Teams: UC Davis at No. 15 Cal Poly
Records: Aggies, 6-24 (1-5); Mustangs, 24-9 (5-4)
Where: Baggett Stadium – San Luis Obispo, Calif.
When: Friday and Saturday at 6 p.m.; Sunday at 1 p.m.
Who to watch: Ryan Scoma is back.
After hitting .219 through the first 22 games of the season, Scoma has been on a tear as of late. The right fielder is batting .414 in UC Davis‘ past 10 contests, raising his average 57 points in the process.
Scoma was named first-team All-Big West Conference last year after hitting .358 and driving in 52 runs in 56 games to help the Aggies earn a NCAA Tournament berth.
Did you know? Things didn’t turn out so well for UC Davis the last time it appeared on the Central Coast.
The Aggies last visited Cal Poly in May of 2007. They held a lead in all three games of the series, but left Baggett Stadium on the wrong end of a sweep.
The series‘ second game went 12 innings and spanned four hours and 43 minutes. Former Cal Poly outfielder Grant Desme hit a walk-off home run to give the Mustangs a 10-9 win. Demse is currently in the Oakland Athletics‘ minor league chain.
Preview: UC Davis got over the hump by picking up its first Big West victory of the year against UC Santa Barbara on Sunday.
Now, it has a bit of a mountain to overcome.
The Aggies head to San Luis Obispo to take on the league’s winningest club: the Cal Poly Mustangs. The 15th-ranked Mustangs have won 24 games this season, and are second in the conference with five Big West victories.
Cal Poly has the conference’s best offense. It’s posted an exceptional .334 batting average as a team, resulting in 295 runs (8.94 runs per game) – 60 more than any other Big West club. UC Davis ranks last with 118 runs.
“Traditionally, Cal Poly is a good offensive club and I don’t think that’s changed this year,” coach Rex Peters said. “We’re going to have to pitch well. We know we have our hands full.“
The Mustangs do have an Achilles‘ heel, though. They have a 5.61 ERA as a team. The Aggies own a 6.76 club ERA. Expect three high-scoring affairs this weekend at Baggett Stadium.
– Adam Loberstein
