Nick CamachoThe Cal Poly baseball team completed its first sweep of the season and won its fourth game in a row by defeating UNLV 8-6 at Baggett Stadium on Sunday.
Sophomore right-hander Steven Fischback (5-3) picked up the win, recording eight strikeouts and only one walk in his 6 1/3 innings of work.
Senior right-hander Brian Grening earned his second save of the weekend, allowing only one hit and no runs in 2 2/3 innings of relief. Grening’s two saves came on the tail of his win over Cal on Wednesday.
“He’s very resilient,” Mustangs head coach Larry Lee said of Grening’s long week. “He’s just a competitor.”
The Mustangs’ offensive charge was led by junior third baseman Brent Morel, who racked up two singles and a double, knocked in an RBI and scored twice.
Prior to the weekend, Morel had been stuck in a mini-slump.
“I kind of had an 0-for-7 or 0-for-8 streak, so I came in early (Saturday) and fine-tuned my swing with the coaches,” Morel said. “(Now) I feel really comfortable up there. I’ve got my confidence back. I’m just staying with the same approach and the same drills and hopefully it keeps working.”
The Mustangs (22-23) jumped out to an early lead, picking up three runs in the first inning on singles by Morel and sophomore first baseman Wes Dorrell and a sacrifice fly from sophomore shortstop Kyle Smith.
Cal Poly added three more in the third on an RBI double by Dorrell, which marked his 14th two-base hit in 19 games. Senior second baseman Pat Pezet and freshman designated hitter J.J. Thompson both grounded out to bring in the additional two runs.
The Rebels’ first base runner came in the fourth on a leadoff triple by junior centerfielder J.J. Sferra, who came home on a sacrifice fly by Xavier Scruggs.
Scruggs, who may opt to leave UNLV for the majors following this season, was held hitless in two at-bats.
Junior centerfielder Logan Schafer knocked in the Mustangs’ final two runs with a solo shot in the fourth and a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
UNLV’s six scores came in the fourth through seventh innings. Sferra led the Rebels (19-28) with three hits and an RBI, and sophomore rightfielder Rance Roundy recorded a double and a single, scoring once.
Things got ugly for the Mustangs in the top of the sixth when UNLV junior designated hitter Jesse Wight reached third base on a routine single following a throwing error by Morel.
Scruggs scored in the process, and Wight came in on a ground ball the next play.
Cal Poly got out of the inning on a 1-3-2-5 pick-off play by Fischback.
The loss went to UNLV junior right-hander Marc Baca (1-3), who gave up six runs on four hits in his two-plus innings of work.
Cal Poly will travel to USC for a 7 p.m. game Tuesday before resuming Big West Conference play with a three-game series at Cal State Fullerton opening 5:15 p.m. Friday.
Heading into the road trip, Lee says the Mustangs will need to pick up the offensive slack left in the lineup by injuries to key contributors like sophomore outfielder Luke Yoder.
“We’re really banged up right now,” he said. “We have a small core of three to four players carrying the offense right now, and we’re going to need more help than that.”