Cal Poly swept by Grand Canyon

Ryan Droby applies the tag as a would-be Grand Canyon base-stealer is thrown out by catcher Jake Lesinski. The “strike-em-out, throw-em-out double-play was one of three that Cal Poly turned on Sunday afternoon. By Owen Main

For five weekend games, Cal Poly baseball struggled to put nine good innings together and earn a win. Sunday’s series finale against Grand Canyon saw more of the same for Larry Lee’s Cal Poly baseball team.

After giving up four unearned runs in the top of the third inning, Cal Poly couldn’t put a rally together and ended up losing the game 9-3. The Mustangs have now been swept in each of their first two weekend series.

Justin Calomeni (0-2) got his second straight Sunday start and didn’t pitch poorly. He struck out five batters in six innings of work and walked three. All four runs he gave up were unearned. Cal Poly has given up 18 unearned runs in their first seven games, which makes it not a surprise that their record stands at 1-6.

The job doesn’t get any easier this weekend. After playing Cal State Bakersfield at home on Tuesday night, Lee’s squad will head back to Texas for a series at TCU (Ft. Worth). Two weeks ago, Baylor swept them in Waco.

After two weeks

The stats at this point in the season tell a story. Despite the 18 unearned runs they’ve given up, Cal Poly pitchers still have a 4.95 ERA and a K/BB ratio of not even 2/1. Oh, and then there are the 17 errors. I’ll let you look at the stats with the link above.

This type of play is not indicative of your usual Larry Lee team. Generally, his teams have good fundamentals and play close games, even if they don’t win. Games this year haven’t seemed particularly close. Yet.

The great thing about baseball is that, after seven games, Cal Poly still has almost 50 to play. Starting Tuesday.

Photos by Owen Main