-26 win-loss record in Division I postseason competition, including 6-2 in 2016 en route to regional and super regional triumphs and a berth in the College World Series and an 0-2 mark in the 2019 Stanford Regional.
Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara have met 232 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1942. The Gauchos hold a 120-112 advantage. Cal Poly swept the then-No. 9-ranked Gauchos in Baggett Stadium in 2016 and also swept UCSB four years ago in Santa Barbara and in 2018 in Baggett Stadium.
Needing another sweep in 2019 to claim a share of the Big West title and the automatic qualifying spot in the postseason, Cal Poly won the first two games by 3-0 and 4-3 scores at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium before the Gauchos clinched the title and playoff berth with a 7-0 victory in the series finale. The two Blue-Green rivals did not play each other in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cal Poly is 58-45 against UCSB since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Larry Lee is 42-24 against UC Santa Barbara while Andrew Checketts is 8-20 against Cal Poly.
Checketts spent three seasons as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator under George Horton at Oregon before coming to UC Santa Barbara. He was on the UC Riverside staff for seven years and began his coaching career at Riverside Community College, where he served as pitching coach and helped the team to their second consecutive California State championship in 2001. Checketts played one season at Florida and three at Oregon State.
Mustang Notes
Before the 2020 season was halted on March 11 due to COVID-19, Cal Poly won two of three games in the MLB4 Tournament at Scottsdale, Ariz., rallying for two runs on sacrifice flies in the bottom of the ninth inning for a walk-off 9-8 triumph over defending national champion Vanderbilt and also shutting out Connecticut 5-0 behind the combined two-hit pitching of Taylor Dollard and Dylan Villalobos.
The Mustangs, however, won just three of their next 13 contests to finish 5-11. One of those victories was a 10-inning 5-4 decision over No. 5 Michigan inside Baggett Stadium as Taison Corio singled with one out and the bases loaded.
Lee welcomed back 20 lettermen off last year's squad, including seven position starters. The 2021 Mustang roster also has been bolstered by the addition of three transfers from Boise State, which dropped its baseball program last summer, and one from Washington State, first baseman/designated hitter Matt Lopez.
Catcher Myles Emmerson led the squad a year ago with his .317 average, but no other Mustang starter finished above .280. Emmerson is the only one of the five seniors on last year's squad who returned this season under the NCAA rule allowing every 2020 spring sport athlete another year of eligibility due to COVID-19.
Last year's freshman class, which includes the likes of shortstop Brooks Lee, infielder Nick Marinconz and pitchers Drew Thorpe, Derek True and Kyle Scott, is considered one of Lee's strongest and the lineup also will feature the likes of veterans Cole Cabrera in center field, Taison Corio at second base and Tate Samuelson, who has moved from first base across the diamond to third base this year.
In addition to Thorpe, Scott and True, the pitching staff is led by returnees Andrew Alvarez in the starting rotation and Bryan Woo and Dylan Villalobos out of the bullpen. Thorpe is the Friday night starter while Alvarez starts one of the games in the Saturday doubleheaders.
All three Boise State transfers have played prominent roles with the Mustangs this spring. Southpaw Travis Weston is Cal Poly's other Saturday starter, Joe Yorke has started all but one game at first base and Reagan Doss roams the grass in the outfield.
Leading the squad's hitters 36 games into the season is Lee with a .357 average (No. 8 in the Big West), 16 doubles, three triples, seven home runs and 36 RBIs. Lee claimed back-to-back Big West Player of the Week awards after going 7-for-12 against Utah Valley and 7-for-14 versus UCLA, driving in 14 runs in the two series, and had a nine-game hitting streak halted by CSUN and a 12-game streak stopped by UC Irvine. Lopez is hitting .352 with seven doubles and 24 RBIs while Emmerson sports a .291 mark with seven doubles, a triple and 15 RBIs.
Thorpe (4-3, 3.70 ERA), Weston (3-5, 3.47 ERA) and Alvarez (5-2, 4.38 ERA) remain anchored in the starting rotation while Bryan Woo, Derek True, Kyle Scott (four saves) and Dylan Villalobos have worked the most innings out of the bullpen so far.
Bits and Pieces
For the second time in the last five years, Cal Poly is playing all of its games in the Golden State. The 2017 squad also played all 56 games in California, going 28-28. The Mustangs also will play 33 of their 56 games inside Baggett Stadium, opening the season with 25 of their first 36 games at home.
Cal Poly won the Big West title in 2014 and has placed second six times (including three straight from 2017-19), third four times and fourth six times since 2000, posting a combined record of 310-258 in its first 23 years as a member of the Big West. Cal Poly has had just three losing seasons since 2000 and has reached the 30-win mark 12 times this century. The Mustangs have won 200 of their last 295 home games for a 67.8 winning percentage.
Lee (565-447-2) surpassed Fresno State's Bob Bennett for the Big West record for overall wins with the 2-1 series-opening win at USC in late February. During the UC Davis series in 2019, Lee eclipsed Cal Poly alum and former Long Beach State head coach Dave Snow with his 219th conference win. Snow guided the Dirtbags to 218 Big West wins from 1989-2001.
Lee reached the 500-victory milestone on April 20, 2018, with a 5-4 triumph over Long Beach State. He earned 460 wins in 16 seasons at Cuesta College and notched his 460th Mustang victory on March 13, 2017 against Gonzaga and his 1,000th career victory with a 3-0 triumph at UC Santa Barbara on May 23, 2019. He currently has a 1,025-688-5 record over 34-plus seasons as a head coach and coached his 1,000th game as Cal Poly's head coach on April 1, a 10-1 win over UC San Diego.
Next week, Cal Poly goes back out on the road to play a four-game Big West series at CSU Bakersfield. First pitches with the Roadrunners are set for 3 p.m. Friday, a noon doubleheader Saturday and a 1 o'clock finale Sunday.
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