Cal Poly baseball team sweeps doubleheader against San Francisco

This Cal Poly baseball team seems to have a flair for the dramatic.

For the second straight game and third time this season, the Mustangs got a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning to complete a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over San Francisco in the first game of a nonconference doubleheader Friday at Baggett Stadium.

Trailing 1-0 in the ninth, true freshman Cooper Moore hit a one-out RBI single over the shortstop’s head to score senior John Schuknecht and give the Mustangs (9-2) their third straight victory.

It was another thrilling end to what head coach Larry Lee called a “lackluster performance” through the first eight innings of play.

“We picked up our focus in the ninth,” Lee said. “The disappointing thing is we didn’t take advantage of a great outing by Kyle Smith. But that’s about being a team.”

The Dons (2-10) broke a scoreless tie in the eighth when Aaron Ping hit a two-out, RBI single to score Beau Bozett. Smith, a sophomore left-hander, responded by striking out leadoff hitter Harrison Bruce on three straight pitches to end the inning.

Making his third start of the season, Smith (1-1) seemed to have everything working against the Dons. He allowed only one hit through the first seven innings and retired nine consecutive batters during one stretch.

Smith surrendered three hits, struck out eight and walked two in another strong outing. Freshman reliever Austin Dondanville was credited with the first victory of his collegiate career after allowing one hit during a scoreless ninth.

San Francisco starting pitcher Anthony Shew held the Mustangs in check for most of the game. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound senior scattered four hits over seven shutout innings before being pulled in favor of lefty Frank Waliczek.

“Frustration just got the best of us,” third baseman Michael Sanderson said. “Everyone was coming up to the plate already frustrated and couldn’t flush their last at-bat. It just kept snowballing.”

Both of Cal Poly’s ninth-inning runs were scored against the Dons’ third pitcher, James Kannenberg, who played two seasons at Cuesta College and was a first-team all-conference performer for the Cougars.

There was little drama in the nightcap, however, as Cal Poly pounded out 18 hits en route to a 10-5 victory.

The Mustangs scored three runs in the third and blew the game open with a six-run seventh inning.

Sanderson, a junior transfer from Feather River College, went 4-for-5 with three RBI and scored twice to lead Cal Poly offensively.

“Since late January he’s really turned the corner,” Lee said of Sanderson. “Been a good defender and a quality at-bat in the lineup.”

Freshman centerfielder Alex McKenna went 3-for-4 with two RBI and scored three times. Schuknecht also had three hits, including a two-run triple in the third.

Brett Barbier, Kyle Marinconz and Moore also recorded multiple hits in the nightcap.

Middle reliever Justin Calomeni (2-0) delivered another strong performance out of the bullpen. He relieved starter Slater Lee in the fifth and allowed two hits over 2 2/3 innings, striking out five of the 10 batters he faced.

Cal Poly and San Francisco are scheduled to meet in the series finale at 1 p.m. Saturday. After that, the Mustangs open a 10-game road trip beginning at 2 p.m. Tuesday against Pepperdine.

“Coming out of a home series 10-2 would be great and a lot of momentum going on the road,” Sanderson said. “If we have momentum and everyone kind of carries that into the away series, it’ll be a good series for us.”

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 9:08 PM with the headline "Cal Poly baseball team sweeps doubleheader against San Francisco."