Cal Poly baseball kicks-off a road series in Fullerton

Shortstop Kyle Marinconz leads Cal Poly with four home runs this season. By Owen Main

Big West baseball is one week in, and it’s still wide-open. After losing a road series in Northridge last weekend, Cal Poly can do a lot to improve their conference outlook with a conference win at Cal State Fullerton this weekend. It won’t be easy. 

The Titans are the highest profile team in the conference. Over the past 10 years, Rick Vanderhook’s team has six Big West titles, two second-place finishes, a third, and a fourth. In other words, despite a series loss for the Titans last week, the Big West baseball title goes through Fullerton. 

For Cal Poly, consistency will be key. Pitching has been OK at times — Cal Poly has given up the third most runs and earned runs in the Big West. Hitting has exploded in some games — the Mustangs are second in the Big West in runs. Defense has been a rough spot for Larry Lee’s team. Cal Poly has given up 29 unearned runs, second only in the conference to Long Beach State’s 30. Long Beach State has played 29 games while Cal Poly has played 27.

Fullerton has also given-up nearly one unearned run per game on average. It’s one of the reasons that those three perennial Big West contenders find themselves looking up in the standings to Hawai’i, UC Riverside, and CSUN early in the season. 

Only one week into the conference, Cal Poly has everything in front of them. The Big West has no clear frontrunner. A series win against the Titans would feel pretty good going into a stretch of the schedule where four of six conference series are at home. Make no mistake though, losing back-to-back series to CSUN and Fullerton to start the season would not bode well for whatever Big West or Postseason dreams Cal Poly has.