Cal Poly baseball team opens Big West play with series win against Cal State Fullerton
When the Cal Poly baseball team opened Big West Conference play Friday night, the Mustangs might not have felt overly optimistic.
They were coming off three straight losses and still seemed to be searching for an identity. With four-time national champion Cal State Fullerton visiting Baggett Stadium for a three-game series, Cal Poly had an intriguing opportunity to regain some of its early-season momentum.
After losing the opener, 2-1, the Mustangs regrouped to win the next two games and secured a key series victory against the defending conference champion Titans. Entering Sunday’s finale, the two teams combined for just four runs through the first 18 innings of play.
Cal Poly (19-11, 2-1 Big West) hit its stride offensively early and often on a gorgeous afternoon with 1,591 fans in attendance. The Mustangs scored twice in the second inning and three more in the fourth en route to a 6-3 victory.
“You can’t worry about what’s happened in the past,” head coach Larry Lee said. “You need to get on to the next pitch, the next inning, the next game, the next at-bat. We were able to do that.
“There’s a lot of learning that went on this weekend.”
Cal State Fullerton (18-13, 4-2 Big West) struck first when Timmy Richards hit his team-leading fifth home run of the season in the first inning. The lead was short lived, however, as Cal Poly answered with two runs in the second.
Designated hitter Kevin Morgan drove an RBI single through the right side, and second baseman Dylan Doherty drew a bases-loaded walk two batters later to put the Mustangs ahead 2-1.
Cal Poly chased Titans’ starter Blake Quinn midway through the fifth inning. Freshman shortstop Kyle Marinconz hit a two-run single to score Michael Sanderson and Nick Meyer and give the Mustangs a 5-1 lead.
Morgan certainly made his case to be the Mustangs’ full-time designated hitter moving forward. The junior from Corona hit safely in all three games, capped by a 3-for-4 effort with an RBI and two runs in the series finale.
“It’s more about just getting my at-bat when I’m called upon,” Morgan said. “I’ve been in and out of the lineup for much of my career here and it’s kind of like whenever your name is called, you’ve got to be ready.”
Richards’ home run was the only hit Cal Poly sophomore Jarred Zill (2-1) allowed through the first four innings.
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Zill avoided some trouble in the third after hitting a batter and walking two more to load the bases. He got Tristan Hildebrant to fly out to first baseman Brett Barbier in foul territory to end the Titans’ biggest threat of the game.
Making his fourth start of the year, Zill pitched a season-high 7 1/3 innings, scattered three hits and struck out four.
“We knew we could compete with these guys,” Zill said. “Taking down one of the top teams in the conference — they were undefeated before we got to play them — as far as winning two out of three against them really puts us at the top of the conference and everyone knows who we are.
“We can compete with anybody.”
Looking ahead, Cal Poly will host No 11-ranked Cal in a nonconference game at 5 p.m. Tuesday. The Mustangs return to Big West play next Friday when the team travels to Honolulu for a three-game series against Hawaii.
“Sunday’s win championships,” Lee said. “No matter what you do on Friday, Saturday, if you can take care of Sunday’s game, again, you make yourself relevant for the following weekend.”
This story was originally published April 10, 2016 at 5:27 PM with the headline "Cal Poly baseball team opens Big West play with series win against Cal State Fullerton."