At the start of the year, head coach Larry Lee knew his team had talent. How and where that would translate into success was a different story.
“You just never have a very good feel, we knew that we had the capability, but sometimes it comes from different guys than you would expect so,” Lee said. “You just don’t know who’s going to step up.”
About halfway into the regular season, players such as Joey Wagman, Mitch Haniger and Mike Miller have. And with Cal Poly reeling off a series loss to Cal State Northridge and a mid-week loss to Fresno State, the Mustangs are going to need those players to step up this weekend when the team travels for a three-game series at Cal State Fullerton.
“They are as good as always,” Lee said. “They are the No. 1 team in our conference, have been for most of years since I’ve been here. They are on top right now; we’ll have our hands full.”
Hands full, indeed. Cal State Fullerton is tied with Long Beach State for first place in the conference with a 7-2 Big West record. The team has had success partly due to Michael Lorenzen, who is tied for second in the Big West in RBIs (24) and first in the conference with 12 doubles.
The Titans’ strength, however, lies on the mound. Their Big West-leading 2.92 team ERA in 320 innings ranks close to half a run better than Cal Poly’s (3.39). The Titans have also held batters to a .252 average, third in the conference and have allowed 131 runs, also third in the conference.
That’s not to say the Mustangs aren’t having a successful season themselves. Despite falling victim to a four-run rally in the ninth inning against Fresno State on Tuesday, Cal Poly still ranks in the top 5 of close to every offensive category, leading the Big West in slugging percentage (.387), RBIs (176) and home runs (14).
“I think we are playing our best baseball right now; for the most part all facets of the game are good,” Lee said. “Sometimes that’s just not good enough, sometimes the other team plays better than you and that was the case (last) weekend.”
Cal Poly dropped two-of-three games to Cal State Northridge last weekend, immediately following a three-game sweep of UC Irvine where the Mustangs outscored the Anteaters 17-3. To start the series, the Mustangs fell to the Matadors, 6-5, in 11 innings and then left 14 runners on base in a 6-3 loss in the series finale.
“I thought we played well overall, we just had three bad innings the whole weekend pitching wise,” Lee said. “We swung the bat well, played great defense. We were in every ball game, but that just goes to show you how competitive the Big West is in baseball.”
The Mustangs have witnessed that competitiveness first hand, especially outside of Baggett Stadium. The team is 6-7 on the road this year, as opposed to its 13-6 record at home. And especially after the series loss in Northridge, the Mustangs are trying to reverse the trend.
Cal Poly will have the bats of Haniger and Miller to help do so. Haniger leads the Big West in both slugging percentage (.597) and home runs (7), while Miller has scored a conference-best 35 runs.
On the mound, Saturday starter Kyle Anderson is tied for fourth in the Big West with a 2.08 ERA, while Wagman is in eighth with a 2.40 ERA. Wagman is also sixth in the conference with 47 strikeouts.
The pitching duo may be the key to repeating last year’s 2-1 series win over Cal State Fullerton.
“Wagman’s been great, he’s got that Friday-night mentality, and Anderson has been solid in almost every outing this year,” Lee said. “It’s been great. Pitching and defense usually win you ball games.”