Cal Poly center fielder Alex McKenna was named Big West Field Player of the Year on Wednesday, according to the Big West’s twitter account. 

#BWCHonors Field Player of the Year – Alex McKenna (@CalPolyStangs):

-1st Mustang since 2014 (Mark Mathias) & 5th overall so named.
-Led BWC in hits (81) & runs (41).
-2nd in BWC TB (121), 3rd in OBP (.424), 5th in BA/SLG (.339/.506).#RideHigh #BWCBaseball #PlayBig ⚾️ pic.twitter.com/fdrZEcQfdB

— Big West Baseball (@BigWestBaseball) May 30, 2018

McKenna is the fifth Mustang to win the award. Mark Mathias won the award in 2014 and Mitch Haniger — currently a member of the Seattle Mariners — also won the award in 2012 while manning centerfield at Baggett. 

In 2018, McKenna led the conference with 81 hits and 51 runs while committing just one error all season. On the year, McKenna hit .339 with 15 doubles, 5 triples, and 5 home runs. In three seasons in San Luis Obispo, McKenna hit .323 with 16 home runs, 32 doubles, 9 triples, and 89 RBIs in 158 games. His career OPS was .874 for the Mustangs. A junior this past season, McKenna figures to be selected in the first 3-5 rounds of the draft next week. 

Another junior, catcher Nick Meyer, earned the Defensive Player of the Year award for the conference.

#BWCHonors Defensive POY – Nick Meyer (@CalPolyStangs):

– 3rd Mustang in 5 years to earn honor (Peter Van Gansen, 2015; Chris Hoo, 2014)
– .984 fielding (395 putouts, 44 assists, 7 errors in 446 chances).
– Earned 2016 BWC Freshman Field POY.#RideHigh #BWCBaseball #PlayBig pic.twitter.com/PYt50PuoVS

— Big West Baseball (@BigWestBaseball) May 30, 2018

Following in the catching footsteps of Chris Hoo, Meyer is Cal Poly’s third ever defensive player of the year. Meyer started behind the plate from day one at Cal Poly, earning the conference’s freshman of the year award two seasons ago. Meyer played his usual stellar defense while taking a step forward at the plate this season. In 2018, Mayer hit .344 with 14 doubles and two triples. His OPS was .836 and, at times during his career, Meyer’s mustache was one of the best in the game. Meyer figures to be the second Mustang selected in the upcoming amateur draft.

Junior Kyle Marinconz — who has played shortstop for most of his time at Cal Poly — and senior Trent Shelton — who emerged as Cal Poly’s Friday night ace in 2018 — were named to the All-Conference second team. 

Freshman infielder Tate Samuelson and freshman pitcher Taylor Dollard earned honorable mention honors along with senior pitcher Austin Dondanville.

#BWCHonors All-Conference from @CalPolyStangs:

Alex McKenna, Nick Meyer (1st Team)
Kyle Marinconz, Trent Shelton (2nd)
Taylor Dollard, Austin Dondanville, Tate Samuelson (HM)#RideHigh #BWCBaseball #PlayBig ⚾️

— Big West Baseball (@BigWestBaseball) May 30, 2018

Big West Release

Cal Poly Release

After starting the season 11-12, the Cal Poly baseball team’s regional goals aren’t totally lost. But they’ll have to probably do even better than their 16-8 Big West conference season a year ago to make the postseason. 

Larry Lee’s team will start Big West play Thursday afternoon in Northridge (3:00pm). CSUN doesn’t have lights, so all baseball games there are day games.

Jarred Zill has come back this season to be the team’s ace. He’ll take the hill Thursday night in Northridge. Photo by Owen Main

The Mustangs have scuffled this season, playing well in some individual games, but lacking the consistency to grind-out wins on a daily basis as of yet. They beat Arkansas and Michigan in individual games, but split a four-game series with Paicfic (RPI of 187 of 297 Division I teams), and lost games to Grand Canyon (237) and San Jose State (209). At Nebraska, a top-100 team right now, the Mustangs won the first game of a four game series before losing the final two games during a Sunday doubleheader by a combined score of 35-5. 

Their only series win of the year so far came last weekend at home against Dartmouth (whose current RPI is 279). 

RPI is a measure that traditionally doesn’t favor west coast teams, but the Big West conference, a league that usually sends multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament, hasn’t helped itself this season. Only three teams (Hawaii (88), Cal State Fullerton (91) UC Irvine (95)) sit in the top-100 in the RPI and conference favorite Long Beach State is at 108. None are sniffing the top-25 at the moment. The other five teams sit between 150 and 218, with the Mustangs at 192, second from the bottom in front of cellar dwellers UCSB. Hawai’i and UCI are the only two schools in the conference with a winning record at the moment. The conference could get multiple teams into the tournament this year, but there is a real possibility that only one team could find their way into the postseason. 

The RPI can be useful, but it’s not everything. No Big West team has played a conference game yet, and Cal Poly can be optimistic. Last season, they won all but one of their conference series en route to a 2nd place finish in the Big West and a 16-8 conference record. The Mustangs will likely have to do better than that this year, win most of their mid-week games, and win an important home series against UCLA at the end of April. The best way for the team to keep a regional in its sights would be to win the conference outright. 

 Who to watch for

Alex McKenna and Nick Meyer are the names people heard a lot about in preseason. They are, predictably, the team’s two leading hitters. Tate Samuelson, a freshman from San Diego, has found comfort in the middle of the lineup. Samuelson, who played for the SLO Blues this summer, is second on the team with six doubles and a pair of home runs. Dylan Doherty has shown some offensive consistency and bat to ball skills. Bradlee Beasley and Kyle Marinconz are reliable batsmen who can be very dangerous. Cal Poly’s offense has averaged 5.3 runs per game. 

For up-to-date Cal Poly stats, click here. 

On the mound

Cal Poly’s rotation has been a little fluid. Jarred Zill returned to the mound and will be the presumed ace going into Big West play. Trent Shelton has looked good, but had appendicitis and his early-conference availability is in question. Michael Clark started as the Friday starter, but hasn’t started for a few weeks and looks like he may be in the new in-vogue multi-inning relief role. Thomas Triantos looked really sharp against Dartmouth and freshman Darren Nelson, who has been a two-way player, has looked good as a Sunday starter. Cal Poly’s relief squad is young — maybe a good reason to keep Clark in the bullpen — and their collective ability to get out of tough high-leverage situations could be a big key to the Mustangs making some noise in conference play.

For Cal Poly baseball photos, click here

Make them EARN it

There are lots of reasons a team can win or lose a baseball game, but the week-to-week stat that I’ve been looking at is errors and unearned runs. The Mustangs have played 23 games so far and have made 37 errors (11 more than their opponents) and have given up 27 unearned runs. If they keep giving up more than a single unearned run per game, they will stay a talented team with middling results. If Cal Poly can manage their defensive play and continue to improve on defense, they can once again compete for a Big West title.