Someone seemed to be playing a late April Fools’ prank when Baggett Stadium suddenly went dark during the climax of the Tuesday nights’ baseball game. Sporadic rain and lightning couldn’t postpone the closely-fought battle between the Cal Poly Mustangs and the Saint Mary’s Gaels, but failed lighting did.
Cal Poly junior right fielder Adam Melker was down two strikes and two outs in the last half of the ninth inning; the game was tied and the winning run was on second base. Just as the pitcher went into his stretch, about half of the lights turned off.
“I didn’t know what was going on,” laughed Melker, who went 2-4 with three RBIs.
After a 17 minute delay, the lights were powered up, as was Melker’s bat.
“It’s tough to do that and try and come back with two strikes but the pitcher is in the same situation,” he said. “I stayed with that same two-strike approach, I swung at a pitch up and luckily fouled it off, and the next pitch he gave me another one and I got that hit.”
“The only thing I said to Melker was win pitches,” Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee said. “What was good is that he got a swing under his belt… and he got another fastball out of the zone and he did a great job staying through it and driving it to left center.”
That hit was the winning double he lined to left center putting Cal Poly (22-7) ahead of Saint Mary’s (19-14) 5-4 and extending it’s four-game winning streak, causing his frenzied teammates to rush the field.
“I’m a contact guy, especially with two strikes,” Melker said. “I’m zone hitting — I’m not really looking for a pitch, I’m just reacting to what he’s giving me. If it’s outside that box I’m taking, and if it’s inside that box, I’m swinging. I try to keep it pretty simple.”
The game looked to be over once Cal Poly junior relief pitcher Mark DeVincenzi took over in the eight, striking out three of the first four batters he faced and finishing each off with a devastating curveball. But after giving up a base hit, Saint Mary’s freshman third baseman and power hitter Troy Channing drew a four-pitch walk. The next batter advanced the runner on second with a deep fly ball. One out away from victory, DeVincenzi surrendered a base hit to tie the game. Not out of danger, Cal Poly senior center fielder saved two runs after a full-extension diving grab worthy of SportCenter’s Top 10 Plays.
“Three of our last four wins have come on our last at bat… we left the opposing team on the field three of our last four games,” Lee said. “We handle late inning situations very well.”
“That’s why you play athletics, to come up with the game on the line, to see how you respond to it; sometimes you come through, sometimes you don’t,” he added. “But as long as mentally you are focused and in tune, that’s all you can ask.”
The game was a pitching dual, Cal Poly senior pitcher Jared Eskew going seven and 1/3 strong while tallying a career-high nine strike outs. He surrendered one earned run, a mere seven hits and walked only one. His counterpart, Saint Mary’s freshman pitcher Nathan Gonzalez pitched an efficient seven as well, giving up five hits and two earned runs.
“(I was) just trying to get ahead of guys and making them put it in play, these guys were off balance so we threw a lot of off speed stuff,” said Eskew, who at one point retired 11 of 12 batters. “(I tried) changing speeds, throwing different pitches at different counts and not throwing the same pitches in the same situations.”
Eskew’s cutter had many of the Gaels guessing, who were taking awkward swings and causing several three-pitch strikeouts.
Melker and Lee attributed Cal Poly’s success to the team’s depth.
“Everybody has confidence in everybody and when they get put in they do their job and they know their role… so we are lucky we are deep,” Melker said.
Each team was able to take advantage of errors and manufacture runs.
“We’ve had a number of different players respond very well throughout the course of the season and one thing that our team has done well is they know how to win,” Lee said. “That’s basically it, they really know how to win.”
A costly miscue by sophomore third baseman J.J. Thompson gave the Gaels an opening in the third inning, leading to two base hits and three runs. Thompson redeemed himself later in the inning with a diving play to his right. He corralled the ball on a short hop, spun and fired to first to save a run.
The Mustangs answered with two runs in the bottom of the third, manufacturing a couple runs after an infield hit, a bloop base hit and a fielders choice.
In the bottom of the fourth inning Cal Poly added two more after shortstop Kyle Smith led off with a walk and forced two throws back to first, distracting Gonzales with a substantial lead. Hensley proceeded to put down a bunt that Gonzales bobbled while transferring the ball from glove to hand. Later, Melker battled with two strikes and belted a two-run gapper to left center.
Eskew hit cruise control after early-inning hiccups. He maintained excellent control and changed speeds well.
“The win is big,” Melker said. “When you are making decisions if you are on the bubble to get in the tournament, they look at these games to see what you have done… they are important today, but I think more important down the road.”