Uelmen delivers Cal Poly baseball team a 6-2 win against No. 14 UCLA

Coming off a humbling defeat against No. 14-ranked UCLA in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Cal Poly baseball team regrouped and rallied behind Erich Uelmen to end the weekend on a high note.

The hard-throwing sophomore pitched a complete-game with six strikeouts, leading the Mustangs to a 6-2 victory in the series finale on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon inside Baggett Stadium.

The win secured a weekend split for Cal Poly (6-2), which went 1-2 against the defending Pac-12 Conference champion Bruins and defeated 19th-ranked Michigan during Saturday’s opener.

“I just think we learned that we’re resilient and so far this year we’ve proven that we can play with anyone,” said senior right fielder John Schuknecht, who went 2-for-4 and scored three times on Sunday. “Granted last night was kind of a mess, but that’s the game of baseball for you.”

UCLA (3-4) pounded out 18 hits, walked seven times and took advantage of four Cal Poly errors on the way to a 19-0 victory Saturday night. That left the Mustangs feeling introspective in the hours leading up the series finale, and a sharp outing from Uelmen helped put those nerves to rest.

A 6-foot-3, 195-pound Las Vegas native, Uelmen relied on a fastball that consistently hits in the mid-90 mph range to get ahead of UCLA’s potent lineup. He recorded 14 ground-ball outs, with junior first baseman Brett Barbier making a series of impressive catches to help Uelmen’s cause.

“It starts with the guy on the mound,” head coach Larry Lee said. “I feel that no matter who we play, we should be the better team on Sundays with Uelmen on the mound. He set the tone.”

Cal Poly scored three times in the second inning to give Uelmen (2-0) some support. Shortstop Alec Smith plated the first run with a fielder’s choice RBI, and Alex McKenna and Josh George followed with consecutive RBI singles.

True freshman designated hitter Cooper Moore — a powerful 6-4, 200-pound Huntington Beach native — added to the lead with an RBI single in the third. Cal Poly scored its fifth run two innings later when Schuknecht trotted home on a poorly thrown pick-off attempt by UCLA reliever Scott Burke.

After retiring nine straight batters early in the game, Uelmen was touched up for two runs in the top of the fourth. He struck out the first two batters of the inning before Sean Bouchard hit an RBI triple and Christoph Bono drove in Bouchard during the ensuing at-bat, making the score 4-2.

“I was able to get ahead,” Uelmen said, “just with fastballs and then keep it low.”

There were some concerning moments for the Mustangs defensively throughout the weekend. Over the course of four games, Cal Poly committed 12 errors, including two more in Sunday’s finale. Barbier’s consistently strong play at first base kept that number from getting any higher.

Lee said true freshman shortstop Dylan Doherty could return from a hamstring injury next weekend, giving the Mustangs another option in the middle infield along with Smith and true freshman Kyle Marinconz.

“We just need to shore that up,” Lee said. “… It becomes a mental thing.”

Offensively, George tallied three of the Mustangs’ 10 hits. It was the second three-hit game of the season for the speedy George, who leads the team with 13 hits in 33 at-bats.

For the third straight week, Cal Poly is scheduled to play four games on its home field. The Mustangs host Pepperdine at 6 p.m. Tuesday and will play San Francisco in a three-game series beginning at 6 p.m. Friday.

Lee said he expects sophomore Jarred Zill to make his first start of the season on Tuesday. In two relief appearances this season, Zill has struck out three batters in three innings and was credited with a victory in Cal Poly’s extra-inning win against Pacific last weekend.

“We’re two weeks into it and we still have a long way to go,” Lee said. “We need to shore up some things, we need to continue to look at some players and give them some opportunities.”

This story was originally published February 28, 2016 at 5:26 PM with the headline "Uelmen delivers Cal Poly baseball team a 6-2 win against No. 14 UCLA."