Since then, the Mustangs have had themselves a decent run. They went 1-3 in a pivotal series against Big West Conference rival, No. 5 Cal State Fullerton, 2-3 in a series at Long Beach State, and 1-1 against USC and Santa Clara. After the hardfought past few weeks, Cal Poly sits with a record of 36-17.
This puts the Mustangs at No. 46 in the RPI rankings as of May 20. As I said in my earlier column, the top 64 teams earn invites to the regionals to fight for one of the eight spots in Omaha. So with only a three-game series left against UC Riverside this weekend, it looks safe to say that Cal Poly should be in the mix of things come June, unless something goes really wrong.
Should the Mustangs make it to the postseason after their weekend series against Riverside, they really need to leave their mark on the field. This postseason could make or break Cal Poly’s name in the college baseball world. There are a few reasons for the mandatory success facing the Mustangs in June.
The first thing is the obvious one, so I won’t touch it that much. Clearly, Cal Poly wants to do well in the regionals because that’s the reason you play the game. You put in all the time in the cages and the practice field to win — plain and simple.
But there’s another reason for why Cal Poly must take advantage of the position they’ve managed to put themselves in. A long run in the 2009 college baseball postseason would put the Mustangs on the map for the first time, especially in terms of recruiting. It just so happens that the Mustangs have never found themselves in the running for a championship in Omaha.
Sometimes, it only takes one big season to change that forever.
If Cal Poly can pull itself together and get their name in the sports headlines this summer, good recruits are going to start taking Poly into serious consideration when it comes time to sign. That’s all it takes. The Mustangs have never really had the success that gives them an attractive baseball image, so there’s no strategic reason for good recruits to bother signing here. But that one good run in the postseason may just spark enough interest in recruits, which leads to more success season after season. Once the recruits start coming, the success will continue to come. All you need is that little spark and the fire keeps burning.
A perfect example of this is Big West Conference member Cal State Fullerton. I’m sure very few of you know that much about the school, unless you’re from around that area. They’re so small they don’t even have a football team to brag about on Saturdays. But every year they find themselves in the running for a championship in Omaha. So how does such a small and quiet school find success year after year? They get the recruits.
They aren’t a bigger school than Cal Poly. They don’t have more resources. But they get the recruits every year and this just leads to more runs at a championship.
So if Cal Poly can manage to throw something together in June, the snowball effect could start. It’s possible that all we need is that one big season. And this looks like as good of a season as any to get things rolling.
Tyler Jauch is a political science sophomore and a Mustang Daily sports columnist.