Behind good pitching, solid fielding, and some clutch hitting by a junior draft prospect, Cal Poly baseball swept UCSB in its final home series of the season last weekend. 

Meyer gets hot

For his part, catcher Nick Meyer was red-hot all week. Meyer went 5-6 in Cal Poly’s Tuesday mid-week game and followed it up with a great series against UCSB. On the week, he went 9-17 with three doubles, five runs, and three RBI’s, including a game-winning RBI double on Saturday afternoon on a pitch around his eyeballs. 

Meyer was named the Big West Field Player of the Week on Monday. 

Meyer, who was named to Team USA during the summer of 2017, was already rated as an above-average defensive catcher. He’s been red-hot at the plate over the past month or two as well, probably solidifying a relatively high-round pick in the upcoming Major League Baseball Draft. 

Senior Day

Trent Shelton has been flat-out terrific all season for Cal Poly. Photo by Owen Main

Sunday was senior day and six players were honored. Austin Dondanville, Kyle Smith, Elijah Skipps, Josh George, Colby Barrick, and Trent Shelton all saw their final games at Baggett over the weekend. 

Shelton pitched a great game on Friday night, a healthy Skipps was a key cog in Cal Poly’s offensive output all weekend, and Dondanville and Smith both saw action on the mound as well. George was the senior day darling, going 3-4 with 2 RBIs in Sunday’s victory. 

So long to some juniors?

As happens every year, Cal Poly will have some juniors drafted this year. The question will be which ones leave. 

The two likely candidates are, in likely draft order, are Alex McKenna and Nick Meyer, though Kyle Marinconz is also a candidate to be drafted and turn pro. If you’d asked me before the season, Michael Clark would have also been high on this list. Last season’s closer, Clark’s role changed this season and his workload was less. After pitching 48 innings in 30 games with a 2.58 ERA last season, Clark’s workload has increased to over 65 innings (nine games started) with a 5.79 ERA. Clark’s k/bb percentage also went from 2.12 in 2017 to 1.84 this year. 

That said, Clark pitched a gem on Sunday afternoon, lasting 7 1/3 innings while giving up just a pair of earned runs en route to the win. It was Clark’s longest and probably most productive outing of the season. 

We’ll wait to see where and how these guys get drafted and what decisions they make as far as coming back to school. If it was their last weekend series at Baggett, it was pretty special. 

A great finish

The level of play this weekend could be seen as bittersweet. This team has talent that has been playing much closer to their true talent level over the course of Big West play. 

As they’ve been prone to do over the past few years, Cal Poly is playing its best baseball at the end of the season. As has also happened in recent years, that great baseball doesn’t have any postseason implications. For the third time in four years since the program hosted a regional in 2014, Cal Poly put up a losing non-conference record this season, including losses to Gonzaga, Grand Canyon, New Mexico, a series split to Pacific, a mid-week split with San Jose State, losing two of three at home to San Diego State, losing three of four at Nebraska, and being swept at home by UCLA.  

With the exception of UCLA, Nebraska, and Maybe San Diego State, a regional team doesn’t have that many losses against middling or low level Division I teams on the west coast. The Big West wasn’t really great this season either. Preseason favorites like Long Beach State and UCSB flamed out, but losses in series at CSUN and a sweep in Fullerton took Cal Poly out of the race. The conference will only have a single program — Cal State Fullerton — in this year’s NCAA Tournament. 

Under construction

While the bleachers were ready for the home season in 2018, the second phase of construction – demolition of the current clubhouse — looks like it’s starting soon. On Friday, fans noticed some portable buildings far down the first base line at Baggett. The project had originally been scheduled for groundbreaking right after last season, but I believe that the new clubhouse will still be under construction during the 2019 season and be ready for 2020. 

Photos below from Friday night’s game by Owen Main. Find more photos at photos.fansmanship.com, or you can show love by contributing to the cause via Venmo @Owen-Main or paypal owen@fansmanship.com. 

Things looked a little different in Taylor Chris’ final visit to the Baggett Stadium mound of 2015. By Owen Main

A little less than a year later, Taylor Chris came off the mound once again.

On June 2, 2014, Taylor Chris pitched 6.1 innings in relief and held Pepperdine in-check. His gutsy performance had kept the Mustangs in the game. As he treaded off the mound, head down,

On Sunday afternoon, the crowd cheered just as proudly, though the look on Chris’ face was the opposite. A year ago, Chris pitched in relief of starter Danny Zandona. On this day, Chris came off the mound after an inning and a third, giving way to fellow senior Zandona on senior day. Zandona recorded the final two outs and the Mustangs recorded their 13th conference win and 13th home victory in their final 15 home games.

The final was 11-1.

Jarred Zill started the game and pitched very well for Cal Poly, giving up just one run and four hits in seven innings. Zill has made seven starts this season and is now 4-1 this season. Only Zill and Casey Bloomquist have pitching records above .500 this season. Zill also dropped his ERA to 3.03.

The Mustangs were 10-18 a few weeks before Big West play started and moved one game over .500 for the first time this season. With a series win over UC Davis on the road next weekend, Cal Poly will secure their 10th winning season in Larry Lee’s 13 years at the helm.

While there were lots of popular and talented faces who left Cal Poly after last season, this year’s senior class also played a big role in the team’s first ever hosted regional and the best two-year run in team history.

While the Mustangs don’t have a shot at winning the Big West title or making a regional appearance this season, they were just a few games — and probably really a few innings — away from being in real contention for the conference title. UC Davis, Cal Poly’s opponent next weekend, is 7-14 in Big West play and it’s likely Cal Poly will finish third or fourth in the Big West this season.

This season hasn’t been what some fans expected. If not for the bad start they had, the Mustangs could be in the running for a regional appearance. Cal Poly has four one-run losses in Big West play. As I write this, Cal Poly is 2 1/2 games back in the conference standings. If this is what a “bad” season at Baggett Stadium has become, sign this fan up for the ride.

Photos by Owen Main