Three Cal Poly sports teams will compete on campus this week, and a basketball star will make her way to Denver to showcase her talent in front of professional scouts.
Baseball
Friday night starter Joey Wagman started off the four weekend series with wins for the Mustangs, and the stakes will be raised tomorrow night as Cal Poly starts Big West Conference play against Long Beach State. Through their first 24 games, the Mustangs have outplayed opponents on offense and with their pitching staff on the way to a 16-8 record.
The team compiled a 3.70 ERA while scorching opposing pitching, scoring 5.19 earned runs per nine innings as well. Five Mustang hitters are batting higher than .299 with senior shortstop Mike Miller leading the way at .379. Mitch Haniger’s torrid hitting from last year has carried over to 2012 as he’s belted five home runs, driven in 30 runs and slugged .600.
Cal Poly took three of four games from San Diego State, coached by Hall of Famer Tony Gywnn, in its last series giving up 19 runs while scoring 24.
Softball
The Mustangs will look to put a rough non-conference schedule behind them in their opening Big West series against Cal State Fullerton, starting with a double-header on Saturday and concluding on Sunday. Cal Poly owns a 7-20 record and has lost nine straight games going back to March 10.
The most recent defeat came on Tuesday against No. 14 UCLA at Bob Janssen Field. The Bruins won in five innings in the first game after putting up seven runs in the fourth inning to take a 14-0 lead. Freshman Chloe Wurst conceded 12 runs in 3.1 innings of work before Jordan Yates relived her.
Cal Poly, with Yates starting, allowed 14 more runs in the second game of the double-header but managed to score five runs in the loss. UCLA hit four home runs in each game while the Mustangs played small ball to earn their tallies. Shortstop Kim Westlund saw success when she plated two Cal Poly runners on a two-hit single in the sixth.
Women’s Basketball
Kristina Santiago is raking in the honors following her record-breaking career with the Mustangs. She was invited to take part in the 2012 Pro Free Agent Camp in Denver alongside the Women’s Final Four which takes place April 1 to 3.
She led the Big West in points per game (23.1), rebounds (10.1) and field goal percentage (.588) and ranked nationally in the top 10 for points per game and field goal percentage.
Santiago also became the second Mustang to be named to the Associated Press All-American team as an honorable mention. The only other Mustang to make the list was Laura Buehning in 1981. Santiago broke Buehning’s record for points scored as a Mustang in 2012 and concluded her career with 1,953 points.
She also holds the record for most rebounds in Cal Poly history (850) and field goal percentage (.540). Scouts from the WNBA and other foreign professional leagues will be on hand in Denver to watch Santiago perform.
Men’s Tennis
Since losing its first three matches of the spring season, the Cal Poly men’s tennis team has won 10 of 12 matches using dominating play from Andre Dome, who is ranked 25th in the nation. The Mustangs play Big West foe Pacific at 11 a.m. Saturday in their second to last home match of the year.
Cal Poly concludes its home season on April 15 against No. 18-ranked Fresno State before going to the Big West Championships April 27.