Behind good pitching, solid fielding, and some clutch hitting by a junior draft prospect, Cal Poly baseball swept UCSB in its final home series of the season last weekend. 

Meyer gets hot

For his part, catcher Nick Meyer was red-hot all week. Meyer went 5-6 in Cal Poly’s Tuesday mid-week game and followed it up with a great series against UCSB. On the week, he went 9-17 with three doubles, five runs, and three RBI’s, including a game-winning RBI double on Saturday afternoon on a pitch around his eyeballs. 

Meyer was named the Big West Field Player of the Week on Monday. 

Meyer, who was named to Team USA during the summer of 2017, was already rated as an above-average defensive catcher. He’s been red-hot at the plate over the past month or two as well, probably solidifying a relatively high-round pick in the upcoming Major League Baseball Draft. 

Senior Day

Trent Shelton has been flat-out terrific all season for Cal Poly. Photo by Owen Main

Sunday was senior day and six players were honored. Austin Dondanville, Kyle Smith, Elijah Skipps, Josh George, Colby Barrick, and Trent Shelton all saw their final games at Baggett over the weekend. 

Shelton pitched a great game on Friday night, a healthy Skipps was a key cog in Cal Poly’s offensive output all weekend, and Dondanville and Smith both saw action on the mound as well. George was the senior day darling, going 3-4 with 2 RBIs in Sunday’s victory. 

So long to some juniors?

As happens every year, Cal Poly will have some juniors drafted this year. The question will be which ones leave. 

The two likely candidates are, in likely draft order, are Alex McKenna and Nick Meyer, though Kyle Marinconz is also a candidate to be drafted and turn pro. If you’d asked me before the season, Michael Clark would have also been high on this list. Last season’s closer, Clark’s role changed this season and his workload was less. After pitching 48 innings in 30 games with a 2.58 ERA last season, Clark’s workload has increased to over 65 innings (nine games started) with a 5.79 ERA. Clark’s k/bb percentage also went from 2.12 in 2017 to 1.84 this year. 

That said, Clark pitched a gem on Sunday afternoon, lasting 7 1/3 innings while giving up just a pair of earned runs en route to the win. It was Clark’s longest and probably most productive outing of the season. 

We’ll wait to see where and how these guys get drafted and what decisions they make as far as coming back to school. If it was their last weekend series at Baggett, it was pretty special. 

A great finish

The level of play this weekend could be seen as bittersweet. This team has talent that has been playing much closer to their true talent level over the course of Big West play. 

As they’ve been prone to do over the past few years, Cal Poly is playing its best baseball at the end of the season. As has also happened in recent years, that great baseball doesn’t have any postseason implications. For the third time in four years since the program hosted a regional in 2014, Cal Poly put up a losing non-conference record this season, including losses to Gonzaga, Grand Canyon, New Mexico, a series split to Pacific, a mid-week split with San Jose State, losing two of three at home to San Diego State, losing three of four at Nebraska, and being swept at home by UCLA.  

With the exception of UCLA, Nebraska, and Maybe San Diego State, a regional team doesn’t have that many losses against middling or low level Division I teams on the west coast. The Big West wasn’t really great this season either. Preseason favorites like Long Beach State and UCSB flamed out, but losses in series at CSUN and a sweep in Fullerton took Cal Poly out of the race. The conference will only have a single program — Cal State Fullerton — in this year’s NCAA Tournament. 

Under construction

While the bleachers were ready for the home season in 2018, the second phase of construction – demolition of the current clubhouse — looks like it’s starting soon. On Friday, fans noticed some portable buildings far down the first base line at Baggett. The project had originally been scheduled for groundbreaking right after last season, but I believe that the new clubhouse will still be under construction during the 2019 season and be ready for 2020. 

Photos below from Friday night’s game by Owen Main. Find more photos at photos.fansmanship.com, or you can show love by contributing to the cause via Venmo @Owen-Main or paypal owen@fansmanship.com. 

Today we look at a pair of Mustangs who were on the periphery in 2017. Both should have a chance to play a much larger role next season. 

Craig Colen

Season Synopsis

Craig Colen will be pitching for the SLO Blues this summer. By Owen Main

We’ll start with the pitcher here. This season, Colen appeared in 14 games — all in relief. Colen finished with a 4.30 ERA, but his control of the strike zone seemed decent. The sophomore from San Francisco struck out 16 batters in 14 innings while walking just four. Despite this, hitters managed a .305 batting average against him. 

A righty out of the pen

If Austin Dondanville moves to a starting role next season, something that could be possible, look for Craig Colen as a candidate to step into the longer relief role from the right hand side as a junior in 2018. Colen will spend his summer in San Luis Obispo playing for the Blues.

Colby Barrick

Season Synopsis

Barrick was a local (Santa Ynez) kid from a local junior college who saw some success in his first year as a Mustang. In his junior season, Barrick, a junior from Hancock College in Santa Maria, put up good numbers in limited appearances. Despite being one of four Mustangs to hit over .300, Barrick was playing a little less as the Big West season wound down. Presumably the left-handed hitter will be a favorite to start at a corner outfield position in 2018 — Kevin Morgan and Josh George both graduated. 

Barrick’s 89 at-bats were 10th-most on the Mustangs this year. One thing that could help him be a more effective everyday player might be getting his strikeout rate down. It was nearly 30% last year. Of Barrick’s 27 hits, five were for extra bases and he drove in 14 runs. Him getting a little better at everything would make him a really valuable weapon for Larry Lee in 2018. 

Barrick will spend the summer in Bellingham, Washington, with the Bellingham Bells.