Mustangs take game two and the series against Northridge
May 19, 2013
Cal Poly catcher Elliot Stewart congratulated at home plate after hitting a home run Saturday
By JOSH FRIEDMAN
The wind blew throughout Saturday’s Big West Conference contest at Bagget Stadium, with Cal State Northridge bats generating much of the breeze.
Cal Poly pitchers followed a 15-strikeout performance Friday night with a 17-strikeout game Saturday afternoon to lead the Mustangs to a 6-2 series clinching victory over Cal State Northridge, boosting the team’s chances for a postseason birth.
Sophomore lefty Matt Imhof fanned a career-high 12 batters, striking out two in each of the first six innings of the game. Right-handed reliever Michael Holback added five strikeouts over the final two and two-thirds innings.
Imhof’s only blemishes came on solo home runs surrendered to Matadors Josh Goosen-Brown and Kyle Attle, who both hit fly balls that carried over the left field fence.
Cal Poly catcher Elliot Stewart also launched a high fly ball that flew into the left field jet stream and over the wall for his seventh homer of the year. Stewart led the Mustangs with three runs batted in, two of which came on his fourth inning blast. Second baseman Denver Chavez contributed four hits and a run batted in, and right fielder Nick Torres drove in the first two runs of the game on a two out third inning single.
Imhof’s win improved his record to 6-3 in a sophomore season in which he has 2.49 earned run average.
Northridge starter Calvin Copping took the loss, allowing six runs on eight hits over four innings.
Rarely does a foul ball finds its way into the Bagget Stadium press box. This one had to sail over the backstop, bounce on a concrete walkway and hit the bottom of the press box overhang before shooting onto the broadcast table, zipping by Mustang radio announcer Tom Barket and finally crashing into the framed Lee Hancock photo.
The Mustang press box also suffered a loss Saturday as a sixth inning foul ball shattered the glass picture frame protecting the photo of former Cal Poly and Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Lee Hancock.
The legacy of Lee Hancock lives on, but the former Mustang pitcher needs new glass to protect his image.
Cal Poly’s victory Saturday improved its overall record to 36-16 and its conference record to 14-9. The Mustangs will enter its home season finale Sunday against the Matadors (31-22, 15-8) trailing Northridge in the standing by just one game.
But, in pursuit of an NCAA tournament appearance, it is the Mustangs’ computer generated Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) standing that matters most. Cal Poly jumped to a season best 23rd in the nationwide RPI Saturday.
The first pitch Sunday is scheduled for 1 p.m. Senior Day festivities will precede the ballgame.
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