Cal Poly Resumes Big West Play with Weekend Series at UC Riverside

Friday, April 22

Riverside, CA

6 p.m.

UC Riverside

Cal Poly center fielder Reagan Doss singled three times and drove in a run in the Mustangs' 10-8 loss to Nos. 6/7/8 Stanford on Tuesday night. Doss is hitting .284 for the season.

Photo by: Photo by Connor Lau

Cal Poly Resumes Big West Play with Weekend Series at UC Riverside

4/21/2022 9:37:00 AM | Baseball

WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | UC RIVERSIDE | BIG WEST
AUDIO STREAM: FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
VIDEO STREAM: FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
LIVE STATS: FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (22-14, 9-3 Big West), ranked No. 26 by Collegiate Baseball this week, winner of 15 of its last 20 games after a 7-9 opening and off to a 9-3 start in conference games, alone in second place, resumes Big West play this weekend with a three-game series at UC?Riverside (5-28, 2-13 Big West) inside the Riverside Sports Complex (cap.: 2,500).

First pitches are set for 6 p.m. both Friday and Saturday and 1 o'clock Sunday. All three games of the series will be broadcast on?ESPN?Radio (1280 AM and 101.7 FM) with Chris Sylvester providing the play-by-play. The series also will be available on ESPN+. Links for video and audio streams as well as live stats are available on the baseball schedule page at www.GoPoly.com.

After the 7-9 start, Cal Poly put together five- and six-game winning streaks, moving nine games above the .500 mark for the first time since the 2016 season by taking two of three games in a Big West series at UC?Irvine last weekend. The Mustangs, 0-5 in one-run games prior to the series, bounced back from a 7-1 loss in the opener with 4-3 and 7-6 victories.

Cal Poly fell to Nos. 6/7/8 Stanford 10-8 Tuesday night in front of 2,738 fans, the largest crowd for a midweek game in Baggett Stadium history. The Cardinal jumped to a 9-1 lead and Cal Poly's comeback effort fell two runs shy as the final four Mustang batters struck out

Cal Poly opened the 2022 season by dropping a pair of one-run decisions against Washington, 6-5 and 4-3, before claiming the series finale. Following an 8-4 midweek win over Fresno State, 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.

The early season slide continued as Cal Poly fell 3-1 to San Jose State and split a four-game weekend set against the Ivy League's Harvard. That series included Drew Thorpe's three-hit shutout in the opener, a grand slam by Brett Borgogno and Brooks Lee's first four-hit game as a Mustang.

On March 18, Cal Poly rallied from a 4-0 deficit with a decisive five-run eighth-inning outburst for a 6-4 Big West-opening triumph over CSUN, providing a turning point for the Mustangs as they have lost just five times since. Cal Poly completed the sweep against the Matadors, earned a series win at UC?San Diego highlighted by a combined 20-strikeout effort from Thorpe and Jason Franks, won all five games versus Santa Clara and Dixie State three weeks ago and won Big West series against Long Beach State and defending conference champion UC?Irvine, both two games to one, to stay within striking distance of first-place UC?Santa Barbara.

Franks earned two saves by retiring all 10 UC?Irvine batters he faced as Cal Poly rallied for the 4-3 win Friday, scoring all four runs in the ninth inning capped by a two-run triple off the bat of Collin Villegas that wiped out a 3-0 deficit, and jumped to a 7-0 lead and held on for the 7-6 triumph in Saturday's finale. Matthias Haas was 4-for-7 in the series with a double and three 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.

The Mustangs are back above the .500 mark for the first time since winning the opener of their series against Missouri State on Feb. 26, lifting their mark to 3-2 at the time.

UC?Riverside is 5-28 for the season under second-year head coach Justin Johnson. The Highlanders opened the year by losing their first 10 games and 20 of 21, defeating Saint Mary's 9-7 on March 6 for their lone win in the first six weeks of the campaign. UC?Riverside won three straight games three weeks ago, defeating Loyola Marymount 3-1 and capturing the first two games of its series versus UC?Davis, but lost eight more in a row before defeating Utah Valley 4-2 on Wednesday. The Highlanders lost all three games of its series at CSUN by shutout?last weekend and are tied for 10th place with UC?Davis in the Big West, both with 2-13 marks.

UC?Riverside is hitting .229 as a team with 47 doubles, seven triples and five home runs, scoring 124 runs in its 33 games so far. The Highlanders are third in the Big West in batters hit by their pitchers (41) and their highest national ranking is 121st with 45 of their batters hit by pitches. The pitching staff has compiled a 7.91 ERA with 200 strikeouts over 281 innings, and the Highlanders have committed 36 errors for a .969 fielding percentage.

UC Riverside, a member of the Big West since 2002, claimed the Big West title in 2007 and has qualified for the NCAA Division I regionals twice -- in 2003 and 2007. The Highlanders also earned NCAA Division II playoff berths nine times, capturing the national title in both 1977 and 1982.

Cal Poly and UC Riverside have met 208 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1970. The Mustangs hold a 120-88 advantage, splitting four games at Baggett Stadium in 2021. The Mustangs also won two of three versus the Highlanders at home in 2019 and swept the Highlanders to close out the 2018 season in Riverside. Cal Poly swept the Highlanders in 2012, 2013 and 2015 as well and is 23-8 against UC Riverside over the last 10 years and 38-23 since moving to Division I prior to the 1995 season. In 2017, all three games of the series, played in San Luis Obispo, were shutouts — Cal Poly earning 1-0 and 5-0 wins before falling in the finale 4-0.

Larry Lee is 35-20 against UC Riverside while Justin Johnson is 2-2 against Cal Poly.

Johnson (second season, 20-67, Mt. San Antonio '97) joined the UC Riverside baseball coaching staff in September 2014 as the program's director of baseball operations following one year as the head coach at Saint Katherine College. He became a volunteer assistant with the program the following year.

Prior to his stint at Saint Katherine's, Johnson spent two seasons as the associate head coach at Cal Tech, where he helped the Beavers to the program's first win in 10 years. Johnson began his coaching career at Valley View High School in Moreno Valley, where he helped guide the Eagles to two CIF-Southern Section playoff appearances.

A graduate of Diamond Bar High School, Johnson played at Mt. SAC for legendary coach Art Mazmanian. He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays, and played a summer as a free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers in extended spring training.

Picked by Big West head coaches to finish 10th this year, UC?Riverside welcomed back a total of 19 letter winners, including eight position starters and eight pitchers, from last year's 15-39 squad. Top returnees include third baseman Nathan Webb (.324, nine home runs, 43 RBIs in 2021), right fielder Dylan Orick.307, 34 RBIs) and first baseman Joey Nicolai (.302, 28 RBIs). The pitching staff is paced by right-handers Zach Jacobs (1-6, 5.18 ERA), Tucker Juline (3-5, 5.74 ERA) and Eric Marrujo (2-6, one save, 6.13 ERA).

Thirty-three games into the 2022 season, catcher Mason Grace leads all Highlander hitters with a .320 average. Center fielder Jacob Badawi is next with a .295 average, followed by outfielder Andrew Gamez (.273). Orick is the team's RBI leader with 16 to go with his .224 average and 11 doubles. Right-handed reliever Sergio Ramirez (2-2, 1.11 ERA) is the lone Highlander pitcher with multiple wins and Tyler Frazier (0-4, 5.60 ERA), also a right-hander, is the only Highlander pitcher who has started all nine weekends so far this season. No one else has more than five starts on the mound.

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.

As the team's designated hitter, 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. Stafford has made 27 starts behind the plate and Villegas nine with 19 additional starts in the outfield.

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 the midweek contests. 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 .387 mark, first in the Big West, which includes 17 doubles, a triple, seven home runs and 37 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, and had a career-long 19-game hitting streak snapped by Long Beach State two weeks ago. Sophomore second baseman Nick Marinconz sports a .329 average with five doubles, a home run and eight RBIs while Villegas sports a .300 mark with 14 doubles, two triples, three home runs and 29 RBIs, lifting his average 87 points over his last 20 games by going 22-for-63 (.349) with 10 doubles, a triple, two home runs and 25 RBIs. Stafford is hitting .298 with 12 doubles, a pair of home runs and 16 RBIs.

The Mustangs have a combined 340-280 conference record (.548 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 222 of their last 325 home games for a 68.5 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 has guided the Mustangs to wins in 62 of 95 Big West series with a pair of 2-2 splits for a 64.9 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 (2012-21, not counting 2020).

Lee (20th season, 599-469-2, 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 and is one shy of the 600 mark. 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 1,059-710-5 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.

Next week Cal Poly visits Santa Clara for a midweek game Tuesday at 6 p.m. followed by a three-game weekend Big West series at home versus UC?Santa Barbara.