Mustang News Staff Report
[follow id = “CPMustangSports”]
Bragging rights are on the line when the Cal Poly baseball team faces UC Davis on the road for the final series of the season this weekend.
The Mustangs (26-25, 13-8 Big West Conference), who are mathematically eliminated from postseason contention, are tied for third in the Big West standings with UC Irvine. Both teams are three games back of conference-leader Cal State Fullerton, a squad that beat Cal Poly two out of three games in early April to own any tiebreaker advantage. UC Davis (28-25-1, 7-14) sits in a tie for seventh place with Cal State Northridge.
Cal State Fullerton’s sweep of Hawaii this past weekend kept the Titans three games up on the Mustangs with only three games left in the regular season.
Cal Poly fell eight games below .500 at one point this year, but now have a chance to finish the season with a winning record. The Mustangs have gone 16-7 since their lowest point on April 4 and are five games above .500 in Big West play after starting the year 13-17 in non-conference action.
Despite having a winning record overall and sweeping its first conference series against UC Riverside, UC Davis has lost 18 of its last 28 games to drop out of the Big West race. The Aggies are 2-9 in May and have been swept by UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine in that span.
Cal Poly has been led by junior second baseman Mark Mathias at the plate as he’s batting .386 since returning from labrum surgery on his right shoulder earlier in the year. Junior shortstop Peter Van Gansen, who’s started all 51 games, is batting .314 with 65 hits.
Senior left fielder Zack Zehner leads the conference with nine home runs on the season.
On the mound, junior starter Casey Bloomquist and true freshman left-hander Kyle Smith have provided an anchor on Fridays and Saturdays this spring. Bloomquist is 7-2 with a 2.80 ERA in 13 starts, while Smith is 5-6 with a 3.81 ERA.
Sundays have proved to be a trouble spot for Cal Poly’s rotation this season, though. The Mustangs are 3-10 and have used seven different starters in the final game of a weekend series.
First pitch for the final series of the season is set for 2:30 p.m on Thursday and Friday and 1 p.m on Saturday from Dobbins Baseball Stadium.