Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Cal Poly Series Recap
The big story of the weekend was great starting pitching, unfortunately the other story of the weekend was the bullpen and not for the same reason as the starters. The Aggies looked to bounce back after struggling in Big West Play, they showed a lot of good things on the field as well as bad things. The 12 inning battle on Friday set the tone for the rest of the weekend.

Friday-
Dayne Quist was back on top of his game Friday, he went 7 innings while only allowing 4 hits and 5 walks. Quist was able to keep the Mustangs to only 1 run during his time on the bump for the Ags. After He left the mound the rest of the Aggie pitchers were unable to have the same amount of success as the southpaw. Slater, Lewis and Blom combined to go 4 and 1/3 while giving up 6 hits, walked 6, and gave up 5 runs that were all earned. Over on the Mustangs side, Jeff Johnson came in and shut down the Aggies. In 4 and 2/3 innings of relief, Johnson allowed 2 hits and 2 walks while throwing shutout ball.

Offensively the Aggies had their ups-and-downs also. Scott Lyman continued his torrid season, going 2 for 5 with a run scored and 3 RBI. David Popkins went 2 for 4 with a run and RBI. Aside from those two guys the rest of the Aggies struggled for the most part. The Mustangs lost one of their better hitters part way through the game, Ross Brayton was hit in the neck/head area during his first inning of catching. Brayton did not return Friday or the rest of series.


Saturday-
Again on Saturday the Aggies had a great performance from a starter get spoiled by the bullpen. Sean Watson went 8 innings, gave up 6 hits and only walked 1. He struck out 4 while holding the Mustangs to 3 runs, 2 earned. DJ Mauldin went the distance for the Mustangs, giving up 9 hits and walked 2. He gave up 4 earned runs against the Aggies. David Popkins and Nathan Slater combined to give up the lead in the 9th inning, giving up 2 hits and 2 walks, also 2 earned runs. They also allowed one of the runners inherited from Watson to score.

Lyman and Popkins were the top performers at the plate again for the Aggies. Combined, they went, 3 for 7 while scoring 2 runs and driving 2 runs in. David Van Ostrand lead the Mustangs, going 3 for 4 with 1 run scored and 2 RBI.

The amount that the games Friday and Saturday looked the same, aside from the extra innings, was interesting and upsetting for Aggie fans. The lack of bullpen help really has hurt the Aggies all year but This weekend it really showed.

Sunday-
Senior Day for the Aggies, Kyle Mihaylo, Sean Watson, Scott Heinig, and Tim Busbin were all honored before the game. The Aggies will be returning everyone else next year.

Scott Lyman was on the mound and he continued the strong starting performances. He went 7 and 2/3 innings, he scattered 9 hits and 5 walks. 2 runs was all that came across on Lyman's watch and Scott Chew came in and was able to do something no other reliever had done that weekend, shut down the Mustangs. Chew went the remaining 1 and 1/3 innings while only giving up 1 hit and striking out 1.

The Mustangs starting pitching showed some weakness for the first time all weekend, Eugene Wright was roughed around during his 1 and 1/3, he walked 2 and gave up 5 hits while letting 4 runs score. The Mustangs bullpen worked a little better with Tommy Erlin pitching well before the Aggies broke loose against him also. Frankie Reed and Mark DeVincenzi pitched 4 shut out innings to end the game for the Mustangs. At that point the Aggies didn't need anymore runs, playing with a sizable lead.

The Bats came alive on Sunday for the Aggies, with the team scoring 8 runs on 11 hits. All the Aggies runs came in 2 different innings, the 1st and 4th with 4 runs scoring in each inning. Lyman continued the recent trend of being back in the lineup while he was on the mound, he went 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI and 2 walks. Kyle Mihaylo had a strong Senior day, going 2 for 3 with a run scored and 2 RBI. Justin Schafer and Scott Heylman went 4 for 8 at the top of the order, with Heylman also scoring 2 runs.

Looking forward:
The Aggies struggled against Nevada on Tuesday losing 6-8, but then came back and won their last game at Dobbins for the year, 11-6 against the visiting Broncos of Santa Clara. Scott Lyman even made a start at 1B on Wednesday, going 3 for 5 and scored 3 runs.

The Aggies will hit the road for their final 7 games, with the next three down in Santa Barbara against the Gauchos. Then they'll have a midweek game against Stanford in Palo Alto, before finishing off the year down in sunny southern California against the Highlanders of Riverside.

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