What is the tradition of the mustang?

What is the tradition like surrounding the Cal Poly baseball team?

Diagnosing the Mustangs

Sometimes memories form a prior night can be unclear. Memories are often hazy but bits and pieces of the night flash through your head like faint pictures from a broken projector. Still, questions remain:

Am I sleeping on the floor? Why am I in a dolphin costume? Why is there underwear hanging from the ceiling fan? Who are these people? Is that a clown on the couch?

Sometimes you have to sit back and ask yourself…

What happened?

When memories and recollections obviously can’t fill in the blanks it is often smart to find a person who can. Then, the night gets clearer.

Parker went home with her? Dante jumped off the roof? Alex wet himself?

This example, often recreated on many college campuses, is how the Mustang baseball season has been so far. We see the box score, we saw what happened, but the sights often spring questions.

Cal Poly lost two of three to San Francisco, but yet the they can nearly stick toe-to-toe with Arizona State, the No. 2 team in the nation? Where did Mitch Haniger come from? J.J. Thompson is playing shortstop? Cal Poly is 4-6?

What is going on?

Luckily, I am the guy to fill in the blanks.

A good friend of mine once informed me of a certain disease called “altitude sickness.”

No, it is not the disease that George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air should have been diagnosed with. It is essentially living in the positive emotions associated with winning. Teams with “Attitude Sickness” are often in the midst of an extensive winning streak and ease off the effort.

Players don’t dive for the grounder in practice, they don’t sprint for that tailing fly ball or they ease up on that breaking pitch.

In sports, anything less than 100 percent will never be enough to be competitive. You can’t bring your “B game” to a contest and expect to outplay your opponent—it doesn’t work that way.

The Mustangs have become awed with the bright and colorful emotions that last year’s win total brought. The record-breaking season, that took the Mustangs places they have never been before, may have been the worst thing possible for this season.

This year, it has been all about living up to expectations. Through the first couple of weeks, the Mustangs’ record hasn’t reflected the dominance that they “should have” had this year. The Mustangs “should have” done this and, quite frankly, the Mustangs “should have” done that.

But, the truth is they haven’t.

Yes, the Mustangs have yet to win a series and, yes, the Mustangs don’t have a winning record.

But, this team is talented and this team has the ability to find themselves in the postseason.

They just have to start playing the game for what it is. Erase last year from your mind and live in the present. Dreams are achieved by the goals you accomplish today, not yesterday.

Despite their play in the early season, the Mustangs will be competitive down the stretch.

It is just time to get back to the basics.

Cal Poly drops two of three to USF

Let’s put it this way… you always sleep better in your own bed as opposed to another.

Right?

When we substitute beds for home-fields in the analogy, for the Mustangs, that equates to a fallacious statement.

You would think that home-field advantage would give a team certain edge. For Cal Poly, that wasn’t the case this past weekend. The Mustangs’ past weekend series, originally scheduled to be played in San Francisco, was moved to Baggett Stadium.

It didn’t help them. Hit after hit, run after run, San Francisco kept the offense pouring against Cal Poly, proving victorious in two of three games against the Mustangs.

The Mustangs fell to the Dons 5-0 in the first game of the series and rebounded to a 7-3 win in the second. In the final game, the Mustangs couldn’t piece together enough offense, falling 11-5.

In the final game of the series, Cal Poly pulled within one run, after trailing 4-1, with two scores in the third inning and sophomore J.J. Thompson’s home run to left-center.

San Francisco scored the next seven runs and Cal Poly had no answer.

Sophomore left-hander Kyle Anderson suffered the loss, giving up five runs and nine hits in just over five innings with one walk and two strikeouts.

Freshman right fielder Mitch Haniger, who hit his second home run of the season, went 3-for-3 on Sunday and went 5-for-12 in the series.

In the second game of the series, the Mustangs rallied around around pitcher Mason Radeke (2-0) to claim their only win of the series.

The second-year pitcher built on his already impressive resume this season with allowing only four hits over 8.1 innings against the Dons. Radeke also struck out eight Dons and allowed two walks in the the win.

San Francisco got on the board first with a solo home run by Stephen Yarrow in the second inning, but Cal Poly scored four times in the third inning and never looked back.

The Mustangs then slowly built an advantage with one-run efforts in multiple innings as the game drew on.

Haniger homered in the fourth the fourth, Luke Yoder RBI singled in the fifth-inning run and Matt Jensen’s RBI off a ground-out to the pitcher produced the final score for the Mustangs in the eighth inning.

David Van Ostrand, who sat out all of last season due to an illness, and catcher Elliot Stewart each tallied two of the Mustangs’ nine total hits.

Friday, a Nik Balog three-run home run and a two-run RBI effort by Yarrow, were the only runs put on the board. All were in favor of USF.

Overall, it was a disappointing weekend for all Mustang baseball fans. With all the hype surrounding this season, this is not the way Cal Poly wanted to start the season.

With their 3-4 record, they are not living up to  expectations, but they will have a chance to bounce back this weekend when they head to Arizona for the Coca-Cola Classic.

It’s still early in the season, but with the way the college baseball season goes, the Mustangs are going to have to turn these early season losses around if they want to make it to Omaha.

Sights and sounds from Cal Poly vs USC

Below is a audio slideshow of Cal Poly’s contest vs USC.

Heading into USF

My freshman year set high expectations.

Last year was the first time I had ever seen the Mustangs play at Baggett Stadium. In a year where the Mustangs posted win after win, I got used to seeing the team claim victory.

So when i saw USC walk allover the Mustangs it provoked an unfamiliar thought…

“Cal Poly can lose?”

Yes indeed.

This past weekend, Cal Poly dropped two of three games against USC in its opening series of the season. The scene, honestly, may have been absolutely heartbreaking to watch.

It all started Friday. The Mustangs shot out to a 3-0 advantage in the first couple of innings. It was a solid beginning. Bravo. The batters did their job piecing a cascade of hits that stormed the Baggett Stadium. But, pitcher Matt Leonard didn’t find the success he may as well should have… he threw 30-plus pitches in the first inning.

Hold on… what? Yes, I said 30.

If there is anything coach Lee emphasized more than anything heading into this season.. it was pitching.

Through four games, starters are pulling their weight; relievers — not so much.

To this point relief pitchers have tallied a 24.78 ERA. The starters have given up three fewer earned runs despite throwing 17.6 more innings than relievers this season.

Regardless, the importance relies on all the arms of the team. You cannot win a baseball game without pitching–it is the most overlooked stat in baseball.

If there is anyone who is cerebral is this aspect of the game, it is me. I have been a San Francisco Giants fan or all my life. The Giants take the same approach to the game as the Mustangs, they focus on pitching and let everything else fall into place. Look at their rotation: they hold a two-time  Cy Young award winner, another former Cy Young award winner, a pitcher who is capable if throwing a no-hitter and another pitcher who dominated in his first career debut.

The post Barry Bonds era has been rough.

Year after year, I would have my heart stabbed and torn apart because of an abysmal offense. This season that changed when the Giants bolstered their already hefty starting rotation. Even with the same exact anemic offense, the Giants clinched their first wining record since what must have been the Clinton administration. On top of that, the Giants flirted with a wild-card playoff berth for most of the season.

Coach Lee is smart. He has seen things like this happen in the baseball world and has implemented the strategy with his team.

He doesn’t need a .400 batter, give him a left-hander with 0.78 ERA. Even with an offense that couldn’t hit a watermelon with an axe, Lee can win if he has the right pitcher in place.

At this point he does.

Frankie Reed, Joey Wagman, D.J. Mauldin and the rest of the pitching staff have proven themselves to be effective on given nights, but they need to start playing like they are capable of preforming.

As Cal Poly takes on USF this weekend, look for their arms — not their bats — to be the difference maker.

Mapping out the hits of 2009

What was the key to the success for the Mustangs last season?

Their bats.

Below is a link to an infographic of the hit totals accumulated by each Mustang in the 2009 season.

Click here for full image.

Cal Poly falls in season opener

Photo by Brian De Los Santos

Entering this season, Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee stressed an importance on pitching.

“Eighty percent of baseball is pitching. Good pitching hides any weaknesses you have,” he said.

In the Mustangs’ season-opening series against USC, Cal Poly pitched a total of 205 pitches en route to its fourth straight season opening 9-4 loss, Friday night in Baggett stadium.

“Eight walks — it can’t happen,” Lee said. “It was not a good night for our pitching staff.”

The Mustangs sent four pitchers to the mound against the Trojans. The group allowed a total of five runs along with four unearned off a pair of dropped fly balls. Starting pitcher Matt Leonard, who went 5-3 with a 7.68 ERA last year, saw his pitch count tip over 100 in the fifth inning and threw 37 pitches in the first.

But it was relief pitching that killed Cal Poly as it held the lead and the momentum until the sixth innining when lefty Frankie Reed came into a bases-loaded situation in a 4-4 tie. After two innings, Reed gave up three runs on two hits. It was his first outing since 2007.

“There were a few close calls that we would have liked to go our way, but unfortunately they didn’t,” catcher Ross Brayton said.

Errors crippled the Mustangs.

In the third inning, outfielder Bobby Crocker misplayed a high fly ball in right field that turned what should have been the second out of the inning into a runner in scoring position. Designated hitter Matthew Foat knocked in the run in the ensuing Trojan at-bat.

USC infielder Matt Hart connected on deep fly ball to center in the seventh inning. As center fielder Adam Melker backpedaled to the warning track, the fly ball bounced off his glove and allowed two runs to score.

“Well I mean you just go one game at a time and learn from your mistakes,” Lee said.

The Mustangs posted a three-run first inning. Brayton hit a two-RBI double to shallow left field with the bases juiced. The next batter, designated hitter DJ Gentile, grounded out to first but scored Matt Jensen in the process.

The Mustangs would add another run in the fourth inning. Senior Luke Yoder connected on a long line-drive to the outfield wall and legged out a stand-up triple and an RBI.

Cal Poly didn’t cross home plate for the rest of the game.

“We had seven unanswered runs on out part,” Yoder said. “We did really well in the first couple of innings … but we couldn’t put together anything after that.”

Yoder finished the game with two hits off five at bats to pair with an RBI. Brayton also notched two hits off five at bats with two RBI.

“I felt good,” Brayton said. “It was kind of nice to get out their to play an actual team and get back in the swing of things.”

Starting pitcher Andrew Triggs climbed his way into the Trojan’s starting rotation in 2010 after taking a two year hiatus from the game due to Tommy John’s surgery. He was an Pac-10 honorable mention honoree last season with a 5-3 record and a 3.96 ERA.

He pitched 117 pitches against Cal Poly, allowed four earned runs and earned the win.

Cal Poly opened last season with a three-game series against nationally-ranked Rice. After losing the first, the Mustangs took two of three. This season it was USC, a team projected to finish eighth in the Pac-10.

“It is just one game of 56,” Brayton said. “We have a long season ahead of us and we just have to take it one game at a time.”

Other weekend scores

Game 2: Cal Poly 10, USC 6

Game 3: Cal Poly 4, USC 9

A commitment to Baggett Stadium

I created this blog to expose Cal Poly baseball players for who they are off the field.

After interviewing second baseman Matt Jensen, pitcher Steven Fischback, catcher Ross Brayton and outfielder Luke Yoder, I have come to realize one thing about these baseball players… They love nothing else other than baseball.

Baseball flows through their veins — there is nothing else in their lives.

With the exception of Yoder, who said he used to participate in gymnastics for 13 years, I got the same response form every player when I asked, “What do you enjoy to do off the field?”

Blank stare, chuckle, pause, scratch on head.

There were a colorful array of answers, but none pertained to any skill other than holding an aluminum bat and blasting a baseball out of the park.

Honestly, I would think that these baseball players would have a vent that they could turn to in the midst of a losing streak or after going 0 – 4.

Nope. When they are stressed they hit the field.

“I lift weights Wednesday morning, then go to class from 10-4,” Luke Yoder said about his busiest day. “Then I would go to the field from 3-6, at about six is when the games starts, then I go 6-9:30.”

There isn’t much time for anything else.

“Our only day during the week we have off is Monday,” Brayton said. “It is our only day we have nothing. No practice. But, I mean sometimes we are still out here working on our swings, playing catch and things like that.”

At first, I found the whole idea pretty strange.

If I were participating in something that took a huge commitment in my life, I would want to have something to else in their lives.

But then I ran the idea through my head again.

I was wrong.

If I had something that I loved in my life, I would never want to let go. I would always want to be surrounded by it. If I was failing, or if I was winning, it all wouldn’t matter— I was doing what I loved.

There is nothing else In life but the passion you have for your dream. You grab hold of it, chase it and run after it.

I envy these baseball players.

They are succeeding at what they love to do. They have committed to something, put in the work and achieved the honor of holding a roster spot on an NCAA Division-I team.

Most think of the college baseball season as a struggle. Weeks are filled with grass stains, hotel rooms and cold leftovers. Schoolwork piles up and as the year draws old, your body starts to ache.

As the Mustangs set their sights on another season, there will be no time for gymnastics. There will be no time for video games and there will be no time for partying.

All there will be time for is baseball.

For these athletes, they couldn’t be happier.

The 2010 travel schedule

Below is a map that lists all the venues the Mustangs will play in this season. Zoom out once to see all locations.

View Larger Map

Head Coach Larry Lee’s thoughts

This is a snippet of an interview i had with head coach Larry Lee a couple of weeks ago. He had a lot of good things to say, but i cut a bit out. Enjoy!

[Audio http://www.archive.org/download/BrianDeLosSantosBaseballheadcoachLarryLee/AUDIO_vbr.mp3]