Stephan Teodosescu
steodosescu@mustangdaily.net
While the Cal Poly baseball team is known for grinding out wins, the Mustangs proved that a little fortune once in a while doesn’t hurt. In two separate, but equally crucial instances Saturday night, the Mustangs found a way to get out of tough defensive spots to preserve either a then-tie game or a one-run lead to eventually beat UC Riverside 3-1 at Baggett Stadium.
“It was a typical ballgame for us,” head coach Larry Lee said. “The majority of games we play are close ballgames and we’ve been fortunate to win a lot of them. We feel comfortable in these situations. Runs are tough to come by.”
With one game remaining in the series, the Mustangs (30-14, 10-7 Big West) used those opportunities to earn an important series win in the process and moved within one game of third place in the conference standings after UC Irvine fell to UC Santa Barbara earlier in the day.
In the first of those jams, sophomore right fielder Nick Torres caught a deep fly ball with two runners on and gunned down the Highlanders’ Devyn Bolasky at the plate for an inning-ending double play. Torres, known for a strong arm in right, said he wasn’t expecting it, but was pleasantly surprised by Bolasky’s intention of scoring from third on the sequence.
“I didn’t know if he was going to go, but once I knew he was going I let the throw go,” Torres said. “I knew it was going to be at least close and I knew it was going to be on line, so it was great to get him. I was surprised to see him go.”
In another tight play in the eighth, a close call at first base prompted the umpires to overturn a decision that would have scored the tying run for the Highlanders, but, instead, got the Mustangs out of a jam unscathed. Umpires originally ruled that Cal Poly first baseman Tommy Pluschkell’s foot came off the bag and that UC Riverside scored a run on the play, but the officials gathered for a conference and overturned the call, which ended the inning.
“I’ve seen a reversal before, but not in such a crucial situation,” junior third baseman Jimmy Allen said. “I thought (the UC riverside runner) was clearly out since all of us pretty much ran off the field. I think we kind of influenced the (reversal) a little bit.”
Cal Poly will need a little bit more of that mojo going forward. A conference championship is unlikely considering the way top-seeded Cal State Fullerton is playing, so any hope the Mustangs have of making the postseason relies on the NCAA selection committee to give them an at-large bid for the regional playoffs later this month.
Last year’s team finished 36-20 overall, but was left out of postseason play. The Mustangs will have to take care of business to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
“We have to go 10-2 to win 40 games on the season,” Torres said. “We figure if we win at least 40 games we should get an automatic bid … It shows how big every game is from here on out.”
Torres helped lead the charge Saturday with an RBI single in the third inning after both senior second baseman Denver Chavez and freshman designated hitter Brian Mundell were hit by Highlander’s southpaw pitcher Ben Doucette.
In the seventh inning Allen smacked a ball through the hole in the left side to push across the game’s winning run. Chavez then scored an unearned insurance run for the Mustangs after an errant throw from UC Riverside’s Cody Hough.
Both Allen and Torres finished the game 2 for 4 with an RBI. With that, Torres added on to his team-leading 36 runs batted in this season. Meanwhile, both sophomore Jordan Ellis and junior David Armendariz extended their hitting streaks to 12 and nine games, respectively.
Sophomore lefty reliever Taylor Chris got the win after pitching two scoreless innings while striking out four.
“We brought (Chris) into a real tight situation and got out of it,” Lee said. “He gave us six outs and bridged the gap to (the closer) Reed Reilly. “That’s been our recipe for the entire season and it worked again.”
UC Riverside (18-24), scored its lone run when Clayton Prestridge singled to left center that scored Joe Chavez from third in the sixth inning. The Higlanders have lost 10 of their last 11 games headed into Sunday’s finale.