Cal Poly to Visit Santa Clara for Non-Conference Game Tuesday

Tuesday, April 26

Santa Clara, CA

6 p.m.

Santa Clara

Cal Poly players lineup for National Anthem.

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Cal Poly to Visit Santa Clara for Non-Conference Game Tuesday

4/25/2022 8:20:00 PM | Baseball

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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly (24-15, 11-4 Big West), ranked No. 30 by Collegiate Baseball this week and winner of 17 of its last 23 games after a 7-9 start, takes a one-game break from Big West play and closes out a four-game road trip Tuesday night with a single non-conference game at Santa Clara (21-17, 11-7 West Coast) inside Stephen Schott Stadium (cap.: 1,500).

First pitch is set for 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN Radio (1280 AM and 101.7 FM) with Zachary Anderson-Yoxsimer providing the play-by-play. The game also will be available on the WCC Network. 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.

Last week, 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, then won its fifth straight Big West series with 9-3 and 4-3 (11 innings) wins at UC Riverside before falling 8-3 in Sunday's finale. Joe Yorke had a pair of three-hit games in the series and Mark Armstrong's pinch-hit RBI double in the 11th lifted the Mustangs over the Highlanders on Saturday.

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.

The Mustangs are back above the .500 mark after the 0-2, 4-5, 5-7 and 7-9 starts, going 17-6 since the start of Big West play March 18.

Santa Clara lost two of three games to USC opening the season, won three of four versus Northwestern, swept UC San Diego and lost two of three to Texas A&M before beginning West Coast Conference play with two games to one series wins over both San Francisco and Loyola Marymount. At 15-7 prior to a 4-2 loss to the Lions on March 27, the Broncos were eight games above the .500 mark for the first time since opening the 2018 campaign with an 11-3 mark. Since beating Loyola Marymount twice, Santa Clara has lost 10 of 16 games, winning three of four series but swept by BYU on April 7-9.

Santa Clara fell to Cal Poly 15-6 on March 29 at Baggett Stadium. Mark Armstrong made the most of his first start this season, driving in four runs with a single, double and walk, while freshman southpaw Noah Larkin allowed just one run and three hits over five innings for his first collegiate win for the Mustangs. Armstrong doubled to drive in two runs in the first inning, drew a bases-loaded walk for another RBI in the fifth and singled for his fourth RBI in the sixth as the Mustangs scored 15 times in the middle innings to win going away. Cal Poly's 13-hit offensive attack was paced by shortstop Brooks Lee's fourth three-hit game of the season, all singles.

Santa Clara is hitting .271 as a team with 70 doubles, 19 triples and 19 home runs, scoring 218 runs in its 38 games so far. The Broncos are first in the West Coast in triples (19) and second in strikeouts per nine innings (10.4) and third in both sacrifice bunts (16) and batters hit by pitches (51). The pitching staff has compiled a 5.22 ERA with 382 strikeouts over 331 innings, and the Broncos have committed 50 errors for a .962 fielding percentage.

Fifth-year head coach Rusty Filter (89-121, San Diego State '90) welcomed back 19 lettermen from last year's 18-33 club (ninth in the West Coast at 8-19), including five starting position players and seven pitchers. Top returnees include center fielder Coleman Brigman (.254, 10 RBIs in 2021), second baseman Dawson Brigman (.258, 17 RBIs) and utility player Matt Jew (.206, 17 RBIs). Top returning pitchers include Cole Kitchen (5-3, 3.58 ERA in 2021), Alex Reelfs (3-2, 4.25 ERA, two saves) and Jared Feikes (1-3, 6.83 ERA, one save), all right-handers.

Top Bronco hitters so far in 2022 are center fielder Coleman Brigman (.329, 12 doubles, four triples, four home runs, 30 RBIs), right fielder Michael O'Hara (.327, 13 RBIs) and designated hitter Eamonn Lance (.311, 10 doubles, 19 RBIs). Coleman Brigman produced a pair of walk-off hits the week prior to Santa Clara's first game against Cal Poly — a two-out three-run ninth-inning home run snapping a 9-9 tie in a 12-9 win over San Jose State and a two-out RBI single in the 10th inning of a 4-3 win over Loyola Marymount.

Cal Poly will start freshman southpaw Noah Larkin (2-2, 4.32 ERA) on Tuesday while Santa Clara will counter with junior left-hander Nick Sando (4-2, 1.48 ERA, four saves), who pitched three innings for a save against Pepperdine last Friday. Larkin earned his first collegiate win in the first Santa Clara contest, striking out three while allowing one run and three hits over five innings.

Santa Clara has finished first in the West Coast Conference four times, the last in 2001. The Broncos are in their 140th year of competition in baseball, earning 2,336 wins with 12 NCAA regional appearances (the last in 1997) and one trip to the College World Series (1962).

Filter was pitching coach under Mark Marquess at Stanford for eight seasons before taking over for Dan O'Brien at Santa Clara in June 2017. He helped the Cardinal reach the NCAA Tournament five times, including three trips to the Super Regional, and developed 20 pitchers who were selected in the MLB Draft.

In 16 seasons as an assistant coach under Jim Dietz and Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn at his alma mater, Filter mentored 58 draft picks, including two top overall picks in the Major League draft, Stephen Strasburg in 2009 and Mark Appel in 2013. Filter played at San Diego State from 1987-90, originally as a catcher before moving to the mound, and was drafted by Toronto in 1990.

Cal Poly and Santa Clara have played 91 baseball games against each other since the series began in 1956. The Broncos hold a 48-43 advantage after the loss to Cal Poly on March 29. The two teams did not play midweek games in 2021 and Santa Clara posted an 8-5 win over the Mustangs in the lone meeting between the two schools in 2020 before the season was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cal Poly had won eight of 10 contests before the Broncos won five straight in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Larry Lee is 20-20 against Santa Clara while Rusty Filter is 5-1 against Cal Poly.

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 .385 mark, second in the Big West, which includes 19 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 three weeks ago. Sophomore second baseman Nick Marinconz sports a .347 average with six doubles, a home run and 10 RBIs while Villegas is hitting .295 with 14 doubles, two triples, three home runs and 30 RBI.

The Mustangs have a combined 342-281 conference record (.549 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 63 of 96 Big West series with a pair of 2-2 splits for a 65.6 winning percentage. The Mustangs won seven of eight conference series in both 2014 and 2017 and is 5-0 so far this spring. 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, 601-470-2, 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 earned win No. 600 last Friday with a 9-3 nod over UC Riverside. 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 1,061-711-5 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 play this weekend by hosting first-place UC Santa Barbara (Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 4 and Sunday at 1).