The overhaul, as expected, saturated the staff with youth and inexperience, but the Mustangs exceeded expectations under the bright lights by proving, on any given night, this squad has got the stuff to be lights out.
“Everyone has bought in,” senior pitcher Kyle Anderson said. “We don’t have the most talented pitching staff, so it’s really important for us to mix pitches and hit spots, but we worked real hard in the fall and all the hard work has shown throughout the season so far.”
After several slow starts in previous seasons, the Mustangs are off to their best start in three years boasting an overall record of 17-10 (1-2 Big West). The ability to minimize pitches thrown out of the strike zone by Cal Poly pitchers has helped forge the Mustangs’ new identity.
That identity includes five returning pitchers from 2011, none of which play in the same role as last season. According to pitching coach Jason Kelly, the staff’s lack of big game experience hasn’t stopped the youngsters yet.
“The inexperience isn’t necessarily in years, but it’s in big games,” Kelly said. “Out of the bullpen it’s getting guys to be competitive and aggressive … There’s no fear because Joey (Wagman) and the starters have set the tone of: ‘We’re gonna come right at you, we’re gonna throw strikes and see what happens’.”
Success hasn’t come by means of overpowering opposing batters with high heat, but through location and strategy on the mound, Anderson said.
A southpaw from Aptos, Calif., Anderson is one of two pitchers the Mustangs will lose to graduation this year (as well as redshirt senior Andrew Bruder). He boasts a team-leading 2.27 ERA, ranking him eighth among all conference pitchers. He’s also notched four wins on the year, tying him for second in the Big West along with Wagman and several other hurlers in the conference.
Anderson — who moved to a weekend starter role this year — added velocity and a new mentality on the hill and proved to be key in earning the nod on Saturday nights.
“I wasn’t 100 percent committed to every pitch in the past,” Anderson said. “I think it was just listening to the coaches in helping me to be successful and just believing in myself and having the ability to make pitches when you need them.”
Sunday starter Kyle Brueggemann rounds out the weekend pitchers for the Mustangs.
Brueggemann, an Olathe, Kan.-native, transferred from the Army in 2010 to College of Sequoias in Visalia, Calif.,but spent only a single semester with the Giants last year before joining the Mustang pitching staff in 2012. According to him, the transition has been seamless.
“It’s been a good transition,” Brueggemann said. “It’s a lot different coming from a junior college and then playing at Poly, but it’s still the same game and nothing really changed… For me it’s just being ahead early, throwing pitches for strikes and just trusting my stuff.”
Brueggemann has gone 3-2 with a 4.58 ERA this year, solidifying the Sunday starter role for the junior.
The sophomore Johnson has also adapted to a new role, one that involves using his velocity to blow by batters in the late stages of a ball game as the closer.
A weekend starter as a true freshman a year ago, Johnson was moved to the bullpen late in the 2011 season where he has stayed thus far in 2012. Now in his second year with the Mustangs, Johnson is second in the Big West with five saves and leads all non-starters on the team with 22 strikeouts.
According to Kelly, he’s found a niche in playing late innings of tight games this season.
“(Johnson) really embraced it and took it as a challenge,” Kelly said. “I don’t think it’s what he wanted originally, but he likes that adrenaline rush and he has a bit of that closer mentality.”
According to Kelly, a young bullpen has also proved to be aggressive in late innings as the Mustangs are 15-1 after leading in the seventh inning or later this season.
Midweek starters Reed Reilly and Matt Imhof have also produced solid outings for the Mustangs going 2-1 and 1-0 so far this year, respectively.
Wagman (4-2, 2.39 ERA) returns to the mound Thursday night as the Mustangs take on UC Irvine in Baggett Stadium at 6 p.m.