Mustang News Staff Report
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Despite the return of its top hitter, the No. 3 Cal Poly baseball team suffered its fourth straight loss on Friday as the Mustangs dropped a 7-3 decision at UC Riverside.
Sophomore second baseman Mark Mathias, hitting a team-leading .394, missed this past Tuesday’s game vs. Pepperdine with a bruised heel, but was back in the lineup against the Highlanders.
He had two hits, including a double, and scored a run— he has now hit safely in 32 of his last 34 games. But the Mustangs couldn’t corral their 13 hits into much offense as UC Riverside pulled away with four runs in the third inning.
Cal Poly (36-9, 12-4 Big West), which did not lose back-to-back games in the opening 10 weeks of the season, has scored nine runs total throughout its losing streak.
Junior left-hander Matt Imhof (8-3) lasted three innings and allowed five runs on seven hits to earn the loss. It was his shortest outing as a starter at Cal Poly.
UC Irvine defeated UC Santa Barbara in its series-opening game on Friday to pull 1.5 games ahead of the Mustangs in the Big West standings.
Game two of Cal Poly’s three-game set with the Highlanders is slated for 6 p.m. on Saturday. Freshman right-hander Justin Calomeni (7-2, 3.67 ERA) will take the mound for the Mustangs and will face UC Riverside senior right-hander Zach Varela (5-2, 2.98 ERA).
Stephan Teodosescu contributed to this report.