Cal Poly tops Roadrunners, but lots of work to be done

On Tuesday night, Cal Poly came back from an early deficit to beat CSU Bakersfield 8-4 and improve their record to 16-7 on the season. For head coach Larry Lee, though, there are serious concerns about how the team is playing leading up to the conference season.

Asked after the game what he thought of his team’s performance he responded pretty clearly.

Spencer Howard pitched 3 2/3 innings on Tuesday night to pick up the victory for Cal Poly. By Owen Main

“Outside of a few individual players, not very good. And it will catch up to us,” said Lee. (Video below)

The Roadrunners, just 5-19 on the season, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning before Cal Poly gained the advantage in the bottom of the fifth, when Brett Barbier singled home the go-ahead run. Senior John Schuknecht led the team, going 3-5 with two RBI’s to raise his team-leading total to 27 on the season.

“Honestly, I don’t have too much of an approach. I just kind of go up and there I swing the bat,” said Schuknecht. “I’m just seeing the ball well. I’m getting off good swings at good pitches.”

Schuknecht’s 27 RBI’s also leads the Big West Conference.

Spencer Howard, a native of Templeton, came on in relief for the win. Howard, who has been a solid relief option of late, pitched 3 2/3 innings, striking out four without giving up a run.

Cal Poly will host San Jose State this weekend and visit Santa Clara next Tuesday before kicking-off conference play against Cal State Fullerton at home. The Titans are the preseason (and perennial) favorite to win the Big West. Cal Poly, which has committed 34 errors in 23 games this year, will have to clean up the mental side of their game in a hurry if they are to compete with the conference’s top team right out of the gate.

Senior John Schuknecht has been hitting well out of the four-hole for Cal Poly. By Owen Main

“We’re not ready for the teams that we’re going to face in conference,” said Lee after Tuesday’s win. “We’ll get embarrassed.”

For now, the team’s 16-7 record doesn’t seem too bad on paper. But their schedule hasn’t been super strong overall and the Cal Poly program has raised their level of expectations over the past few years. With a team consisting of mostly freshman and new-to-Cal Poly field players, re-asserting the high expectations seemed to be an important message from Lee after Tuesday’s loss.

We’ll see how they respond Friday night when Kyle Smith takes the hill against the Spartans.

Photos by Owen Main