J.J. Jenkins
sports@mustangdaily.net
Winning hasn’t been complicated for Cal Poly baseball this season. Pitching and defense have carried the load while the Mustangs’ bats have provided just enough spark to give them a win.
After tossing nine innings and allowing one run during Sunday’s victory over Seattle, the pitching staff has allowed 51 hits and 14 runs through 63 innings this season.
Bolstered by starter Bryan Granger’s strong pitching, the Mustangs (7-0) cruised to a 4-1 victory over Seattle (1-6). It was their seventh consecutive victory to start the season — the best start in the program’s 19-year Division I history — and the 14th straight win dating back to 2012.
The team also bucked a trend of not scoring early in games this season. After Tim Wise and Denver Chavez went down quietly to start the game, Jimmy Allen belted a shot off the center field wall which turned into a stand-up triple. Designated hitter Brian Mundell singled to left and Allen scored, the first time the Mustangs got on the board in the first inning this year.
“We’re not doing a very good job of getting leadoff hitters on base and that’s the key to offensive scoring,” head coach Larry Lee said. “We’ll work on some mechanical things and once we get those things ironed out, then it becomes the mental part.”
Granger made his first career weekend start at Baggett Stadium for the Mustangs and pitched into the ninth inning before Taylor Chris entered in relief. Granger faced the minimum number of batters through four innings and didn’t allow a run until the sixth.
“My nerves calmed down a lot today,” Granger said. “Last weekend on the road I was a little uptight, but I settled down today and got into my groove early.”
The Redhawks could have scored more runs in the seventh inning after Cal Poly regained a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth. After two Seattle runners reached base with nobody out, a ground ball looked like it was going to sneak into center field. However, Chavez reacted just in time to corral the ball in his glove and flip it to shortstop Peter Van Gansen on second base. Van Gansen caught the ball with his bare hand and threw it to first in time to beat the runner, halting the Redhawks’ rally.
“It was just one of those (balls) where you just have to lay out,” Chavez said. “I glove-flipped it and (Van Gansen) is really good at getting rid of the ball quick, and that’s what he had to do to get the force out at first base.”
The Mustangs tacked on two error-assisted runs in their half of the seventh, extending their lead to 4-1. Cal Poly scored only one earned run on Sunday, aided by four errors from the Redhawks’ defense.
Granger took the mound for the ninth inning, having thrown just 82 pitches, but his first delivery in the inning was hit into left field and Lee replaced him with Chris. Granger walked one batter and struck out five to earn his second victory of the season.
“I wanted to get Chris some work out of the bullpen, but if (Granger) was able to finish it I was going to let him finish it,” Lee said. “The way it worked out was better, we got (Chris) to come in and he’s been good in his two outings. To have him finish the game and not bring Reed Reilly in was a plus also.”
The Mustangs are off to their best start since 1981, but the team feels like the start is just the beginning of a successful campaign.
“From the end of last year, we knew that we were going to have a good squad,” Chavez said. “Throughout the whole fall we knew that we could swing it, we could pitch, we could pretty much do everything that you need to do to be a good ball club. Obviously, we have some good opponents in conference that are going to make it tough to win the Big West, but right now we’re doing what we do best, and when our hitting comes along we’re going to be a tough team to beat.”