Graig MantleIt didn’t look very promising for the Cal Poly baseball team in the first inning Saturday when it watched Cal State Northridge’s Jorge Andrade Jr. blast a two-run home run to left-center field.
But even with a 5-0 deficit at the end of the first inning, the Mustangs were able to trample the visiting Matadors in the third to take the lead and win the game 10-8 and the Big West Conference series 2-1 in front of 1,431 fans at Baggett Stadium.
The win put the Mustangs (18-17, 5-1 Big West) in sole possession of first place in conference.
“It’s the goal we set after two weeks of conference, to go 5-1 or 6-0,” Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee said. “We’re just lucky to get out of here with a series win.”
The Mustangs lost the first game of the series Thursday night, 8-7, after committing six errors. After a 9-8 comeback win in 11 innings in the second game, Saturday’s game became the rubber match.
“The first inning was tough,” said Cal Poly starting pitcher Thomas Eager, who improved to 6-2. “It was a little frustrating making good pitches when they’re getting hit. After that I just tell myself, ‘That’s it, they can’t score anymore, put up zeros and give our offense a chance.'”
When the Matadors went to bat in the second inning, the Mustangs put up those zeros with three consecutive groundouts.
“Things like that happen; the last couple of outings Eager’s had one bad inning and it just so happened to be the first inning,” Lee said. “It’s better to be in the first, though, since then you’re not pressured offensively to feel like you need to get it back all at once.”
Eager added: “You got (Brent) Morel and (Grant) Desme always telling me ‘Hey just hold them there, we’re going to get them.’ That gives me confidence. They’ve proven it to me before time and time again; you just give them a chance and they seem to score.”
Once the Mustangs were at bat in the third inning, the rally was on.
With Morel and Bryan Kepner at first and third, Wes Dorrell singled to left-center to drive in Kepner and make it 5-3.
Adam Buschini followed with his second booming home run of the year over the left-field wall and brought Morel and Dorrell home to make it 6-5.
Luke Yoder finally ended the third inning after making his way from first base to home plate on a steal, a passed ball and a throwing error by Edwin Quirarte. The score was 7-5 after five third-inning runs as the Mustangs went on to the lead the rest of the game.
Friday night’s win snapped a seven-game home losing streak. Saturday’s home win kept the streak alive.
“It’s nice to come back home, play in front of a big crowd and show them pretty good baseball and get some wins at home, which we haven’t been doing too often,” Eager said.
The series against Cal State Northridge lasted 11 hours, 7 minutes, including Friday’s game that lasted 4:16.
Cal Poly batted .333 against Cal State Northridge in the series, scoring 26 runs on 40 hits.
The team was led offensively by Desme (5 for 13), Logan Schafer (6 for 12), Kyle Smith (7 for 15) and Buschini (6 for 13).
The Mustangs forced six consecutive outs in the fifth and sixth innings, three of which were strikeouts by Eager.
The Matadors battled back in the top of the eighth inning with a home run by C.J. Belanger went over Desme’s head in right field to bring it within two at 10-8.
Eager’s tired arm called for a pitching change as Frankie Reed came in to close.
John Parham and Belanger tried to keep the Matadors alive with two singles in the ninth. With two outs on the board, Jason Dabbs stepped to the plate to either fill the bases or bring in any runs.
Reed struck him out.
“I thought he was going to ground out,” Reed said. “I was getting nervous with just two guys on and I was hoping it wouldn’t be a hit.”
Reed, who played all three games of the series, struck out six batters in the series and came away with his first save by not allowing a single run in two innings.
“Frankie’s very valuable to us; he threw all three games out of the pen and he’s very resilient,” Lee said. “Our left-handers out of the bullpen really give us something to go to when the wheels are starting to fall off.”
Cal Poly has yet to find a Friday night starting pitcher to replace sophomore right-hander D.J. Mauldin, who opened the season as the No. 1 starter before suffering a season-ending elbow injury after only one start.
“Our offense has been there, but our pitching hasn’t been there the last two weekends,” Buschini said. “…We (feel) like it’s going to come along.”
Lee added: “We’re still a work in progress on the mound. I think what we have is a staff of relievers. Just keep the ball game close for four or five innings and then we can get one of our left-handers to allow us to stay in the ball game.”
Lee said he would most likely start sophomore right-hander Eric Massingham (1-0, 4.50 ERA) in the series opener at UC Irvine on Friday.
“Now going into next week, we need to raise our level of play, because now we face a real tough part of our schedule with Irvine, Riverside and the rest of the Big West,” Lee said.
Eager said the goal for next week’s series is to minimize the first inning.
“Coach always says the first inning is a momentum-getter,” Eager said. “You do well in the first inning, then it shuts them down a little bit. Then once you go through their whole order and they haven’t scored once, it puts some pressure on them.”