Cal Poly looks to make up ground against UCI

Cal Poly ace Matt Imhof will be on the hill tonight against UC Irvine. By Owen Main

Not a lot of time for a long preview, but here are a few notes for tonight:

UCI has established themselves

After a sluggish non-conference schedule, the Anteaters got off to a hot early start in the Big West and haven’t taken their collective foot off the gas pedal. UCI has a sparkling 14-1 record in conference, swept UCSB last weekend, and have now (finally) broken into the top-25.

Friday night is going to be epic

Cal Poly Athletics is putting facebook posts up today saying they’re expecting to break the single-game attendance record. With new bleachers, Baggett Stadium can hold up to 3100 or so fans. The single game record is 3,284 against then number-one ranked Cal State Fullerton back on May 6, 2005. Nine years and three days later, it’s the Mustangs who are in the top-ten and vying for an opportunity to host a regional.

Adding to the drama are two true ace pitchers, both of whom are on the Golden Spikes Award watch list that includes only 30 players from around the nation.

Irvine’s Andrew Morales has an 8-0 record with a 0.91 ERA in 88.2 innings this year. He sports a ridiculous 94/21 strikeout/walk ratio.

On the hill for Cal Poly is ace Matt Imhof. After being nothing short of dominant in the preseason, Imhof has done enough in conference play to maintain a 2.47 ERA and a 103/32 strikeout/walk ratio.

Runs should be hard to come by on Friday and the crowd should be at a fever pitch.

Eyes on SLO

The eyes of much of the national baseball media will be on San Luis Obispo this weekend. Recently, College Baseball Daily put out a projection that had zero regionals being played in California this year. Cal Poly probably has the best chance of changing that, but winning this series against the toughest opponent it has left is a must.

Cal Poly athletics has gone all-in with improving seating at Baggett and now the Mustangs will have a final opportunity to add to their impressive resume this season. If they win or sweep the series, I think they’re in the catbird’s seat to host a regional. If not, they would be giving a national media that has been accused of having an East-coast bias another reason to back that bias up when it comes to ranking teams over the final two weeks of the season.