Cal Poly baseball was probably already out of postseason contention. So, when their three weekend starters were suspended for this weekend’s series against UC Irvine, things looked pretty down.

Three games later, Cal Poly has to feel decent about a home series win against an Anteater team they were tied with coming into the weekend. Now 9-9 in conference play, Cal Poly goes into the final few weeks of Big West play with a few wins and maybe some more confidence.

Pitching depth

Justin Calomeni was really good in a spot start on Sunday. By Owen Main

When any college team has their entire weekend staff suspended, you don’t expect much. Cal Poly’s teams in the past that have been really good have been pretty short in terms of pitching depth. This team has 10 — yes I said TEN — different guys who have started games and also 10 players with over 20 innings.

This is a double-edged sword. It means that the back end of the rotation hasn’t given Lee much reason to stay with guys on a week-to-week basis. It also means that lots of guys have gotten some experience. While that might not be enough to get the Mustangs to the postseason this year, it bodes well for next season and made the team unusually equipped to mentally handle situations like this weekend.

Spencer Howard, who started on Friday, has pitched BIG innings en route to a 2-1 record coming into the weekend prior to his series-opening win. Craig Colen, starting just his second game of the season on Saturday, has a 20-6 k/bb ratio. Justin Calomeni, one of the stalwarts of the bullpen before this weekend, started on Sunday and pitched very well.

While Calomeni could easily be drafted and gone after this season, all the other pitchers who have thrown major innings for Cal Poly will/should be back next season. If Cal Poly can fill some gaps on defense and in the order, there should be a solid battle for innings from a very experienced staff is 2017.

That’s a long way away though. For this weekend, it just meant that they had a shot against UC Irvine.

Offensive

Cal Poly put up seven runs in the 5th inning, including a grand slam from John Schuknecht and a solo homer from Nick Meyer on the very next pitch.

It shouldn’t surprise anybody that I had left before the inning and was barely off-campus when Schu’s homer cleared the left field fence.

I got a really great photo of him getting beaned earlier in the game though. So, pretty much I got all the important action right?

In other news, Alex McKenna went 3-6 with two runs, capping his return week. Prior to this week, McKenna missed 12 straight games with an injury. In the four games since he’s been back, the outfielder managed five hits, four runs, and six RBIs.

Barbs all over

I just wanted to mention something about Cal Poly (center fielder, left fielder, first baseman, catcher) Brett Barbier. Barbier was the preseason first-team catcher in the Big West conference and hasn’t really played there in a while.

When the Mustangs needed a first-baseman with some pop, Barbs went and played there like he hadn’t ever played anywhere else. When he was needed in left field, Brett went out there and got re-acclimated. Since McKenna and Josh George went down, Barbier has filled the position more than adequately.

I love to see when athletes play baseball, and Barbier has done everything he can for this team. I think there is only one game this season where he hasn’t reached base. He went 2-4 on Sunday and is hitting .365 through 50 games this year. Without Barbier’s CONSTANT presence this season in the middle of the order and saving balls at first base, Cal Poly might be under .500.

Whatever is in Brett’s future, let’s be clear how valuable he’s been to this Mustangs team this season.

Up Next

Cal Poly travels to Bakersfield on Tuesday before visiting Troy Percival’s UC Riverside Highlanders next weekend in Riverside.

Photos by Owen Main

The Cal Poly baseball team had question-marks all over the field this preseason. They emphatically answered some of those questions with a four-game sweep of former Big West opponent University of Pacific.

Kyle Smith was dealing on Friday night. By Owen Main

On Friday, Kyle Smith calmed questions about the pitching staff. The left-handed sophomore struck out six Tigers in the first two innings and nine overall in the complete game 6-2 victory. Smith only walked one batter and threw 108 pitches.

Saturday’s doubleheader started in dramatic fashion. In the first game, with the score tied at 6-6 in the 10th inning, freshman catcher Nick Meyer punched a single into right field to plate Michael Sanderson and put Cal Poly up 2-0 in the series.

The series advantage was pushed to 3-0 in the nightcap behind a strong start from junior pitcher Slater Lee. Lee went seven and a third innings and gave up three runs while scattering ten hits and striking-out eight batters. He walked just two Tigers.

In the final game on Sunday, Cal Poly was able to flex some offensive muscle, jumping out to a 15-0 lead and winning the game 18-2 to get to 4-0.

Great starts

Friday night was one to remember for Kyle Smith. There isn’t any understating a Friday starter who throws a complete game and gets a win to start a weekend. Smith’s velocity has never been super high, but his ability to keep hitters off-balance and think his way through a start is obviously advanced. The fact he’s left-handed doesn’t hurt either. To see him strike out six batters in the first two innings was great.

Catch and throw

To see Cal Poly make no errors behind Smith on Friday had to lower Larry Lee’s blood pressure a little bit. The Mustangs had defensive question-marks coming into this season, but committed just three errors in the four games this weekend. It’s not a number to hang your hat on, but considering the fact that they made seven errors in their first three games last season, we’ll call it a good sign.

Freshman center fielder Alex McKenna belted two home runs in Cal Poly’s 4-game sweep of Pacific. By Owen Main

McKenna flexes

With lack of experience all over the field, it was great to see a freshman step-up. Alex McKenna did just that, belting two home runs over the weekend en route to a Big West Player of the Week award. McKenna went 6-12 with two home runs and a triple on the weekend. He also walked seven times. In the crazy first weekend stats department, McKenna now sports a 1.817 OPS — not bad for a leadoff hitter and center fielder. He’s going to be an exciting player to watch over the next few years.

Barbier’s bat

Brett Barbier also had a very nice weekend. The junior played catcher, first base, and left field on the weekend and leads the team with a .571 batting average out of the three-hole. Barbier’s presence in the lineup provides both versatility and a steadying influence. When he goes well, this lineup looks like it can be dangerous.

Bruin Invasion

Cal Poly will host UCLA for three games and Michigan for one game this weekend as part of a Saturday doubleheader. The Bruins were a top-10 team coming into the year and have fallen off a little after going 1-2 last weekend. Their coach was not happy with his team’s performance, so you know they’re going to come to Baggett looking for blood.

Head coach John Savage said today was the worst #UCLA has looked in 10 years. Said he was embarrassed and disappointed.

— Shotgun Spratling (@ShotgunSprD1) February 22, 2016

The series will be a great test for this young Cal Poly squad. First pitch on Friday night is 6:00pm.

Photos by Owen Main. To view them all, click here.

Incoming Cal Poly freshman Michael Clark was throwing, according to a few people I talked to, in the low 90’s last weekend. By Owen Main

For local college baseball fans, this weekend was an opportunity to see five players from next year’s roster compete on the same field.

The San Luis Obispo Blues’ roster boasts four of Larry Lee’s players: senior, John Schuknecht; senior, Brett Barbier; incoming freshman pitcher, Bobby Ay; incoming freshman pitcher, Nigel Ward. This past weekend, the Blues hosted two Cal Poly pitching prospects who were part of the Menlo Park Legends’ roster. They were Michael Clark and Thomas Triantos.

Friday night, Schuknecht and Barbier both started for the Blues. When Clark got in the game for the Legends, the first batter he faced was Barbier. Triantos pitched two solid innings on Saturday for Menlo Park and Ay started Sunday’s game for the Blues with Larry Lee in the crowd looking on.

Barbier talked with me about how the summer was going and what it was like to catch some of the incoming freshmen right now. Click here to listen to our conversation. 

I gues it’s kind of like spring training — if spring training were seven months before the season started and if not all the players were on the same team they’d be on later.

OK, fine, it’s probably not a lot like spring training, but maybe it’s the closest thing a die-hard college baseball fan in this county will find. For Cal Poly baseball fans in SLO, last weekend was a good one.

Brett Barbier caught the majority of the season for Cal Poly during his junior campaign in 2015. By Owen Main

Owen opens the show talking about whining in Los Angeles. DeAndre Jordan’s going to be a Clipper again and this has to be the whiniest fanbase of a first-place team I’ve ever seen.

Owen talked about a $30 million difference between what the Clippers could offer DeAndre and what the Mavs could. He later fact-checked that and it turns out the difference between the two deals was about $8 million and the Clippers’ deal give Jordan an opt-out after three years, allowing him to sign another contract before the age of 30 if he is so inclined. Still, $8 million with an opt out would sure be compelling to me… .

The second half of the show is Brett Barbier of Cal Poly baseball and the San Luis Obispo Blues. Barbier talks about what this summer’s been like for him and also what it’s been like to be able to see some of the incoming freshmen pitchers this Summer.

Ryan Drobny slides home safely on a Peter Van Gansen sacrifice fly on Tuesday night. By Owen Main

Catcher Brett Barbier hit a double, a triple, and drove in four runs on Tuesday night as Cal Poly raised their winning streak to five games with a come from behind 10-6 win over Fresno State. With the win, Cal Poly sweeps their two mid-week games against the Bulldogs this season.

Barbier, a sophomore from Danville, now has 11 RBIs in the Mustangs’ past two games. Cal Poly has won five straight and has a 4-2 conference record after sweeping Hawai’i last weekend.

Larry Lee’s team will take all the momentum they can get as they head to Isla Vista this weekend to take on UCSB. The Gauchos, who were the preseason Big West favorites, are also 4-2 in conference, while sporting a sparkling 26-8 overall record. That is good for ninth in the D1Baseball Top-25 and 13th in the RPI.

All games at UCSB are day games — their field doesn’t have lights.

Photos by Owen Main