Cal Poly Takes Two from Big Green

Friday, March 23

San Luis Obispo, Calif.

6:00 PM

Dartmouth College

3-10

Cal Poly

9-12

Dartmouth

Cal Poly

3/24/2018 12:10:00 AM | Baseball

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly swept a doubleheader from the visiting Dartmouth Big Green at Baggett Stadium on Friday, taking the two games by finals of 10-3 and 11-2. Brad Beesley had four hits with a homer to pace a 15-hit attack for the Mustangs (10-12) in the opener, and Kyle Marinconz belted a two-run homer and drove in another in the nightcap. Senior Justin Fowler was the offensive leader for the Big Green (3-11) over the two games with three doubles.

In the first game, Dartmouth right-hander Cole O'Connor kept Cal Poly off the board in the first two innings and looked to have done so again in the third, but an infield popup was dropped with two outs allowing runners on second and third to score the game's first runs.

The Big Green bats got those runs back in the fourth, however, after seniors Kyle Holbrook and Dustin Shirley began the inning with a walk and a double, respectively. Sophomore Michael Calamari followed with a run-scoring grounder to first, and junior Nate Ostmo sent a deep fly to center that allowed Shirley to trot home, knotting the game at two.

In the bottom half, Josh George — who was a perfect 3-for-3 in the game — stroked a one-out double, then came around to score on a sinking liner to left off the bat of Dylan Doherty that fell in for an RBI single.

The Mustangs blew open the game with a six-spot in the fifth, starting with Beesley's two-run bomb down the left-field line, his second of the year. Another Big Green error allowed three unearned runs to come home to close the stanza, leaving Cal Poly with a 9-2 lead.

A McKenna RBI double in the seventh brought home the final Mustang run, while freshman Bennett McCaskill rapped out a run-scoring single in the ninth to provide the third Dartmouth tally.

Michael Clark (1-1) earned the victory with four shutout innings of relief while allowing just one hit and walk two to go with a pair of punchouts. Jarred Zill threw the first four frames, yielding two runs on two hits and two walks with two strikeouts as well.

O'Connor (1-3) took the loss for giving up nine runs, but only four earned, over 4.1 innings on 10 hits with a walk and a strikeout.

Cal Poly quickly took control of the second game with Marinconz popping his long ball after a leadoff walk in the first inning. Tate Samuelson had the first of three hits in the game with a single to drive home Beesley, who had singled and stolen second after the home run.

As in the opener, Dartmouth had an answer to the first Mustang runs, plating one of its own in the second as Fowler doubled, took third on an error and scored on a grounder to first by junior Sean Sullivan.

A leadoff walk to Beesley in the third led to two more Cal Poly runs, one of which was unearned due to a misfire to second on a double-play grounder.

Holbrook started the sixth with a double inside the first-base bag, but was still there two outs later when the Mustangs pulled starter Thomas Triantos. Fowler foiled the move by sending a ball into the left-field corner for his second double of the game and third of the day, driving in Holbrook to make it a 5-2 game.

But Doherty delivered an RBI triple in the bottom half, and Marinconz hit a sacrifice fly for a 7-2 lead through six stanzas.

The Mustangs tacked on four runs in the eighth on just one hit — a two-run single by Nick Meyer — as three Dartmouth relievers walked four batters and threw wildly to first on a sacrifice bunt attempt.

Triantos (1-2) earned his first win of the season with 5.2 innings of work while surrendering two runs, one earned, on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Cam Schneider tossed the final 3.1 frames without allowing a run to earn his first save of the season.

Senior Jack Fossand (1-2) suffered the loss as he yielded seven runs, six earned, over 5.1 innings with four walks and three strikeouts.

Dartmouth will try to salvage the final game of the series and its spring-break trip when the two teams square off again on Saturday with first pitch slated for 11:30 a.m./2:30 p.m. (PDT/EDT).

Notes: Sullivan, who entered the day leading the country with a .540 average, was held to one hit and a pair of walk in seven official at-bats, dropping his average below .500 (.491) … the Big Green have lost five straight for the first time since dropping their first six contests of the 2016 campaign … freshman left-hander Jack Schmidt made his collegiate debut on the mound in the final frame … sophomore Henry Eilen got his first career start in the lineup in game two, going 1-for-2 with a walk as the designated hitter.