Cal Poly baseball welcomed in No. 25 ranked USC to Baggett Stadium on Thursday evening to begin a four game set on Alumni weekend. Robin Baggett, the stadium’s namesake, tossed the first pitch and began a weekend long celebration of former Mustangs.
Cal Poly could not get the bats going against a formidable Trojan pitching staff, and ultimately fell, 4-0.
With many alumni in house, it was a new face who toed the rubber for Cal Poly, as freshman right-hander Corden Pettey made his first career start against the Trojans (10-0).
In effectively a bullpen game for the Mustangs (4-6), Pettey threw well, striking out seven batters over four innings and two runs charged to his line. Pettey has flashed good strikeout stuff in his short collegiate career, and has done so by being unpredictable with his pitch mix.
“It’s different every batter, how we start them off, pitching backwards,” Pettey said. “Fast and soft away is kind of the main idea to most guys, but it’s different to everyone.”
Cal Poly’s pitching staff fared well, racking up 14 strikeouts and allowing just three hits with runners on base in 21 chances. Southpaw Chris Downs fanned four batters in three innings, allowing two runs, while lefties Brady Estes and Luke Kalfsbeek each pitched a scoreless inning.
The four pitchers combined for five walks and four hit batsmen however, giving a nationally ranked team too many free passes, to which they took advantage.
The Mustang’s offense faces no easy task this weekend, as Trojans’ pitchers had a collective ERA under two entering play, third in NCAA Division I. That number only went down on Thursday, as the Mustangs mustered just five hits. When Cal Poly did manage to set the table whether via hit, walk, or hit-by-pitch, they struggled to cash those runners in, going 0-7 with runners in scoring position and 2-18 with runners on.
Cal Poly has scored 10 runs over their last four games, and is searching for consistency at the plate after last years’ output set high standards. Third baseman Alejandro Garza previously noted that they are one of the best offenses in the country, and that belief has remained.
“Yeah, we trust the guys. They’ve done it before. They’ve done it at the highest level,” Pettey said. “It’ll come, it’ll come.”