Riverside—The UC Riverside Baseball Team hits the road for its final three away games of the 2015 season this weekend as the Highlanders travel to Cal Poly for a Big West Conference series with the Mustangs.
UCR is trying to snap a nine-game losing streak after dropping a 5-1 decision to San Diego on Wednesday evening (
box score/
recap). Left-hander Antonio Gonzales (0-1, 6.75) gets the starting nod Friday. It is his third start of the season, and just his second in Big West play. Last week he tossed a career-high six-plus innings, allowing nine hits without walking a batter. The Highlanders trailed 3-2 heading into the seventh, when Gonzales ran out of gas, and the bullpen couldn't stem the tide in a 9-2 loss to the Rainbow Warriors (
box score/
recap).
Joie Dunyon (1-3, 4.67) makes his fifth straight weekend start on Saturday. After allowing just three earned runs while striking out 15 and walking one in 16 innings at Long Beach State and CSUN, the right-hander has allowed 11 earned runs in his last 9.1 innings vs. Cal State Fullerton and Hawai'i.
Kevin Spreague (3-6, 4.87) is also trying to get back on the winning track after a pair of tough starts. He allowed three earned runs in 13.1 innings against the Beach and Matadors, but in his past two trips to the hill, he has given up 11 earned runs in 10.0 innings of work.
Cal Poly (23-25, 10-8) is battling for an upper division conference finish and trying to climb back over the .500 mark overall. Heading into the weekend the Mustangs are a-game-and-a-half behind fourth place Hawai'i (12-9). Cal Poly lost seven of its first nine games to begin the season, but has played better of late winning 13 of its last 20 games. Included in that stretch are series wins over Long Beach State and CSUN, and a three-game sweep of Hawai'i.
The 'Stangs possess one of the best offenses in the Big West, ranking third in the league in runs scored and second in slugging percentage. Zack Zehner (.317/.371/.550) leads the conference with nine home runs, and is second in RBIs (43) and slugging percentage. Mark Mathias boasts the third highest batting average in the Big West at .364. His 39 runs scored are the second most in the conference, and have eight players who have scored at least 20 runs on the season.
Cal Poly also has one of the top pitchers in the league in Friday starter Casey Bloomquist (6-2, 2.88). Kyle Smith (5-6, 3.80) takes to the mound on Saturday, with Sunday's starter still TBD. Bloomquist and Smith have 23 starts on the year between them, but the Mustangs 25 other starts this year have been spread around to seven different pitchers.
The Highlanders are 81-103 all-time against the Mustangs (
view results). Cal Poly has won nine of the last 10 meetings between the clubs including two of three last season.
