Sports

Sunday, Jun. 29, 2008

Massingham lifts Blues to series clincher against Clovis

Cal Poly right-hander throws five solid innings in 6-3 win

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Summer Collegiate Baseball

This is the kind of start Cal Poly baseball fans would like to see from Eric Massingham next year.

And one they wish would have come more often this past season.

Massingham overcame a turbulent first inning to earn the win in his long-awaited summer debut for the San Luis Obispo Blues in a summer collegiate baseball game Saturday night.

The 6-foot-2 junior right-hander from Cal Poly muscled through five frames to lift the Blues to a series-clinching 6-3 win over the visiting Clovis Outlaws in front of 363 fans at SLO Stadium.

“It feels great, just to get back on the mound and help the Blues to victory,” said Massingham, who hadn’t pitched since May 24. “I was a little rusty in the first inning. I was telling myself, ‘If I could just minimize it here and give up one or two (runs), I could give myself a chance to win.’ ”

The win, it turned out, was the 17th in the past 19 games for the Blues (22-7), who have won eight straight.

“If we play a little bit better defense, his pitch count might be dif ferent,” Blues coach Chal Fanning said of a defense that committed three errors behind Massingham. “But he settled down and pitched with maturity, and

that’s what we needed.” Unable to establish his fastball early, Massingham needed 27 pitches to even get out of a first inning in which he walked the bases loaded with no outs. But the De La Salle High product lasted five innings, giving up three runs (one earned) on six hits and one walk with five strikeouts.

Massingham played last summer in Corvallis, Ore., and was slated to play this summer in Alaska. Following a decision to take summer school at the last minute, though, he signed on to play with the Blues.

After taking over the Friday night starter role midway through Cal Poly’s 2007 season, Massingham finished the year with a promising 3-1 record and 4.17 ERA.

Heading into 2008, he was awarded the Friday night starter role to begin the season— an exclusive job previously held by the likes of current major leaguers Garrett Olson and Kevin Correia.

Massingham struggled in 2008, however, and wound up going undrafted as Cal Poly trudged through its worst season since 1999. The Benicia native finished only 2-5 with a 5.86 ERA in 13 starts and 15 appearances.

Massingham said his main focus this summer is “just refining everything,” along with working on his location and mechanics.

“I’m confident,” he said. “To me, it’s not that important if I’m Friday. I just want to be a weekend starter. With me, Jared Eskew and Steven Fischback returning, no matter who’s where, we can do it.”

The Outlaws (7-12) stranded 10 runners and have left 21 on base through the first two games of the series, which concludes at 4:05 p. m. today. San Luis Obispo is slated to start Texas A&M junior right-hander Kevin Cravey.

Saturday, Russell LaFleur’s RBI single and Ryan Aguayo’s two-run single gave the Blues a 3-2 lead in the third inning. San Luis Obispo went ahead 5-3 in the fifth with RBI singles from Taylor Ashby and John Santopadre, respectively.

Santopadre went 4 for 4 for the Blues, who also got a seventh- inning home run from Nick Sullivan.

Although the Sierra Baseball League the Blues are aligned in is not yet official, the team is charging hard toward becoming one of its top four teams for its tournament Aug. 7-9.

Fanning said the Blues’ roster is “about 90 percent done,” although it could lose vital setup man Zach Herr at any moment to the San Diego Padres organization after the junior southpaw from Nebraska was chosen in the 38th round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on June 6.