Poly baseball team to host Washington this weekend

Injuries to the pitching staff and youth throughout the lineup have been early obstacles for the Cal Poly baseball team.

Still, the Mustangs have won their last two series and taken five of their previous six games overall. They hope to keep building that momentum when they host Washington in a three-game series that begins at 6 p.m. Friday, continues at 1 p.m. Saturday and concludes at 11 a.m. Sunday.

“After starting out 0-5,” Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee said, “you kind of question where we are, but we’re a young team. It was good to get in the win column and that kind of snowballed.”

Snowballed to the tune of outscoring opponents by a combined mark of 46-23 over the last six games. Cal Poly (5-6) began the season 0-5 for the first time since moving to the Division I level in 1995, but has since shown the resolve that resulted in three straight winning seasons from 2004-06.

“Having a young team, they just need to get a number of games under their belt, whether they’re coming out of high school or junior college,” Lee said. “It probably takes 25 or 30 games to really get comfortable with their roles. You get caught up in the speed of the game at this level.”

Cal Poly sophomore third baseman Brent Morel agreed.

“A lot of it is we have a lot of young guys,” said Morel, who leads the team with a .481 batting average. “It’s a big transition from high school or junior college – people getting their feet wet and believing in themselves.”

The Mustangs returned only three position starters from last season’s 29-27 edition and all three of their season-opening starters were sophomores or younger.

“After we lost five straight to open the season,” Lee said, “we sat down before the Saturday game against San Diego State (on Feb. 3) and had a 45-minute talk and really talked about our mental approach and how that needed to get better. We had a better atmosphere in the dugout, a lot more confidence and chemistry.”

The rotation has been buoyed so far by No. 3 starter Thomas Eager (2-1, 1.86 earned-run average), a sophomore right-hander. In his first three starts, he has allowed only 17 of the 66 batters he has faced to get on base.

“Thomas has really stepped up his game,” Lee said. “He was pretty sick (last) weekend, he battled through that. He’s probably been our most consistent starting pitcher and he usually gives you six or seven quality innings and shortens the amount of innings that we need to rely on from our bullpen, which right now is extremely thin.

“Eager’s been our bright spot as a No. 3 pitcher on Sunday. Thomas could easily be our No. 1 pitcher but right now, we feel comfortable leaving him as a No. 3 starter, get at least a split, at least minimum, in the first two games and have him be your wild card on Sunday.”

Cal Poly’s rotation has been in a flux since the team’s initial No. 1 starter, sophomore right-hander D.J. Mauldin (0-1, 11.25 ERA), suffered an elbow injury early in the season.

Starting in his place has been initial closer Marc Nobriga (1-1, 3.31 ERA), a junior right-hander. He is slated to get the start Friday night.

“He’ll pitch his way into shape,” Lee said of Nobriga.

Cal Poly freshman southpaw Matt Leonard (0-1, 9.19 ERA) will be on the hill Saturday.

Lee hopes that Mauldin and left-handed junior reliever Grant Theophilus, who is coming off two knee surgeries, can return soon.

“In time, if we can get everybody back into the mix, we should be that much stronger,” Lee said.

The Mustangs also are trying to regain the services of Morel, who hyperextended his left shoulder during an at-bat in the first game of the doubleheader against Nevada last Sunday. Morel, who is slugging .926, said he expects to play this weekend.

“I just feel confident as a player,” Morel said of his fast start. “It’s being part of the equation. I feel like we have a lot of depth.”

Helping fill the void has been junior right fielder Grant Desme, the team’s lone preseason all-conference pick. Desme is hitting .410 with team highs of four home runs and 13 RBI.

“Desme’s really meant a lot,” Lee said. “He’s really carried us offensively. He has a great approach. You never know coming from one season to the next. They’re role players one year, if you ask them to step up the next year and be the guy, a lot of players can’t do that. Grant’s really taken that role to heart. He has a presence in the middle of the lineup.”

Lee said his team has been boosted by playing its last seven games at home as part of a season-long 10-game homestand.

“It’s really helped us out being a young team,” he said. “This is a rarity here at Cal Poly. Having an offensive ballpark helps out hitters who started out the season fairly slow. Slowly but surely, we’re getting more players into the mix offensively.”

Washington (0-0) is coming off a 36-25 season that included dropping two of three at home to the Mustangs last year in Seattle.

“In the past they’ve been one of the premier teams in the Pac-10,” Lee said of the Huskies. “Probably the only advantage that we have is it’s their opener coming down.”

Washington is slated to start respective southpaws Nick Hagadone (junior) and Nick Haughian (sophomore) on Friday and Sunday and sophomore right-hander Jorden Merry on Saturday.