Baseball
After having its weekday game against undefeated San Jose State cancelled, the Mustangs will visit Houston (2-7) starting this afternoon.
Cal Poly (6-1) is enjoying its highest ranking (17th) ever at the Division I level after a sweep of Sacramento State last weekend.
The Mustangs first four games of the season were against teams that qualified for the 2008 College World Series including national champion Fresno State. Cal Poly defeated the Bulldogs 13-11 in a slugfest on Feb. 24.
Junior outfielder Luke Yoder and junior shortstop Kyle Smith both hit .545 against the Hornets while junior infielder Adam Buschini and junior right fielder Adam Melker hit .429.
The Mustangs hit .343 as a team over the weekend.
While the Cougars are off to a slow start this season after finishing last year 42-24 and qualifying for NCAA regional play, their last four losses have been to teams in the top 10.
softball
Cal Poly will finally begin its home schedule after opening with 14 road games at 2 p.m. Friday when it hosts the Mustang Classic at Bob Janssen Field.
The Mustangs (8-6) will play Temple (1-4) and Sacramento State (3-9) on Friday. On Saturday Cal Poly will face Utah State (3-12) before a rematch against the Hornets. Sunday closes out the tournament schedule with return games against the Aggies and the Owls.
Cal Poly will likely rely heavily on the pitching of sophomore Anna Cahn over the course of the weekend. Cahn was named Big West Pitcher of the Week after a week in which she had a 0.33 ERA and held opposing batters to just a .130 batting average in four appearances.
Women’s tennis
The No. 75 Mustangs will play a critical Big West dual at No. 44 Long Beach State (6-3, 4-0) on Saturday morning.
Cal Poly (5-3, 3-1) has gotten a lift from the play of junior Brittany Blalock this year. Blalock, who is normally known for her double’s play with partner Steffi Wong, defeated No. 8 Maria Sanchez of USC; giving he Mustangs the best singles victory at the Division I level.
The win catapulted Blalock into the national rankings (No. 78) and earned Big West Player of the Week honors. Blalock has a 16-5 overall record in singles this year, but is 7-1 in the first or second slots, having lost only once in her last ten singles matches.