With both Mark Mathias and Brian Mundell in the lineup, players like Zack Zehner (pictured) and Peter Van Gansen are able to spread the load of carrying the Mustang lineup. By Owen Main

After being shut-out in the middle two games of their series with Sacramento State, Cal Poly got first baseman Brian Mundell back and salvaged a series split with a 6-4 victory.

Mundell, who hadn’t played int he field in about three weeks with a hamstring injury, hit two home runs and drove in four in the 6-4 Cal Poly victory that improved Cal Poly’s record to 6-11 on the season.

Along with Mundell’s two home runs, three things stood out from the Sunday game.

Pitching backwards?

Larry Lee started Michael Gomez for the first time on Sunday afternoon. The freshman from Upland gave up four runs in three innings before giving way to Justin Calomeni, who has been the Sunday starter prior to this weekend.

Calomeni responded by pitching maybe his best game of the year. The sophomore righty gave up no runs, scattered three hits, and struck-out five and walked just one while pitching the final six innings of the game.

I kind of like the idea of experimenting with various pitchers given that Cal Poly is struggling to find consistency this year. I also like it with regard to the Times Through the Order Penalty, which is documented in the majors.

Mundell and Mathias in the lineup together

For the first time this season, Brian Mundell and Mark Mathias appeared in the lineup at the same time. Mundell, who has been the designated hitter each of the past two seasons, might have been able to do it again as he nurses his hamstring. But Mathias is still rehabbing from labrum surgery and so Mundell played in the field.

He didn’t seem to mind.

They win when they don’t make mistakes

Cal Poly hasn’t had a stellar defensive team to date this season. The few times they don’t make errors in games, they seem to be a lot more successful.

Sunday was just the fourth time in 17 games that Cal Poly has made zero errors. They are 3-1 in those games.

Trojans are coming

Next up for Cal Poly is USC this weekend. The Trojans are one of the best teams on the West coast this year and come in sporting a 17-3 record. They are also 12-time NCAA champions. The two teams split two games in Los Angeles last season on a rainy weekend.

Photos (from Saturday night) by Owen Main

Ryan Droby applies the tag as a would-be Grand Canyon base-stealer is thrown out by catcher Jake Lesinski. The “strike-em-out, throw-em-out double-play was one of three that Cal Poly turned on Sunday afternoon. By Owen Main

For five weekend games, Cal Poly baseball struggled to put nine good innings together and earn a win. Sunday’s series finale against Grand Canyon saw more of the same for Larry Lee’s Cal Poly baseball team.

After giving up four unearned runs in the top of the third inning, Cal Poly couldn’t put a rally together and ended up losing the game 9-3. The Mustangs have now been swept in each of their first two weekend series.

Justin Calomeni (0-2) got his second straight Sunday start and didn’t pitch poorly. He struck out five batters in six innings of work and walked three. All four runs he gave up were unearned. Cal Poly has given up 18 unearned runs in their first seven games, which makes it not a surprise that their record stands at 1-6.

The job doesn’t get any easier this weekend. After playing Cal State Bakersfield at home on Tuesday night, Lee’s squad will head back to Texas for a series at TCU (Ft. Worth). Two weeks ago, Baylor swept them in Waco.

After two weeks

The stats at this point in the season tell a story. Despite the 18 unearned runs they’ve given up, Cal Poly pitchers still have a 4.95 ERA and a K/BB ratio of not even 2/1. Oh, and then there are the 17 errors. I’ll let you look at the stats with the link above.

This type of play is not indicative of your usual Larry Lee team. Generally, his teams have good fundamentals and play close games, even if they don’t win. Games this year haven’t seemed particularly close. Yet.

The great thing about baseball is that, after seven games, Cal Poly still has almost 50 to play. Starting Tuesday.

Photos by Owen Main

Bryan Granger and the Cal Poly bullpen could be called-on to pitch some big innings in this weekend’s regional. By Owen Main

Matt Imhof. Reed Reilly. Mark Mathias. Casey Bloomquist. Nick Torres, Brian Mundell, Zack Zehner, Nick Torres, and Jimmy Allen. There are lots of names that people are talking about going into Cal Poly’s 2014 regional, but names that people aren’t mentioning may make a really big difference.

If Cal Poly is to move on in the San Luis Obispo regional, which starts today, they’ll almost certainly need some contribution from players outside of the names everyone knows.

If Larry Lee has his way, Cal Poly will use Matt Imhof and Casey Bloomquist for 7-plus innings in wins Friday and Saturday, setting up a Sunday game where the Mustangs would have Taylor Chris, Reed Reilly, or both relatively fresh for Sunday to back-up presumed starter Justin Calomeni.

But an NCAA Regional is a fickle proposition. Decisions that need to be made, in the moment, to win today’s game, may test pitching depth later in the weekend. This is where I believe someone less heralded will have to step out of the Cal Poly bullpen and make a statement.

Maybe it will be Bryan Granger. The right-handed junior from Hollister, CA was a starter last season before being moved to a middle relief role this year. Granger, who sports a 3.04 ERA, has recorded some big outs, especially in games started by neither Imhof nor Bloomquist. His delivery comes just enough from the side to throw hitters off for at least one time through the rotation. If things get tough for the Mustangs, they may need him to go through an opposing order more than once at some point this weekend.

Beyond Reilly, Chris, and potential game-four starter, Danny Zandona, the bullpen might start to get a little thin. Slater Lee was the Saturday starter for most of the non-conference slate, pitching a complete-game shutout at UCLA. During conference, though, Lee’s ERA ballooned to 6.20 as he lost his role in the starting rotation. Michael Dingilian, Jearl Jesson, and Nick Suniga are the only other Mustangs to take the hill this season. All of their ERA’s are over 5.00 and, as a group, they only pitched 26 1/3 innings.

A regional tournament tests a team’s fortitude, character, and, sometimes, pitching depth. Starting tonight, we’ll see if any of these less-used Mustangs are thrust into the spotlight at some point this weekend with the task of getting big outs with Cal Poly’s season on the line.

Nick Torres brings home the game’s only run on Saturday night. By Owen Main

In a game reminiscent of another big freshman performance earlier in the season, freshman Justin Calomeni pitched six strong innings for Cal Poly and the Mustangs held-on for a 1-0 win to even their weekend Big West Conference matchup with UC Irvine.

With the win, Calomeni improved to 8-2 on the season and lowered his ERA to 3.56. The good start by Calomeni is a bright spot for a Cal Poly team looking to find some consistency in its starters behind Matt Imhof and Casey Bloomquist. Calomeni, who has started both weekend and mid-week games this season, will almost certainly be needed if the Mustangs are to make a deep postseason run.

Earlier in the season, fellow freshman, Slater Lee tossed a complete-game shutout against then-ranked UCLA on the heels of a Cal Poly Friday night loss. On Saturday, Calomeni was masterful in helping Cal Poly earn another shutout, again on the heels of a tough Matt Imhof loss in a big series.

The win sets-up a Sunday afternoon finale that could eventually decide the Big West Conference champion. In the game, Casey Bloomquist will bring his 10-1 record and 1.40 ERA against Irvine’s senior right-hander Evan Brock (8-3, 2.85 ERA). Game time for today’s Mother’s Day game is 1:00pm at Baggett Stadium, where the all-time single game attendance record could be challenged.

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]

Freshman Justin Calomeni has impressed this season, going 4-0 so far as Cal Poly’s mid-week starter. By Owen Main

Freshman Saturday starter, Slater Lee, has been getting a lot of attention this season. On Tuesday Justin Calomeni, Lee’s freshman mid-week counterpart, pitched 6 1/3 innings, struck out nine for the second time this season, and moved his record to 4-0 as the Tuesday starter.

“Whether it’s weekend or mid-week, it doesn’t really matter,” said Calomeni, who pitched as a senior at Bellarmine Prep in San Jose last season. “You’ve just got to go and compete every pitch and give it your all and that’s what I just kind of try to do every time.”

Calomeni’s ERA now stands at 1.61, which is only good enough for third out of four Cal Poly starters. What has allowed him to come out of the gate so quickly?

“Just believing in my stuff and that I’m a good pitcher and that I’ve just got to work with that. There’s still a lot of stuff I need to work on, but it’s a good sign that I can still battle without my best stuff,” said Calomeni.

Cal Poly scored just four times, but Calomeni and Reed Reilly combined to give up just two runs and strike-out 11. Reilly pitched the final 2 2/3 innings for the save, his fourth of the season.

“He’s been real good for us,” said head coach Larry Lee. “He’s been our Tuesday starter all year and it’s very important to have a quality Tuesday guy and not all teams have that luxury. It’s good to feel like you’re the better team on those mid-week games. He did what he normally does and threw some good pitches.”

Lee also agreed that Calomeni wasn’t at his sharpest despite the win.

“The thing he needs to work on is being able to put away hitters when he has the chance instead of allowing the hitter to go deep in the count and then put the ball in-play,” said Lee.

A school on the quarter system, Cal Poly has finals next week, so playing these games allows the Mustangs to schedule the maximum amount of games during the season. It also gives them a chance to test their pitching depth. On Tuesday, they only used two pitchers with Reilly getting the long save.

“That’s how we used Reed all season last year and you want him on the mound when the game’s on the line,” said Lee. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the seventh, eighth, or ninth inning, he’s your best option. If you’re playing six games in six days, you want to keep Taylor Chris from throwing on the same day as read does so you have one of those guys who has been very consistent to be at your disposal.”

The two freshman starters this season have combined to go 6-1 so far this season, striking-out 48 and walking just 15 batters.

“It gives you a little bit of confidence in the future also,” said Lee. “Not only this year, but next year because you end up losing some of your main pitchers each year and it will be no different this year. Just to see what they’ve done through the first five weeks of the season gives you a vision of what the future might hold… . Both Calomeni and Lee are pretty mature mentally for freshmen and we expect them to get better throughout the course of the year.”

The game was the first of an 18-game homestand for the Mustangs and the first of six games in six days.

Photos by Owen Main

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]

Probable starters for the next five games:

Wednesday – Danny Zandona

Thursday – Slater Lee

Friday – Matt Imhof

Saturday – Casey Bloomquist

Sunday – Justin Calomeni