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Home / Cal Poly / First-place Cal Poly sweeps UCSB

First-place Cal Poly sweeps UCSB

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Updated: April 25, 2016

Don’t look now, but the Cal Poly baseball team is looking like Big West contenders. After the weekend they had at Baggett Stadium, the UCSB Gauchos wouldn’t argue.

After sweeping UCSB in convincing fashion, Larry Lee’s Mustangs are now 7-2 in the Big West Conference and tied for first place with Cal State Fullerton, who they’ve already taken two out of three from this season.

Six Sigma

Cal Poly’s defense has been much better lately. After four straight errorless games, Cal Poly limited the damage from a few errors on Sunday. They’re still averaging more than an error per game, but the trend is going in the right direction

Friday first

On Friday, starting pitcher Kyle Smith and reliever Justin Bruihl put together a two-hit shutout to help Cal Poly start the series. The two combined for 12 strikeouts in the 7-0 Cal Poly win.

In the first two Big West series of the year (vs. Cal State Fullerton and Hawai’i), Cal Poly has had to battle back and win on Saturday and Sunday after losing on Friday night. On Friday, Kyle Smith got his first Big West win of the year.

Third baseman Michael Sanderson had a nice weekend at the plate. By Owen Main

Third baseman Michael Sanderson had a nice weekend at the plate. By Owen Main

Uelmen bears down on Saturday

Saturday was the only game I got to in-person this weekend, but Erich Uelmen showed that he’s got a little grit and the ability to make a few adjustments beyond his fastball in the 90’s.

The sophomore right hander gave up four runs in the first two innings, but settled down to hold UCSB long enough for Cal Poly’s offense to do some damage.

Uelmen hasn’t lost a conference game and Cal Poly hasn’t lost in three Saturday games in Big West play.

GodZILLa

On Sunday, sophomore right-hander Jarred Zill went 6 1/3 innings and allowed just one earned run. Cal Poly’s defense committed two errors to allow a pair of unearned runs too, but Zill was able to get into the seventh inning and Justin Calomeni shut the door on UCSB to earn Cal Poly their first sweep over the Gauchos since 2012.

Brett Binning, who has been a key part of Cal Poly’s defensive improvement at second base, doubled in a run and scored on a wild pitch. Binning is only hitting .163 on the season, but has an on-base percentage above .300, can move guys over on the bases, and plays a solid second base. He has an infectious on-field positivity and wins in the body language department. The double on Sunday was the first extra-base hit of the season for the former Auburn Tiger.

Here’s the clinching Justin Calomeni strikeout from Krukow’s.

To top off the great weekend, Cal Poly moved up 32 spots in the RPI (to number 62) and swept the Big West Athlete of the Week Awards for baseball. Kyle Smith earned the Pitcher of the Week and John Schuknecht was the field player of the week.

In the end, a weekend like this past one basically gives Cal Poly a shot in conference. They’ve played three series in the Big West and have five remaining. Their toughest remaining conference test may be this upcoming weekend at Blair Field when they face Long Beach State on the road.

Before they do that, Larry Lee’s team will visit Cal on Tuesday evening.

Photos from Saturday by Owen Main To see them all, click here.

 

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