Stephan Teodosescu & Trent Merfeld
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With the revolving door that is the Sunday starter’s role causing problems again, head coach Larry Lee turned to sophomore right-hander Slater Lee against Long Beach State on Sunday.
Having pitched just 9 2/3 innings entering the game, most of which came out of the bullpen this season, Lee was on his way to giving the Cal Poly baseball team a rare Sunday win and series sweep of the Dirtbags.
Lee went 5 2/3 innings, allowed four earned runs on eight hits and, most importantly, gave the bullpen much needed rest after Saturday’s 12th-inning marathon win. He exited with a 9-5 lead in the fifth.
But the bullpen proved to be Cal Poly’s undoing on Sunday as the Mustangs allowed 18 total hits and dropped a wild series finale 12-11 in 10 innings at Baggett Stadium.
“As a staff, we easily could have kept them under nine runs for nine innings, but unfortunately it caught up to us,” Slater Lee said.
The Dirtbags scored eight unanswered runs to help snap Cal Poly’s seven-game home win streak. The Mustangs led 9-2 at one point but couldn’t hold on.
Despite the loss, Cal Poly (19-21, 7-5 Big West) won the series over Long Beach State (22-17, 8-7) for the first time since 2010 after senior left fielder Zack Zehner launched a game-winning homer in extras on Saturday night. But a late-innings collapse in the finale negated the good feelings, according to Larry Lee.
“We had an opportunity to keep our conference record at four losses and we didn’t,” he said. “Championship teams are able to take advantage of opportunities presented to them, and they don’t squander a 9-2 lead.”
After beating league-leading UC Irvine earlier Sunday, Cal State Fullerton is tied with the Anteaters and UC Santa Barbara at four conference losses. The Mustangs are now trailing all three of those teams in the conference standings after their loss.
Long Beach State completed the comeback with freshman left fielder Luke Rasmussen’s three-run home run in the top of the eighth inning off of senior reliever Danny Zandona’s first pitch. That hit tied the game at nine.
The Dirtbags got three more across in the 10th inning, including the winning run on Alex Bishop’s two-run single up the middle off Zandona.
The Mustangs made things interesting in the bottom half of the frame, as junior right fielder John Schuknecht hit his second solo homer of the game before junior designated hitter Brian Mundell’s grounder scored junior second baseman Mark Mathias from third. That cut the lead to 12-11, but sophomore catcher Brett Barbier struck out with two men on base to end the game.
“Honestly I have been struggling a little bit this year so I’ve just been trying to simplify everything and I just caught two on the barrel,” Schuknecht said of his two home runs.
Slater Lee, who had offseason knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus, was seemingly cruising until a sharp comebacker hit him in the leg in the sixth inning. He stayed in the game but gave up a couple of runs that turned the momentum.
“Especially given the conditions, he did well early on to give us a chance to get back in the dugout to score some runs,” Larry Lee said about Slater’s outing. “But we had a big letdown offensively.”
Zandona (1-4) earned the loss for Cal Poly, while junior right-hander Logan Lombana won for Long Beach State.
Senior center fielder Jordan Ellis paced the Mustangs on offense as he collected two triples and three RBIs. Schuknecht and Zehner added two RBIs each as well.
The Mustangs committed four errors on defense to Long Beach State’s one.
“Our coach always preaches that championships are won on Sundays, and we didn’t get it done today,” Schuknecht said.