Cal Poly wins series despite suspensions

Cal Poly baseball was probably already out of postseason contention. So, when their three weekend starters were suspended for this weekend’s series against UC Irvine, things looked pretty down.

Three games later, Cal Poly has to feel decent about a home series win against an Anteater team they were tied with coming into the weekend. Now 9-9 in conference play, Cal Poly goes into the final few weeks of Big West play with a few wins and maybe some more confidence.

Pitching depth

Justin Calomeni was really good in a spot start on Sunday. By Owen Main

When any college team has their entire weekend staff suspended, you don’t expect much. Cal Poly’s teams in the past that have been really good have been pretty short in terms of pitching depth. This team has 10 — yes I said TEN — different guys who have started games and also 10 players with over 20 innings.

This is a double-edged sword. It means that the back end of the rotation hasn’t given Lee much reason to stay with guys on a week-to-week basis. It also means that lots of guys have gotten some experience. While that might not be enough to get the Mustangs to the postseason this year, it bodes well for next season and made the team unusually equipped to mentally handle situations like this weekend.

Spencer Howard, who started on Friday, has pitched BIG innings en route to a 2-1 record coming into the weekend prior to his series-opening win. Craig Colen, starting just his second game of the season on Saturday, has a 20-6 k/bb ratio. Justin Calomeni, one of the stalwarts of the bullpen before this weekend, started on Sunday and pitched very well.

While Calomeni could easily be drafted and gone after this season, all the other pitchers who have thrown major innings for Cal Poly will/should be back next season. If Cal Poly can fill some gaps on defense and in the order, there should be a solid battle for innings from a very experienced staff is 2017.

That’s a long way away though. For this weekend, it just meant that they had a shot against UC Irvine.

Offensive

Cal Poly put up seven runs in the 5th inning, including a grand slam from John Schuknecht and a solo homer from Nick Meyer on the very next pitch.

It shouldn’t surprise anybody that I had left before the inning and was barely off-campus when Schu’s homer cleared the left field fence.

I got a really great photo of him getting beaned earlier in the game though. So, pretty much I got all the important action right?

In other news, Alex McKenna went 3-6 with two runs, capping his return week. Prior to this week, McKenna missed 12 straight games with an injury. In the four games since he’s been back, the outfielder managed five hits, four runs, and six RBIs.

Barbs all over

I just wanted to mention something about Cal Poly (center fielder, left fielder, first baseman, catcher) Brett Barbier. Barbier was the preseason first-team catcher in the Big West conference and hasn’t really played there in a while.

When the Mustangs needed a first-baseman with some pop, Barbs went and played there like he hadn’t ever played anywhere else. When he was needed in left field, Brett went out there and got re-acclimated. Since McKenna and Josh George went down, Barbier has filled the position more than adequately.

I love to see when athletes play baseball, and Barbier has done everything he can for this team. I think there is only one game this season where he hasn’t reached base. He went 2-4 on Sunday and is hitting .365 through 50 games this year. Without Barbier’s CONSTANT presence this season in the middle of the order and saving balls at first base, Cal Poly might be under .500.

Whatever is in Brett’s future, let’s be clear how valuable he’s been to this Mustangs team this season.

Up Next

Cal Poly travels to Bakersfield on Tuesday before visiting Troy Percival’s UC Riverside Highlanders next weekend in Riverside.

Photos by Owen Main