Cal Poly to Host Santa Clara for Midweek Game Tuesday Afternoon

Tuesday, April 11

San Luis Obispo, CA

4 p.m.

Santa Clara

Tickets

Shortstop Aaron Casillas has hit safely in nine straight games, lifting his batting average 48 points to .301.

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Cal Poly to Host Santa Clara for Midweek Game Tuesday Afternoon

4/10/2023 2:46:00 PM | Baseball

VIDEO STREAM | AUDIO STREAM | LIVE STATS | TICKETS

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly hasn't had much success against Santa Clara lately.

In fact, the Broncos have won six of the last seven meetings between the two baseball programs dating back to a pair of Mustang midweek wins in 2017, building a 49-43 advantage in the all-time series which began back in 1956.

And those wins were during some lean years at Santa Clara, including an 18-33 mark in 2021 and 12-40 in 2019.

Cal Poly will try to turn things around and continue its goals of a winning season at Baggett Stadium and a return to the .500 mark overall, hosting the Broncos for a 4 p.m. contest Tuesday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN Radio (Zachary Anderson-Yoxsimer) and ESPN+ (Chris Sylvester). Links for video and audio streams as well as live stats are at the top of this page as well as on the baseball schedule page at GoPoly.com.

The Mustangs (10-18) are coming off a sweep of last weekend's Big West Conference series against UC Riverside, raising their home mark to 9-12. With 10 home games remaining, Cal Poly must go at least 7-3 to finish above the .500 mark in Baggett Stadium.

Only one of Cal Poly's past 22 seasons at Baggett Stadium ended with a losing mark at home. That was the 2010 club which finished 15-17 in the facility and 23-32 overall.

This year's Mustangs have won seven of their last 12 games after a 3-13 start and, after last weekend's .327 team batting mark against UC Riverside, four Mustang regulars own batting averages above the .300 mark.

First baseman Joe Yorke leads the way with a .323 mark after going 6-for-12 against the Highlanders with a pair of doubles and eight RBIs. The redshirt junior was hitting just .256 midway through March, but in his last 14 games, Yorke has gone 22-for-60 (.367) with four doubles, two home runs and 23 RBIs, lifting his average 67 points.

Along the way was his second four-hit game in two weeks and his sixth career contest of four or more hits, including the pair of five-hit games Yorke produced in a four-game span last season.

Catcher Ryan Stafford was 6-for-10 last weekend with two doubles and three RBIs, lifting his average 33 points to .319. He has put together a streak of four consecutive two-hit games, hitting .360 (18-for-50) in his last 12 contests with two doubles, a triple and one home run while driving in 11.

Center fielder Jake Steels sports a .310 average with 12 RBIs in 22 games after going 5-for-15 in four games last week and scoring seven times. Shortstop Aaron Casillas has hit in nine straight games, going 15-for-38 (.395) with a double and six RBIs during the run to hike his average 48 points to .301.

Third baseman Ryan Fenn has hit safely in 10 of his last 12 games, hitting .349 (15-for-43) with four doubles and four RBIs to bump his average up from .200 to .294.

Freshman right-hander Freddy Rodriguez (0-1, 5.40 ERA) will start on the mound for Cal Poly. He allowed just one earned run in 4 2/3 innings at Fresno State two weeks ago but was not involved in the decision, a 15-5 Mustang victory, and struck out a career-high five over five innings last Tuesday versus Pepperdine.

Santa Clara, which will start junior southpaw Brandon Gomez (3-2, 3.30 ERA), is off to a 16-11 start after winning two of three West Coast Conference games at home against Pacific, including a 17-2 romp in Saturday's finale.

The Broncos overcame a 2-1 deficit with 16 runs in their final four at-bats. Designated hitter Efrain Manzo homered twice, his eighth and ninth of the year, while shortstop Malcolm Williams had a four-hit day with a double and three singles. First baseman Robert Hipwell contributed a grand slam with six RBIs and three runs scored.

Santa Clara opened its season with a series win over Washington, swept Villanova four weeks ago and earned two wins in three games against Big West leader UC San Diego. In West Coast play, the Broncos have won two of three games against Saint Mary's, San Diego and Pacific but were swept by Loyola Marymount two weeks ago and are 6-6 in the WCC.

Catcher Johnny Luetzow owns a team-leading .379 batting average while Manzo is hitting .333 with 11 doubles and 26 RBIs in 27 games. Second baseman Daniel Brigman sports a .330 mark with four home runs, left fielder JonJon Berring .320, Hipwell .310 and Williams .305.

Santa Clara is hitting .284 as a team, third in the WCC, with 56 doubles and 32 home runs in 27 games. The Bronco pitching staff has compiled a .407 ERA, best in the conference, and Santa Clara has committed 35 errors in 27 games for a .965 fielding percentage.

The two teams also will play April 25 at Santa Clara, also at 4 p.m.

Cal Poly will play four of its next five Big West series on the road, beginning Friday through Sunday at CSU Bakersfield. The Mustangs also visit CSUN on April 21-23, UC Davis on May 5-7 and UC Santa Barbara on May 19-21.

Cal Poly, which has three more midweek games at home after the Santa Clara matchup, will host UC San Diego on April 28-30 and Cal State Fullerton on May 25-27 for its final two weekend series of the year.