Cal Poly to Play First of Two Midweek Games at Cal on Tuesday

Tuesday, March 22

Berkeley, CA

3:05 p.m.

California

Cal Poly third baseman Tate Samuelson throws to first base for an out while his teammates watch from the Mustang dugout Saturday against CSUN.

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Cal Poly to Play First of Two Midweek Games at Cal on Tuesday

3/21/2022 4:42:00 PM | Baseball

WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | CAL
AUDIO STREAM | VIDEO STREAM | LIVE STATS
RYAN STAFFORD INTERVIEW ON MUSTANG INSIDER

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- After opening Big West Conference play with a three-game series sweep against CSUN, Cal Poly (10-9, 3-0 Big West) will play its first road midweek game Tuesday, visiting Cal (10-9, 3-3 Pac-12) for a single game inside Evans Diamond at Stu Gordon Stadium (cap.: 2,000).

First pitch is set for 3:05 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on?ESPN?Radio (1280 AM and 101.7 FM) with Zachary Anderson-Yoxsimer providing the play-by-play. Links for video and audio streams as well as live stats are available on the baseball schedule page at www.GoPoly.com.

Cal Poly opened the 2022 season by dropping a pair of one-run decisions against Washington, 6-5 and 4-3, before riding a five-run second-inning uprising to victory over the Huskies in the series finale. True freshman catcher Ryan Stafford led the way with a 5-for-11 performance at the plate with three doubles and one RBI.

Following an 8-4 midweek win over Fresno State — sparked by a two-run home run off the bat of right fielder Matthias Haas in the fifth inning and a three-run double by shortstop Brooks Lee in the sixth — the Mustangs went out on the road and took two of three games from Missouri State in Arlington, Texas, before losing two of three contests at UNLV. Two weeks ago, Cal Poly fell 3-1 to San Jose State on Tuesday and split a four-game weekend set against the Ivy League's Harvard, winning the first two contests 5-0 and 10-1 before falling 4-3 and 9-4. Drew Thorpe pitched a three-hit shutout in the opener while Brett Borgogno hit a grand slam and Lee produced his first four-hit game as a Mustang in the first game of a March 12 doubleheader.

Cal Poly defeated CSUN 6-4 (rallying from a 4-0 deficit with a decisive five-run eighth-inning outburst), 8-4 and 6-4 to open Big?West play last weekend. Stafford was 5-for-12 in the series while Lee was 4-for-10 and Collin Villegas contributed three doubles and four RBIs.

In each of its first 10 games this season, Cal Poly held a lead or was tied in the sixth inning or later but lost five of the contests and was 7-9 entering the CSUN series. The Mustangs are back above the .500 mark for the first time since winning the opener of their series against Missouri State, lifting their mark to 3-2. Cal Poly has won six straight and 10 of its last 11 games against the Matadors.

Like Cal Poly, Cal is 10-9 for the season under fifth-year head coach Mike Neu. The Bears played in the MLB4 Tournament in?Scottsdale, Ariz., to open their 2022 season, winning each of its three games against Houston, TCU and San Diego State, then lost two of three games versus Illinois-Chicago and two of three at No. 10 Florida State. Cal also opened Pac-12 play by losing two of three at home against No. 16 Arizona before heading to the Southland last weekend and winning two of three at No. 25 USC, bouncing back from a 6-2 loss in the opener with 9-5 and 3-2 victories.?Ian May made his first collegiate start and gave up just two runs and two hits over 5 2/3 innings with three strikeouts as the Bears won a series at USC for the first time in eight years and have won consecutive series versus the Trojans for the first time since 2014 and 2015.

Cal is hitting .263 as a team with 38 doubles, five triples and 23 home runs, scoring 113 runs in its 19 games so far. The Bears are second in the Pac-12 in home runs (23) and strikeouts per nine innings (10.5) and are fourth in double plays (15), sacrifice flies (8) and triples (5). The pitching staff has compiled a 4.90 ERA with 200 strikeouts over 170.2 innings, and the Bears have committed 16 errors for a .977 fielding percentage.

Cal placed fifth in the 2011 NCAA College World Series, claimed CWS titles in 1947 and 1957, has appeared in the NCAA postseason 14 times, most recently 2019 when the Bears went 0-2 in the Fayetteville Regional, and has reached the College World Series six times and last won a conference title in 1980.

Cal made an initial decision in September 2010 to discontinue the baseball program due to pressure on the university's budget. Following a fundraising effort that generated approximately $10 million in commitment, Golden Bear baseball was reinstated April 8, 2011.

Cal Poly and Cal have met 57 times on the baseball field since the series began in 1948. The Bears hold a 41-16 advantage after sweeping the Mustangs in a three-game series at Baggett Stadium by scores of 10-2, 5-4 and 5-3, and also won two of three games versus the Mustangs in a series opening the 2017 season at Evans Diamond. Cal Poly won three of four games in a 2014 series at Baggett Stadium, the year the Mustangs captured the Big West title. Cal is 13-9 against Cal Poly since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season.

Neu (fifth season at Cal (108-88), seventh season overall (148-153), Phoenix '08) was named head coach at Cal on July 5, 2017 after two seasons as head coach at Pacific. Neu was pitching coach at Cal from 2012-15 and head coach at Diablo Valley College from 2009-11. As a player, the Napa, Calif., native enjoyed a standout career at Miami before going on to play in the Dodgers, Marlins, A's and Reds organizations. Neu was called up to the Major Leagues with the A's on April 9, 2003, and compiled a 3.64 ERA in 32 relief appearances that season.

Picked by Pac-12 head coaches to finish sixth this year, Cal welcomed back a total of 23 letter winners, including six position starters and 12 pitchers. Top returnees include outfielders Dylan Beavers (.303, 18 home runs, 49 RBIs, 10 steals in 2021) and Steven Zobac (.240, 20 RBIs) and catcher Cole Elvis (.233, 34 RBIs). The pitching staff is paced by Josh White (5-3, 2.79 ERA, three saves in 2021), Sam Stoutenborough (1-2, 3.73 ERA) and Nick Proctor (2-2, 5.94 ERA, one save), all right-handers.

Nineteen games into the 2022 season, shortstop Keshawn Ogans leads all Cal hitters with a .346 average with six doubles and 10 RBIs. Elvis is hitting .297 with six doubles and 17 RBIs while Beavers, a first-team All-Pac-12 selection a year ago, sports a .286 average with seven home runs and 19 RBIs. Beavers, a graduate of San Luis Obispo's Mission College Prep, earned all-region and All-American honors a year ago as well and played with Cal Poly's Lee and Thorpe on the 2021 Collegiate National Team. Beavers' two-run home run in the ninth inning Saturday snapped at 5-5 tie at USC.

Cal will start junior right-hander Connor Sullivan (0-0, 6.00 ERA), who made just five appearances on the mound as a sophomore while battling injuries and was a freshman All-American in the COVID-shortened 2020 season after compiling a 1.59 ERA with one save and 17 strikeouts over 11 1/3 innings in seven mound appearances. Sullivan is a graduate of Woodside High School near Redwood City. Cal Poly will counter with freshman southpaw Noah Larkin (0-1, 6.35 ERA), who will be making his first collegiate start.

Lee welcomed back 22 lettermen off last year's squad, including seven position starters and all but three pitchers. The 2022 Mustang roster, bolstered by the addition of three transfers from Boise State and one from Washington State a year ago, has added a pair of graduate students this spring in infielder Brett Borgogno (Cal State Fullerton and Louisiana-Lafayette) and outfielder John Lagattuta (Cal) along with utility player Matthias Haas, a transfer from Brown.

Topping the list of returnees is five-time 2021 All-American Brooks Lee, a preseason All-American five times as well this spring. Projected to be a top-five draft pick in July, Lee hit a team-leading .342 with 10 home runs, 57 RBIs and a school-record 27 doubles as a redshirt freshman in 2021 en route to Big West Co-Field Player of the Year and Co-Freshman Field Player of the Year honors.

The group of returnees also includes designated hitter Matt Lopez, third baseman Tate Samuelson, first baseman Joe Yorke, second baseman Nick Marinconz, utility player Taison Corio and pitchers Drew Thorpe, Travis Weston, Bryce Warrecker, Kyle Scott and Dylan Villalobos, among several others.

The entire infield is back as Yorke made 54 starts at first base, Marinconz (27) and Corio (23) combined for 50 starts at second base, Lee started 54 games at shortstop and Samuelson was in the starting lineup 53 times at third base.

Lopez was second on the team in hitting at .341 with 26 RBIs in 39 games.

The outfield is a work in progress with the loss of Cole Cabrera in center field, Sam Biller in left and Nick DiCarlo in right. Reagan Doss, who started 21 games in the outfield last year and hit .258 with six doubles and 13 RBIs in 37 games, replaces Cabrera in center field. A pair of catchers lead the depth chart in left field — Ryan Stafford of Folsom High School and returnee Collin Villegas — while Haas of Oakland's Bishop O'Dowd High School and Brown and Lagattuta of Davis Senior High School and Cal likely will share duties in right field. Villegas and Stafford are listed 1-2 behind the plate.

On the mound Drew Thorpe was 6-1 with a 3.15 ERA in home games last spring, finishing with a 6-6 mark and 3.79 ERA. He led the squad in strikeouts with 104, which is No. 10 all-time in the Cal Poly record book, and compiled double-digit strikeouts three times in 2021. Travis Weston (5-6, 3.28 ERA) earned three complete games, the most by a Mustang pitcher since Joey Wagman also collected three complete games in 2013. Weston was a starter in Saturday doubleheaders.

Thorpe and Weston will start Friday and Saturday, respectively, for the second year in a row. Sophomore Kaden Sheedy (1-2, 5.40 ERA in 2021) got the nod for the first four Sunday games this season with freshman right-hander Steven Brooks of Cosumnes Oaks High School in Elk Grove, Calif., starting in midweek games. Sheedy made four starts in the final six weeks of the 2021 season, including a complete-game three-hitter with six strikeouts in the series finale at UC?Davis.

So far this season, Lee leads all Mustang hitters with a Big?West-leading .438 mark, which includes 14 doubles, three home runs and 25 RBIs. He is on pace to surpass his own school doubles record (27) set last year as well as his 57 total RBIs in 2021. Freshman catcher/left fielder Ryan Stafford is hitting .329 with nine doubles and a pair of home runs while sophomore second baseman Nick Marinconz sports a .286 average.

The Mustangs have a combined 334-277 conference record (.547 winning percentage) in 24-plus years as a member of the Big West (no conference games were played in 2020), the last 18-plus under Lee. Cal Poly has had just three losing seasons since 2000 and has reached the 30-win mark 13 times this century, including 2021. The Mustangs have won 215 of their last 316 home games for a 68.0 winning percentage.

Since and including 2011, Cal Poly is the only Big West team to have a winning or .500 overall record each year (excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 season). Also since 2011, Cal Poly is the only Big West team to finish at least fourth or higher every year, including one first place, five seconds, one third and three fourths.

Since 2011, Lee guided the Mustangs to wins in 59 of 92 Big West series with a pair of 2-2 splits for a 64.1 winning percentage. The Mustangs won seven of eight conference series in both 2014 and 2017. Cal Poly is the only Big West team to have a winning overall record in each full season since 2011 and the Mustangs are the only Big West team to finish fourth place or higher every year. Since 2003, Cal Poly has finished below fourth place only twice.

Cal Poly has had 19 MLB draft picks in the top 10 rounds since and including 2011. Only Cal State Fullerton has had more with 22.  The next tier are three teams with a total of 10 in that time span. Cal Poly has had a total of 34 top-10 round MLB draft picks in the last 18 years.

Since 2012, Cal Poly has had eight Division I All-Americans. Also, since 2003, Cal Poly has had 11 players make it to the Major Leagues. In the rest of the history of the program, there were nine to have made it to The Show.

Cal Poly is seventh among 25 California Division I schools and 10th in the West Region (47 schools) with 299 wins over the last nine years (not counting 2020).

Lee (20th season, 587-464-2, Pepperdine '83) surpassed Fresno State's Bob Bennett for the Big?West record for overall wins with a 2-1 series-opening win at USC in February 2021. 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 1,047-705-5 record over 35-plus seasons as a head coach and coached his 1,000th game as Cal Poly's head coach on April 1, 2021, a 10-1 win over UC?San Diego.

Cal Poly resumes Big West Conference play with a three-game weekend series at UC?San Diego (Friday at 6:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m., Sunday at 1 p.m.).