After a 12-game season-opening homestand, the Cal Poly baseball team dropped its first away game of the 2016 season.
Cal Poly (10-3) traveled to Malibu to face the Pepperdine Waves (4-8) on Eddy B. Field on Tuesday and the Mustangs fell short, 12-4.
Junior catcher Brett Barbier started the game off with a solo home run, his first of the season. The Mustangs then scratched out a run on an error, a walk and a single to left field by junior third baseman Michael Sanderson to take a 2-0 lead.
But things quickly turned south for the Mustangs in the second inning when the Waves sent 15 players to bat, scoring 11 runs in the frame. Seven of the runs were earned, and four were unearned due to a throwing error by Sanderson.
The game remained at 11-2 until the sixth inning, when the Wave’s junior right fielder Brandon Caruso’s RBI double extended Pepperdine’s lead to 12-2.
The Mustangs added two more runs to close the ball game at 12-4 in the ninth inning. Schuknecht scored first, followed by another run from freshman shortstop Kyle Marinconz on a groundout by Sanderson.
Cal Poly hosted Pepperdine last Tuesday and won 6-5, making the two teams 1-1 against each other this season. Tuesday’s game also ended the Mustangs’ five-game winning streak.
The Mustangs face Grand Canyon (7-4) in a three-game series in Phoenix this weekend.