Ed. note: As a “content experiment”, I’ll be going through each player on the Cal Poly roster from 2017 to recap their season and look forward to 2018.

Bobby Ay

Bobby Ay dives to make a play against CSUN. By Owen Main

Season Synopsis

Right-handed starting pitcher Bobby Ay got opportunities in 2017. Over the season, Ay went from just seven appearances as a freshman to being a mostly regular part of the weekend rotation for Cal Poly early in the season. Through 11 appearances, all starts, Ay went 1-6 with an ERA of 5.40. As the season went along, head coach Larry Lee continued to give Ay opportunities. 

His best game was against Hawai’i, when Ay gave up just one run over 7 1/3 innings in picking up his only win of the season. Ay’s peripherals were spotty — he struck out 25 hitters and walked 22 in just over 46 innings pitched. By the time the season ended, those 46 2/3 innings were the fourth most on the Cal Poly staff. 

Catch him this summer

Ay will continue to hone his craft locally this season in San Luis Obispo, playing for the Blues. He played on the Blues two summers ago as an incoming freshman and will have an opportunity to improve — like most of the players on the Mustangs’ roster. 

Consistency and control will be two big things to watch for as Ay goes after California Collegiate League hitters at Sinsheimer Stadium over the summer. If everything goes well over the summer, Ay will once again compete for a starting spot in 2018. 

Alec Smith 

Season synopsis

A senior infield utility player, Alec Smith saw his Cal Poly career come to an end in 2017. Like Brett Binning, Smith’s time decreased in 2017 with the arrival of some slugging freshman infielders. Over his career, I believe Smith saw time at all four infield positions. Known more for his glove than his bat, Smith got most of his 22 appearances as a late-game replacement this past season. 

Sure glove

As a senior, Smith made just one error all year on a team that really struggled with fielding — especially in non-conference play. He finished his career at Cal Poly with 27 hits.

Center fielder Ryan Sluder (Oklahoma State) launches a deep fly ball early in Tuesday’s game. By Owen Main

Bobby Ay gave up one run in six innings and Dustin Williams doubled home the game winning run in the seventh inning as the SLO Blues beat the Santa Paula Halos 3-2 in a California Collegiate League game Tuesday night.

It was Mardi Gras night at Sinsheimer Stadium and Ay, an incoming freshman at Cal Poly, was generally sharp, wiggling his way out of a number of jams to keep Santa Paula to a single run on eight hits. Ay only struck out two, but didn’t walk any batters.

In the top of the seventh Santa Paula tied the game at two runs apiece, but Williams’ two-out double in the bottom of the frame cemented the Blues’ lead.

The Blues host five more games at Sinsheimer before they also play host to the CCL Tournament, which begins Friday, July 31st.

Photos by Owen Main

Incoming Cal Poly freshman Michael Clark was throwing, according to a few people I talked to, in the low 90’s last weekend. By Owen Main

For local college baseball fans, this weekend was an opportunity to see five players from next year’s roster compete on the same field.

The San Luis Obispo Blues’ roster boasts four of Larry Lee’s players: senior, John Schuknecht; senior, Brett Barbier; incoming freshman pitcher, Bobby Ay; incoming freshman pitcher, Nigel Ward. This past weekend, the Blues hosted two Cal Poly pitching prospects who were part of the Menlo Park Legends’ roster. They were Michael Clark and Thomas Triantos.

Friday night, Schuknecht and Barbier both started for the Blues. When Clark got in the game for the Legends, the first batter he faced was Barbier. Triantos pitched two solid innings on Saturday for Menlo Park and Ay started Sunday’s game for the Blues with Larry Lee in the crowd looking on.

Barbier talked with me about how the summer was going and what it was like to catch some of the incoming freshmen right now. Click here to listen to our conversation. 

I gues it’s kind of like spring training — if spring training were seven months before the season started and if not all the players were on the same team they’d be on later.

OK, fine, it’s probably not a lot like spring training, but maybe it’s the closest thing a die-hard college baseball fan in this county will find. For Cal Poly baseball fans in SLO, last weekend was a good one.