Game one
The Cal Poly baseball team jumped on Rice early and often, beating the 2003 national champions 10-3 Saturday afternoon at Baggett Stadium.
Following a difficult 10-7 loss Friday night against the Owls, the Mustangs stampeded over freshman left-hander Taylor Wall, who gave up five earned runs in three and one-third innings work, in the first game of a double-header.
Cal Poly scored at least two runs in each of the first four innings, giving the Mustangs a 9-1 cushion.
Setting the tone early, senior center fielder Ryan Lee hit the first pitch Cal Poly saw for a base hit. After a sacrifice bunt and a stolen base, Lee was sitting on third with one out and a chance to score. Junior third baseman Adam Buschini took advantage of the opportunity, hitting a sacrifice fly to center field to bring in the first run of the game.
“Those guys in front of me are doing great,” Buschini said of driving in the first run. “With them always getting on, it helps me out a lot.”
Buschini had a game-high three RBI on 1-2 hitting. He bunted in his second run on a well-executed safety squeeze, before being rewarded with a free-swinging at bat in the eighth inning that resulted in an RBI double for the team’s tenth run.
“We came out swinging and we played hard,” Buschini said. “You know, the first game of a double-header is always important. Now we the have momentum going into the second game.”
On the mound, junior right-hander DJ Mauldin gave Cal Poly a solid outing, giving up three runs on 10 hits before leaving the game after the seventh inning. Mauldin retired the first five batters he faced. He struck out four and only recorded one walk. His teammates backed him up with a strong defensive performance, as well.
Cal Poly made Rice earn every base they got as they played flawless defense, committing no errors. On the other side, the Owls committed three costly mistakes during the first four innings, giving the Mustangs golden opportunities to bring players across the plate. Cal Poly scored three unearned runs during the first four innings.
Cal Poly’s offensive attack lasted through five Rice pitchers, while the Owls only saw two opposing pitchers. The Owls had just as many hits as the Mustangs, 12, but were never able to string them together to threaten.
Junior center fielder Steven Sultzbaugh and junior designated hitter Diego Seastrunk came through for the Owls offensively, knocking in two of their three runs. Sultzbaugh went 2-2 with a walk and an RBI. Seastrunk capitalized on a rare mistake by Mauldin to hit a towering homerun over the right field wall as he went 2-4.
Every Mustang that got into the game contributed to the run-scoring party Saturday afternoon as every player either scored a run or batted in a runner. Among those players, sophomore designated hitter DJ Gentile hit 3-4 with a double and a run and freshman left fielder hit 2-3 with a double and two RBI.
Game two
In what turned out to be a hitter’s duel, the Cal Poly baseball team beat No. 3 Rice University in the last of a season opening three-game series. The Mustangs were able to rally back after being down 6-2 in the fifth inning to beat the Owls 7-6 Saturday night at Baggett Stadium to complete a day-night doubleheader sweep of the 2003 national champions.
The Mustangs were 1-1 coming into the game, having lost the season opener Friday 10-7 and winning the first game of Saturday’s double-header 10-3.
According to Head Coach Larry Lee, the team had to first put Friday’s lost behind them in order to be successful in Saturday’s games.
“It was a good day, more so in how we responded after losing Friday night,” Lee said.
Lee acknowledged that beating team’s like Rice can only add to Cal Poly’s early season confidence.
“Rice is a very, very good ball club and their expectations are high,” he added. “We came out and were able to put Friday night’s game behind us. We played extremely well in the first game, and then today we got sloppy defensively in the fifth inning. We put that behind us, chipped away, and that gave us the opportunity to win the ball game late.”
Sophomore lefty Matt Leonard went 4.2 innings for the Mustangs, giving up three runs, walking two batters and striking out three others. After sitting out last season due to Tommy John surgery, Leonard was happy to get back on the mound in a competitive game.
“I was really excited,” Leonard said. “After sitting out a whole year, you kind of get anxious so it was nice to finally get out there again. I feel like my confidence coming in was pretty good so hopefully I’ll continue to have confidence when I step out on the field.”
The Owls struck first with runs in both the second and third innings. The Mustangs were able to tie up the score at two runs a piece by taking advantage of an error by Rice’s shortstop Chad Mozingo and a wild pitch from their starting pitcher Mike Ojala in the bottom of the third inning.
The Mustangs brought in senior right-hander Eric Massingham with one out in the fifth inning. The Owls then strung together a series of hits and capitalized on an error to score four times after the pitching change, which widened the scoring gap to 6-2.
The Mustangs were quiet until junior shortstop Kyle Smith scored on a wild pitch in the seventh inning.
Cal Poly scored three more times in the bottom of the eighth inning. They put together a pair of base hits by sophomore first baseman J.J. Thompson and Smith and an array of walks and hit batters to tie the game up again at six.
Massingham was able to shut down the Owls in the top of the ninth inning, clearing the way for the bottom of his team’s lineup to try to end the game with a run and secure him his first win of the season.
With one out, freshman left fielder Bobby Crocker singled to center field and then stole second base, putting him in scoring position for the number eight hitter J.J. Thompson. Thompson was able to turn on a hard fastball from Rice’s fourth relief pitcher Matthew Reckling that flew to the wall in center field, scoring Crocker to win the game.
“I was just trying to put the ball in play to move the runner over and have someone else behind me take care of it,” Thompson said. “The team battled hard, Matt Leonard came back and pitched a great game and the bullpen did their job. It just feels good to win.”
The Mustangs travel to Fresno State to play a single game against the defending national champion Bulldogs Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. at Beiden Field.