Joey Wagman takes the mound Friday in Cal Poly’s first NCAA Tournament in four years. By Owen Main

Larry Lee and the Cal Poly Mustangs baseball team is heading to UCLA today to play San Diego in the Regional round of the NCAA baseball tournament. Four teams will show up in Westwood and only one will leave Sunday or Monday with a victory and a trip to a Super Regional.

The baseball team is the second major Cal Poly team to head to the NCAA Tournament this year — the women’s basketball team went in March. But unlike in basketball, a baseball team like Cal Poly’s has a real shot to go deep into the tournament. Here’s why.

The Regional Tournament Structure

Instead of winning six straight games (as is necessary in the NCAA Basketball Tournament), Cal Poly just needs to win three double-elimination tournaments to win the whole thing. Victory in even the first weekend’s Regional would put Cal Poly in baseball’s “Sweet 16.” Baseball is a funny sport — the most talented team doesn’t always win. With a few hot pitchers, solid defense, and timely hitting, a team can grit its way to success in a tournament like this.

Pitching

The adage is that in a baseball postseason, it all comes down to pitching. This is true, to an extent. A great pitcher or a pitcher who is hot can make a huge difference. Like a goalie in hockey or a great quarterback, a hot pitcher can steal a team a game. That being said, pitchers can generally only start once on a regional weekend. This means that pitching depth also comes into play. With games on possibly four consecutive days, pitching depth is a huge deal. Pitchers who maybe got small amounts of mid-week innings during the season could be called upon in a potential elimination game on Sunday or Monday, when the pressure is on.

Cal Poly’s top two starters –Joey Wagman and Matt Imhoff — have shown they have what it takes to get hot and dominate single games. If those two can get hot and win, finishing a potential series weekend might be a little more challenging. With Sunday and Wednesday pitchers going late in a regional weekend, anything can happen.

Non-Conference

Cal Poly’s top-25 RPI is due to very good non-conference series’ against Kansas State, Washington, and San Francisco. The Mustangs have played in unfamiliar confines, which should help them as they head to Jackie Robinson Stadium, the home of UCLA.

The Big West

Last season, the second-place Mustangs — and by proxy the Big West — was snubbed as only one team made the NCAA Tournament from the conference. This season, three teams got bids from the Big West. This means that Big West teams like Cal Poly has also been tested throughout the season in-conference.

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So, how would I actually rate Cal Poly’s chances in this tournament? Because it’s baseball, it’s really hard to say. Here’s what I am confident in: though they have not played well on the road in-conference this year, I think they have as good a chance as UCLA to get out of the regional. They’ve played tough teams all year and some of their players still haven’t hit their stride offensively. If guys like David Armendariz and Jimmy Allen can match the punch that Nick Torres, Brian Mundell, Denver Chavez, and Elliot Stewart have been providing, the Mustangs could be looking at a Super Regional. If the pitching holds up. Darn it, it always comes down to pitching, doesn’t it?…

In game one, the Mustangs held on late to win a tightly-contested pitcher’s duel. Mason Radeke hurled 7 2/3rds solid innings for Poly, walking one and striking out eight. The Mustangs plated their two runs with RBI singles in the 5th and 6th innings. Coach Larry Lee was “small-balling” the Bruins defense all game, as Poly successfully executed five sacrifice bunts.

With Radeke cruising in his shutout coupe into the 8th, Bruin 3rd baseman Cody Regis blasted a solo home run, getting a ball up into the draft that was blowing out to left field all day. After Radeke then give up a bases on balls, Coach Lee went to Mustang Junior closer, Jeff Johnson, to get the final five outs and shut the door. Johnson, who’s fastball touches 95mph, came into the game having struck out twelve batters and walking zero in seven innings of relief work thus far this season.

Johnson induced a fly out to left and after the potential tying run stole 2nd, got a swinging strikeout for the third out with his “out” pitch — a nasty, professional-level split-fingered fastball. In the 9th, Jimmy Allen made a great catch on a slicing line drive into left field for the first out of the inning. Denver Chavez then handled a ground ball at second, and Johnson stuck out the final batter swinging, in true closer fashion.

Mustangs win 2-1. Cal Poly had 2 runs, 8 hits, 0 errors and left 6 on-base. UCLA finished with 1 run, 5 hits, 0 errors and left 4 on base.

In game two, UCLA turned the burner up to “high.”  They looked motivated, having lost such a close contest after endurung the past three nights in the Embassy Suites Hotel watching raindrops drizzle down the windows.

Tyler Rahmatulla lead off the top of the 1st with a double into the right-center field gap. He was then sacrificed to third, and team RBI leader Dean Espy lined him home. After another single, Poly catcher Jordan Hadlock saved a wild pitch with runners on 1st and 2nd, only to then try and back-pick the runner at second, throwing behind him and skipping the ball into right field. Cal Poly southpaw Kyle Anderson then walked the bases loaded and proceeded to walk in the second UCLA run in the 1st inning.  He only then narrowly escaped further damage by finally recording the third out.

Starting the contest by giving up two runs in the top of the first put the Mustangs at a disadvantage. The fact that they were facing UCLA ace pitcher Trevor Bauer made it seem like they were instead down five or six. Bauer, a 20-year old junior who enrolled at UCLA at age 17, and who last season lead the entire nation in strikeouts (165) is expected to be a first round pick in this year’s draft. Bauer showed not only the physical talent to back up the hype, but also showed a bit of the “it” factor. Every inning he sprinted to the mound and threw his first warm-up pitch before the Cal Poly outfielders were even halfway back to their dugout.  Great pace, kid.

UCLA extended their lead to 3-0 in the second inning after the Mustangs failed to record outs due to errors on two consecutive Bruin sacrifice bunt attempts. At that point it seemed circus music was faintly audible in the distance.  Coach Lee then gave Anderson the hook and replaced him with Joey Wagman. The right-handed reliever fared no better than Anderson, as before Poly was able to retire the Bruins in the top of the second, the scoreboard read UCLA 6, Cal Poly 0.

Bower then proceeded to throw dart after dart after dart. In the bottom of the second he struck out the side, all swinging and all on high fastballs. After the third inning was in the books, it was 6-0 Bruins, and Bowers’ strikeout total was at six.

On the Mustang side of the mound, Wagman settled down by changing speeds and mixing in a straight change-up well with a fastball that could barely break a plane of glass. Wagman retired eight in a row into the 5th inning as the early evening shadows began to creep towards home plate.

The Bruin flame-thrower continued to simply overpower Mustang hitters through the 6th, with his mid 90’s fastball still popping and his nearly untouchable, sharp-breaking curve ball buckling knees. Bower was pulled after the 7th with the decision already in hand, notching twelve total strikeouts.

UCLA had 8 runs, 11 hits, 1 error and left 7 on-base. Poly finished with 0 runs, 3 hits, 2 errors and left 5 on base.

The story for the day for the Mustangs was their day and night performances between game one and game two. For how well they proved they can win close games versus quality opponents in the first game, they also showed how easily they can lose their way for an entire game simply by making a few early mistakes in the second.

What was taken from the UCLA side of things was the utter dominance of Bauer. The only negative thing that was viewed from the coach in me was how violent his delivery is. Once this kid reaches the professional level this winter, his mechanics are going to have to be extremely simplified to prevent future injury.

Bauer’s wind-up and release is most comparable to Max Scherzer when he was a first-round pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks out of the University of Missouri. It is a slow culmination that turns rapidly into a thrashing of knees and elbows, followed by an extremely violent whip that lacks anything resembling a balanced finish. As the seams hit the leather, Bauer was consistently recoiling towards the first base foul-line, which ultimately puts a lot of undue pressure on the arm.

The only explanation of the lack of quality mechanics you usually see at this level could very well be a situation where the talent out-weighs the coaching. UCLA’s pitching coach could be doing a lot more for the sake of an elite talent such as this, but it seems he is obviously just letting the kid do his own thing, which is unfortunate.

The laugh of the day occurred late in the second game. Cal Poly infielder Michael Hoo, a sophomore from Cupertino, was substituted in for clean up duty at first base. “Hoo” was literally on first. What? I don’t know? Third base!

The Mustangs (7-9) travel to Pepperdine tomorrow for a single-game afternoon affair, only to return back home to host the Minnesota Golden Gophers for a series this upcoming weekend. See you at the ballpark.