Cal Poly

MEN'S BASKETBALL Cal Poly 77, UC Irvine 74 SAN LUIS OBISPO - The Anteaters erased a 22-point first-half deficit before falling in the Big West Conference game Saturday night. Michael Wilder led UC Irvine (9-16, 5-7 in conference) with 21 points, including five three-pointers. Adam Folker added a career-high 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds, and Daman Starring scored 12 points. Derick Flowers tied his career high with nine assists. UCI was tied, 73-73, with 1:33 remaining but the Mustangs went back up. A potential tying three-point attempt with four seconds left was off the mark.

Former Corona del Mar High three-sport standout Tim Thurman, an All-Mission Conference tight end the last two seasons at Golden West College, has verbally committed to continue his football and baseball careers at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, his father Tim Thurman said Tuesday. The younger Thurman, a 6-foot-7, 250-pound sophomore, will play baseball at Golden West this spring and obtain his associate arts degree, before transferring with a full scholarship.

Two Sean Iliff goals helped UC Irvine defeat the Cal Poly men's soccer team Wednesday night, 3-0, on the loser's field. UCI took a 1-0 lead in the first half when Iliff scored off passes from Jason Thompson and Scott Bowman at 28:41, and the margin expanded two goals when Lerato Simelane scored off a Bowman pass five minutes later. Iliff scored his second goal at 49:38, launching a lob shot from 40 yards out, which sailed over the head of goalkeeper Greg Blevins.

SAN LUIS OBISPO ? Scott Gorgen tied a career-high with eight strikeouts as UC Irvine defeated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 4-1, in a Big West Conference baseball game Saturday. Gorgen, a freshman, held the Mustangs to one run over seven innings as the Anteaters won their first Big West Conference series of the season. Gorgen and Gary Nakashima limited Cal Poly's offense ? which had been leading the conference in runs scored with 235 ? to one run on eight hits. Gorgen picked up his fifth win of the season and Nakashima pitched the final two innings for his second save of the season.

CORONA DEL MAR - Corona del Mar High senior Mike Hayes, a first-team All-Pacific Coast League fullback last fall, has signed a national letter of intent to play football at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound two-year starter, also played several positions on defense for the Pacific Coast League co-champion Sea Kings. Expected to be a leading receiver out of the backfield heading into the season, Hayes broke his thumb in the preseason scrimmage, hampering his pass-catching much of the year.

IRVINE — Those eager to dismiss the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo baseball team as a pretender in the Big West Conference race this season may want to take a SLO, hard look at Friday's performance against No. 17-ranked UC Irvine. The Mustangs (19-17, 6-1 in conference) strengthened their position atop the Big West standings with a 5-4 victory before 1,280 at Anteater Ballpark. The loss dropped UCI (24-9-1), which many had anointed as the team to beat after early conference series wins over Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State, two games behind the Mustangs.

SAN LUIS OBISPO - UC Irvine freshman designated hitter R.J. Brown went 4 for 5 with three doubles and four RBIs to pace the Anteaters' 10-3 Big West Conference baseball victory at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Sunday. The win allowed the Anteaters (24-18, 6-3 in conference) to win the three-game series, two games to one. Freshman first baseman Matt Anderson also went 4 for 5 and scored three runs for UCI, for which junior center fielder Jon Horwitz had three hits and junior catcher Chris Miller went 2 for 5, including a two-run homer.

The UC Irvine women's soccer team salvaged a split on its weekend Big West Conference road trip by blanking Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 2-0, Sunday. It was the first conference loss of the season for the host Mustangs, who had won their five previous Big West contests. Junior Caroline Kabe knocked in her fourth goal of the season for the game-winner in the 23rd minute, converting an assist by Hayley McNallan. Kabe then earned the assist on freshman Kim Lloyd's insurance tally in the 57th minute.

Barry Faulkner UC Irvine Coach Pat Douglass acknowledged that rebuilding was an applicable term for his men's basketball program this season, after it lost 10 of its final 12 Big West Conference games last season to miss the eight-team conference tournament. But with the overhauled Anteaters (5-2) set to tip off conference play tonight at 7:05 at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (2-5), there are those who believe a run at a third conference crown in five seasons is not out of the question.

UC Irvine juniors Andrew Morales and Taylor Sparks were named Big West Conference pitcher and player of the week in baseball after leading the Anteaters to a series win against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Morales, named Pitcher of the Week for the third time this season, improved to 10-0 by striking out a career-high 190 in seven innings of an 11-1 series-clinching win over Cal Poly on Sunday. Morales registered 10 of his first 12 outs via the strikeout. He allowed four hits and walked one to lower his earned-run average to 1.79.

IRVINE - Six days after undergoing unexpected root canal surgery, UC Irvine junior pitcher Andrew Morales made the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo hitters experience roughly the equivalent of a trip to the dentist. Morales, recorded 10 of his first 12 outs with strikeouts and pitched seven shutout innings to help the host Anteaters earn an 11-1 victory over the Mustangs in the rubber game of a crucial Big West Conference baseball series on Sunday. With the win, Morales, a transfer from Rio Hondo Community College in his first Division I season, improved to 10-0 and lowered his earned-run average to 1.79.

IRVINE - Perhaps it was a case of retrospective remorse. For, one day after it stole home in a 7-1 victory over visiting Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the UC Irvine baseball team appeared intent on giving back. In any event, three UCI errors led to a pair of unearned runs in a 4-3 setback on Saturday that evened the crucial Big West Conference series at one game apiece. A bobbled bunt in the first inning helped the Mustangs (33-15, 12-8 in conference) plate an unearned run in a two-run rally.

WOMEN'S GOLF Big West Championships SAN LUIS OBISPO — Junior Ronnie Valerio finished tied for fifth and senior Michelle Park tied for seventh in the event completed Tuesday at San Luis Obispo Golf and Country Club. The Anteaters had a 54-hole total of 922, 41 shots off the pace of victorious UC Davis and 12 behind runner-up Long Beach State. Valerio shot 226, while Park shot 227. Freshman Luciane Lee tied for 17th at 234, while Sara Banke tied for 22nd at 235 and sophomore Brenna Carlson tied for 28th at 242. BASEBALL UC Irvine 1, Pacific 0 STOCKTON — Junior Andrew Morales pitched 81/3 shutout innings to improve to 9-0 and extend his scoreless-innings streak to 222/3 to help the visiting Anteaters win the rubber game of the Big West Conference series Sunday.

IRVINE - The UC Irvine big men may not win any powerlifting competitions, but they showed Wednesday night that they might hold their own in a tough man tournament or two. Senior Adam Folker and sophomore Will Davis, despite giving away a combined 24 pounds to the more stout Cal Poly San Luis Obispo starting front-line tandem, flexed what muscles they do have to help the host Anteaters plod their way to a 52-45 Big West Conference triumph. Folker, who was held scoreless in the opening half of UCI's 72-65 loss at Cal Poly on Jan. 5, scored 10 of his team's first 14 points Wednesday on his way to a team-best 16 points on eight-of-11 shooting from the field.

SAN LUIS OBISPO - Another close game, one might say, slipped through the hands of the UC Irvine men's basketball team in a 72-67 Big West Conference loss at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Saturday. But UCI Coach Russell Turner was willing to concede it may not have slipped, but was rather yanked from the grasp of his Anteaters, who have seemingly found a way to come up a couple plays short in close contests this season. UCI (7-9, 1-2 in conference) is now 0-6 in games decided by six or fewer points, including a pair of galling setbacks the last three days along the Central Coast.

IRVINE - The first 11 shots clanged off the rim at the start of Saturday's game for the UC Irvine women's basketball team. Junior forward Jasmine Bernard finally made the 12th shot, a layup on Kelly Meggs' assist. But the Anteaters were already in a big hole against visiting Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. UC Irvine Coach Doug Oliver has seen the poor shooting for much of the early season. So far, the lack of scoring is making it difficult for UCI to score wins in the Big West Conference.

Editor's note: The following are from the SOY Scholarship Program alumni. Minimal edits have been made to preserve the writers' voices as it originally appeared at a December fundraiser. Dear Guest, First allow me to thank you for attending this event. My name is Juan Miguel and I am a former student of the SOY program. SOY to me was many things. It was the place where I would go do my homework after school. It was the reason I was so successful in my academics. SOY was the place I would go socialize with my friends.

IRVINE - In a conference in which one-upmanship regularly jostles the standings, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo did itself one better to earn a series split with UC Irvine on Thursday at the Bren Events Center. The Mustangs followed an 11-2 run to end the first half with a 13-0 surge to begin the second. By the time the Anteaters ended a scoring drought of 7:15 with 15:21 left in the game, Cal Poly had a 46-32 advantage that never dipped below 10 the rest of the way. The result was a 76-63 Big West Conference women's basketball triumph that further complicated the conference tournament seeding scenario for UCI (11-15, 7-6)