Keenan Donath
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The Cal Poly baseball team started its 2015 season with a loss in Waco, Texas on Friday night. While there were certainly some good signs for the Mustangs in the season opener, they fell to Baylor (1-0) 8-6 in what was an error-riddled game.
The early season upset can be chalked up to defensive miscues as only six of the Bears’ runs were earned. Junior starting pitcher Casey Bloomquist went four innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on four walks and three strikeouts.
After allowing an early Baylor run, Cal Poly gained the lead in the second inning when junior shortstop Peter Van Gansen singled to give the Mustangs a 2-1 advantage. Baylor went on to score in the next three consecutive innings, never falling behind for the remainder of the game.
It seemed as though Cal Poly had reeled in the Bears when a Brett Barbier single tied the game at four runs apiece in the fourth inning, but a Baylor run in the bottom frame dampened the Mustangs’ hopes.
Again the Mustangs came back, this time when senior outfielder Zack Zehner singled to tie the game once again at 5-5 in the seventh. But a late-inning triple by the Bears’ Logan Brown proved to be the final nail in the coffin when it put Baylor three runs ahead in the eighth inning.
Senior Danny Zandona collected the loss after allowing two runs in three innings of relief. While the start to Zandona’s season is not ideal, he did only give up two hits and was arguably the Mustangs’ most controlled pitcher of the night.
The Mustangs simply did not play clean baseball. They had three errors and multiple wild pitches in the course of Friday’s game — perhaps the result of some early season jitters.
Batting in the cleanup spot, junior third baseman John Schuknecht impressed offensively, going 4-for-5 with two runs and an RBI. Zehner, first baseman Brian Mundell and Van Gansen each had two hits and a run in what was not a disappointing hitting day.
The Mustangs will look to quickly rebound in game two of the series, set to start at 1 p.m on Feb. 14.