Harry Chang
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The Cal Poly baseball team knows what’s coming this weekend — a three-game road series against No. 23 UC Irvine, which leads the Big West Conference standings alongside Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara.
They know it’s big, with Saturday’s game set to be aired on Fox Sports Prime Ticket and Sunday’s to be carried on ESPN3.
And they know what they have to do.
The Mustangs, now 22-23 overall after Tuesday night’s win over San Jose State, sit two games behind the log jam atop the Big West at 9-6. With just two more series to go after this weekend, anything but a sweep will likely put them out of contention.
What they don’t know is how they’ll get it done.
In a season that has seemed to field two completely different teams after a 1-6 start by Cal Poly that included back-to-back sweeps, the Mustangs transformed into a team that has gone 21-17. Since the rocky start, the theme of the year’s final weeks has been finding ways to make up for lost time.
Winners of 12 of its last 17, Cal Poly features several players who have stepped up in the effort to win the Big West — likely the Mustangs’, who are ranked 125 in RPI, only shot at making the postseason.
Junior second baseman Mark Mathias has continued his hitting ways. Mathias went 8-for-17 in four games last week, including a 6-for-13 performance in the Cal State Northridge series, and is currently riding a 14-game hitting streak into Friday’s series opener.
The 2014 Big West Conference Field Player of the Year has gone 34-for-74 (.459) over his last 19 games and leads the team with 20 multihit games and a .372 average on the season.
Just behind the leadoff-hitting Mathias is junior shortstop Peter Van Gansen, who boasts the team’s second-highest average at .322 going into Tuesday night’s game.
Batting third this weekend will likely be junior designated hitter Brian Mundell, who currently sports a .274 average with nine doubles, five home runs and 26 RBI.
Where the real uncertainty lies in Cal Poly’s offense is the back end of the lineup, where head coach Larry Lee has stressed all year that he asks for “at least half of the order to step up or find some other way to contribute.”
Senior right fielder Zack Zehner has been the leader of the last six batters, having raked in 39 RBI heading into this weekend’s must-win series.
“We’re communicating well (as hitters),” Zehner said after Sunday’s win over the Matadors. “We’re getting information from each other about their pitcher and practicing really hard.”
And while offense has been probably the least of their concerns this year (the Mustangs have scored at least four runs in 15 of their last 17), the margin for error will be small this weekend against a strong UC Irvine weekend pitching staff.
“A sweep’s really hard in the Big West,” Zehner said. “Everyone has pitching top to bottom and trying to stay mentally disciplined throughout those three games, and we need to stay level-headed.”
The first two slots in Cal Poly’s pitching rotation have been claimed by junior Casey Bloomquist (5-2, 2.96 ERA) and freshman Kyle Smith, who has earned his spot with a 5-5 record and 3.17 ERA.
The Mustangs’ struggles come at the third slot in the rotation. Cal Poly is 1-10 in the third games of series, giving up 84 runs in those 11 contests, showing a clear weakness in its rotation.
If it comes down to it and the Mustangs are up two games heading into Sunday, one pitcher who may get the call is senior Taylor Chris, who has posted back-to-back strong long-relief performances out of the bullpen and can possibly translate that into a much-needed solid start in game three.
Regardless, each pitcher faces a tall order in a UC Irvine team that has won five straight and is 16-5 at home with an overall .281 team average on the year and .365 on-base percentage.
UC Irvine freshman outfielder Keston Hiura was named the Big West Player of the Week for the second time this year after driving in the Anteaters’ winning run four times last week.
Hiura, the Anteaters’ hottest hitter going into the weekend, also posted three multi-RBI games and doubled three times to take over the team lead with 16.
Hiura is backed by senior catcher Jerry McClanahan, who sports an astonishing on-base percentage of .455, helped by his eight walks in four games last week.
The catcher is also riding a hitting spree after going .556 last week to complement a defensive repertoire in which he has erased 20 of 43 stolen base attempts on the year.
And it doesn’t end there.
Mustangs pitching will also be tasked with cooling off yet another Anteater coming off one of his best offensive weeks. Freshman Parker Coss led UC Irvine last week with seven hits.
All obstacles aside, however, the top of the rotation in Bloomquist and Smith will have the opportunity to set the tone early, as they have all season regardless of the opponent.
Bloomquist, a pitcher known all around the Big West, knows he can fool batters, having struck out 59 in 73 innings while allowing 24 earned runs, and Smith knows he can do the same on day two, registering 52 strikeouts in 71 innings to complete the Mustangs’ crucial one-two punch. All that’s left to do this weekend in Irvine is to simply get it done.
Start times for this weekend are 6.30 p.m. on Friday, 7:00 p.m. on Saturday and 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.