May 11, 2015

Monday, May 11, 20 15

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E s t abl ished 19 16

Polyratings: Personal, often polarizing Benjy Egel

@BenjyEgel

Anonymous sharing apps like Yik Yak, Whisper and Fade have become all the rage at Cal Poly. But students forget about one such website until it’s time to register for classes: Polyratings.

The website, which is technically unaffiliated with Cal Poly, contains student-submitted reviews of virtually every professor, assistant professor and lecturer.

Most reviews left on Polyratings have to do with technical aspects of a teacher’s style or ability, such as grading strictness or attendance policies.

But as communication studies lecturer Rebecca Laidlaw found out, some comments were simply personal attacks.

Laidlaw doesn’t look at her Polyratings page often. Especially not after finding two inappropriate comments, one about her appearance and another falsely said she had been sleeping with students.

“It said I like to basically suck cock, doesn’t matter that I’m married,” Laidlaw said. “It was very shocking to me. I don’t think I’m naive or anything, but it was

just like, ‘What? They’re allowed to write this?’”

Laidlaw contacted the site’s administrators in an attempt to have the reviews removed but was initially unsuccessful. After a second attempt, the two remarks were taken down.

When she began her first summer class that year, Laidlaw was dressed especially conservatively. She felt uncomfortable throughout the class, something she hadn’t felt for quite some time.

“It was the first time in so many years of teaching that I felt like I didn’t want to go,” Laidlaw said. “It sounds very weird, but I honestly felt violated. I believe in freedom of speech, but I felt like there was a little bit of hate language.”

At the end of every academic quarter, students are required to fill out course and teacher evaluations. These are anonymous, like Polyratings, but are only visible to instructors and departments.

see RATINGS, pg 3.

JASON HUNG | MUSTANG NE WS RATINGS | Mechanical engineering professor Jim LoCascio doesn’t mind students writing negative reviews on his Polyratings, and he even sends funny ones to his children. Many reviews are concerned with his grading strictness.

City of San Luis Obispo approves program establishing rental housing inspections

TRENT MERFELD | MUSTANG NE WS 18 YEARS L ATER ANDREW EPPERSON | MUSTANG NE WS BIG PICTURE

| The inspection program is part of a larger ordinance, which will be finalized Tuesday.

Rebecca Ezrin @Ezrinrebecca

After approximately 10 years of wrestling with the idea, the city of San Luis Obispo has approved an ordinance that establishes a rental housing inspection program by a 3-2 vote.

In a six-hour City Council meeting on Tuesday night, the recommendation was formally proposed and the discussion on the rental inspection ordinance drew a packed house, with approximately 120 people and 30

speakers, most of whom were against the ordinance.

The ordinance’s final approval will take place at the City Council meeting next Tuesday.

Under the rental inspection ordinance, single-family and duplex home rentals will be inspected every three years to ensure they are abiding by health and safety standards.

“I have encountered a lot of people living in sub-standard housing — young people,” San Luis Obispo Mayor Jan Marx said. “When I open the door to their houses, I

can see holes in the wall and wires hanging from the ceiling. There’s a lot of fear and intimidation that is experienced by them for the first time living on their own.”

The San Luis Obispo City Council first began discussing the idea of a rental housing inspection program in 2005. It then became part of a Major City Goal in the 2013-15 financial plan and then carried into the 2015-17 financial plan.

see INSPECTION, pg 2.

| Friday’s show attracted Yellowcard’s old, die-hard fans along with newer listeners.

Yellowcard reminds SLO Brew why they’re more than ‘Ocean Avenue’ Trent Merfeld @Hi_ImTrent

SLO Brewing Company (SLO Brew) was packed to capacity Friday night as Yellowcard showed us why the band remains relevant in today’s music industry: It can still put on a good show.

As I held my press pass and looked over my interview questions, the 13-year-old in me could barely breathe, while my

more objective, tame 22-yearold self was thinking, “Please don’t bring up your middle school breakups, this is serious.”

Yellowcard — now an anomaly in the music industry for nearly two decades — brought enough pieces of its past into the show to satisfy both old and new fans.

Violinist Sean Mackin is Yellowcard’s longest-tenured member. He said he has been with the now-five-piece ensemble since its second-ever

News... 1-3 | Arts... 4-5 | Opinion... 6 | Classifieds... 7 | Sports... 8

show in 1997.

“We have a great mix of fans that are loyal and stay with our band,” Mackin said. “And we have a nice mix of younger, new fans who are now sort of singing the gospel of Yellowcard.”

Mackin said that even after nearly 20 years, the group is still growing as a band. Friday night’s performance was proof.

see YELLOWCARD, pg 4.

Monday, May 11, 2015

NEWS | 2

ANDREW EPPERSON | MUSTANG NE WS VOICES | About 30 community members spoke at the meeting. Under the rental inspection ordinance, rentals will be inspected every three years.

INSPECTION continued from pg 1.

Prior to a December 2014 meeting, staff researched 25 rental inspection programs in California and other major college towns outside California, with much of the focus on case studies of Santa Cruz and Azusa. Overall, the programs were found to have been effective.

In December 2014, the program was evaluated at the City Council Study Session Direction. At that hearing, the council directed staff to return with an ordinance, involving specific requests.

“Our belief is that our proposed ordinance meets all of those objectives that the council set for us back in December,” Community Development Director Derek Johnson said.

Many San Luis Obispo residents who attended the meeting said the nine city ordinances already in place have not been properly pursued; therefore, they do not trust this one will be.

“If you pass the rental inspection ordinance, please make sure that it

is adequately funded. Otherwise, it will become another example of growing government interference without tangible results. In other words — another failed city ordinance,” San Luis Obispo resident Linda White said. “Don’t raise our hopes that you really care if you are merely passing a revenue-generating ordinance.”

Attendees of the meeting had an additional array of concerns with the ordinance. Common concerns related to the registration process, fees, a demonstration of potential discrimination and their constitutional rights.

“I believe by inspecting rentals only the city is actually discriminating against those who live in their own homes, San Luis Obispo County resident and landlord Mary Kimble said. “So if this housing inspection program is indeed for the protection, health, safety and neighborhood wellness of San Luis Obispo, let’s inspect all dwellings for the good of everyone.”

Sixty-two percent of available homes in San Luis Obispo are rentals, according to the 2010 census, as opposed to the statewide

average of 43 percent.

According to Johnson, the focus is on single-family and duplex housing rentals as a result of 2013 code enforcement cases and violations within single-family and duplex rentals, which were at a rate nearly six times the rate found in multifamily zones.

The existing Code Enforcement Program is primarily complaint-based and holds limitations on interior inspections.

According to Johnson, not all substandard living situations generate complaints, because tenants may be unaware conditions are substandard, are unaware of legal protections, do not know how to make a complaint, fear increased rent or eviction or may struggle with language barriers or disabilities.

Many speakers at the meeting felt interior inspections were intrusive and an invasion of their Fourth Amendment rights — the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

“Is the city ready to defend a

class-action lawsuit to the constitutionality of this law?” landlord Brandi Marin said. “It just makes my skin crawl.”

Cal Poly representatives expressed support for the ordinance as well.

“Cal Poly supports the rental inspection program for our community, as it would serve to address important issues of safety, health and well-being,” Cal Poly representative Stephanie Teaford said.

“We see this type of program as a means to enhance health and safety issues for rental properties that are utilized by our faculty, staff and students.”

Johnson and his team presented the recommended ordinance through a slideshow during the meeting.

The ordinance consists of five main sections: (1) the inspection oveview, (2) registration, application and implementation, (3) notification of inspection and inspection procedures, (4) inspection and re-inspection and (5) self-certification.

Johnson’s slideshow relayed the following information: • The inspection involves a chief building official routinely inspecting properties.

• The owners of residential dwelling units used as rental properties will be required to register units within 60 days from Jan. 1, 2016, or within 30 days from which the unit is acquired. There are penalties and/or fines for failing to register.

• The notification of inspection involve a building official mailing the notice of inspection as well as an invoice for inspection fee.

• During the inspection, the owner or agent must be present and access must be granted by tenants as well.

• In instances of the owner refusing to provide access for the inspection, he/she will be charged an inspection fee. Inspection warrants can be used if needed.

• Self-certification is available to property owners whose properties are found to be in compliance with initial city inspection, have no prior code enforcement activity within the last three years and have no unpaid code enforcement fines.

• A building official will mail an owner-inspection checklist 60 days prior to the due date.

“This is within the principal powers of the city and of local municipal government, which is the protection of health and safety, and that’s why these types of programs are enacted both in California and throughout the United States,” Johnson said.

Johnson and his staff presented the ordinance to the council with three recommendations: to adopt the ordinance, to adopt a resolution establishing fees to implement the program and to adopt a resolution establishing an amnesty program.

The amnesty program consists of an amnesty period of one year, from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016.

“This period suspends penalty fees on any property owner who voluntarily obtains a building per-

mit to either correct or otherwise permit unpermitted work prior to a scheduled inspection or June 30, 2016, whichever occurs first.

Once the amnesty period ends, unpermitted work will be treated as a code enforcement case with associated penalties or fines,” Johnson said.

According to Johnson, the program would allow for both interior and exterior building inspections, which would preserve and maintain housing stock and provide for livable and attractive neighborhoods.

“These are severe, critical health and safety issues: substandard electrical conditions, piles of debris and trash. These are all examples of things that we cannot see from the right away. So our code enforcement program submits a complaint and gets the permission from a property owner to go onto the property, but we don’t discover these types of violations,” Johnson said.

The total costs of the program come out to $256,821 for the city’s 2015-16 budget, and $483,553 for the 2016-17 budget.

Possible fees include $65 for annual registration, a $185 inspection fee, $65 for self-certification and a potential re-inspection fee of $65.

Exemptions from the program include mobile home units within mobile home parks regulated by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, HUD Section 8 housing units, dwelling units owned or managed by a government agency or residential rental dwelling units that are occupied by a registered owner.

By June 2015, the process will begin with amnesty notifications being sent out. Community outreach programs and meetings will occur over the months of September through December 2015. Initial inspections will begin April 2016.

“This is about the minimum expectations — what you expect to get as a tenant, like heating, a door that locks or working smoke detectors,” Johnson said.

Monday, May 11, 2015

NEWS | 3

TARA KAVEH | MUSTANG NE WS NOTED

| A master plan update forum was also held in the Robert E. Kennedy Librar y Atrium on Thursday. Attendees were asked to share their thoughts on sticky notes at both forums.

Master plan update held at SLO library Juliet Saunders Special to Mustang News

Cal Poly held an open house for the proposed university master plan Saturday May 9 at the San Luis Obispo County Library.

The community outreach event drew approximately 50 people varying in ages from students to longtime San Luis Obispo residents.

The open house was aimed at getting feedback from community members about the proposed master plan for the campus for the year 2022. Potential

REVIEWS continued from pg 1.

Mechanical engineering professor Jim LoCascio, whose Polyratings page is peppered with personal insults and complaints about his classes, reviews every course evaluation submitted for each of his classes.

Despite having earned a 1.87 rating from students on Polyratings, LoCascio said he normally receives an average of 3.2 to 3.9 stars out of five on course evaluations. Students who take the time to write Polyratings reviews are outliers within the system, he said.

“My course evaluations don’t

ideas include new student housing, a hotel, parking, a pub and other proposed additions to the main campus.

Master plan team member Erik Justesen said the university created six advisory committees that included students, community members, faculty and staff that went over various issues. These committee meetings gave the master planners their “marching orders,” Justesen said.

Louise Justice, resident and member of the mass transit committee appreciates that Cal Poly offers an open house for the community.

“I do like open houses. It gives residents some avenue to express their thoughts and ideas, but my question is, do they really listen?” Justice said.

The open house included three sections, one on the campus core, (or what campus looks like now); land use/housing, with diagrams of proposed changes; and circulation (or transportation to and from campus and within campus). Each section had a poster where the attendees could voice their opinions on color-coded sticky notes to place on the board. The land

use/housing board was almost full at the end of the two-hour open house.

“It’s really important for us to hear what the community thinks about our master plan,” said Interim University Planning Officer Linda Dalton.

Environmental management and protection junior Kyle Jordan was one of the few Cal Poly students in attendance.

“I wanted to provide some feedback in terms of land use,” he said.

Part of the proposed plans are to take away some of Cal Poly’s

allocated agricultural land.

“They are potentially getting rid of some agriculture land; it’s good ag land. It’s a poor spot to build over, the school is all about living labs and Learn By Doing,” Jordan said of the possible loss of a citrus orchard on campus.

One aspect many community members seemed to agree on is the possible addition of on-campus housing.

A goal of the master plan is to increase the amount of students living on campus from 38 to 65 percent.

“I like the idea of more housing,” Jordan said. “It relieves pressure for the rest of the community.”

According to Justeen and Dalton, the concerns raised through the open house, their website and other forums will be viewed and taken into account over the summer. The master planning team will then come up with a refined plan based on these concerns and suggestions. They will hold more listening sessions and open houses in the fall with the hope that a final plan will come out by the end of 2015.

look anything like my Polyratings,” LoCascio said. “The people that go (on) there are the people that are very, very happy or very, very unhappy.”

Many reviews for LoCascio’s classes have to do with his strictness as a grader, an attribute he takes in stride.

“In my own home and in the (mechanical engineering) hallways, the joke is people get mechanical engineering degrees and they’re either WLs or WOLs,” he said. “They’re either With LoCascio or Without LoCascio.”

Still, some Polyratings reviews call him out for personal attributes. LoCascio has had to ask

classes to not write things about the way he dresses because it upsets his wife, a request he says has been honored.

Polyratings are meant to inform other students about the best and worst professors to take, but their openness to the public makes some teachers afraid, LoCascio said. Negative reviews, especially for non-tenured professors, can dim one’s career prospects if reviewed by a potential employer.

The university also uses course evaluations to hurt professors, according to LoCascio. Administrators pay no mind to positive student reviews but can use neg-

ative ones as examples of poor performance, he said.

“No one comes in here and says, ‘Oh, your evaluations are great,’” LoCascio said. “But if your evaluations are in the toilet, then somebody will come into your office and say, ‘How do you explain this?’”

Both Laidlaw and LoCascio agreed written evaluations are more telling than standardized fill-in-the-blank reviews.

LoCascio has his students fill out their evaluations at the beginning of class so they won’t be tempted to leave early and skip writing their thoughts, while Laidlaw assigns a page-long essay on what

people learned in the class.

Business freshman Danny Halprin uses Polyratings to decide which sections of classes to take, he said.

“I don’t write reviews. They take a certain amount of effort that are only validated if I have a very strong opinion, if I really liked them or didn’t like (the professor),” he said. “I’ve never hated or loved a professor enough to write one, but I probably will at some point.”

Former Cal Poly students Doug Dahms and Forrest Lanning created Polyratings in January 1999, four months before the creation of RateMyProfessor.com, which

expanded the idea to universities across the United States.

RateMyProfessor.com only has reviews for 547 Cal Poly faculty and staff members, a far cry from the 2,286 profiled on Polyratings.

Students have submitted 53,176 Polyratings reviews in total.

Dahms and Lanning, who did not respond to interview requests for this article, founded Polyratings out of their residence hall room using an old Linux box, according to both of their biographies on the website.

The two were nearly kicked off campus after numerous battles with university administrators, per their website bios.

Monday, May 11, 2015

ARTS | 4

TRENT MERFELD | MUSTANG NE WS #FLASHBACKFRIDAY | Yellowcard primarily stuck with its old repertoire and its most recent releases, leaving out the material in the middle. Nonetheless, the crowd seemed happy with the SLO Brew show.

YELLOWCARD continued from pg 1.

To start their set, the quintet — each in a black shirt — played the first three songs off their new album, Lift a Sail.

After the new material, lead singer Ryan Key broke the ice: “I know when some of you heard we were playing (at SLO Brew), you went and told your friend, ‘Hey, Ocean’s Boulevard is playing.’”

The crowd met the joke with easy laughter.

I was apprehensive about the energy for the night when, after a few songs, half the audience seemed to lose focus. Fortunately, right before one of their slower-paced hits, “Only One,” Key told the crowd to get off Tinder.

“We won’t use our phones during the show if you don’t,” Key said. After that moment, I didn’t see many faces illuminated by cell phones.

Cal Poly graduate Liam Hedr iana s aid t he p ositioning of “Only One” was particularly meaningful. “(They stuck) ‘Only One’ in the kinda beginning-middle of their set,” Hedriana said. “I feel like it was really nice of them for their old fans and for everybody that came out.”

Just as the more casual fans found familiar footing through the Ocean Avenue hit, the tone grew serious leading up to “Lift a Sail,” the title track of the group’s newest record.

Key said they wrote the song during an emotional time for

the band: “(We’re) trying to help you get through whatever you’re getting through with our music.”

After the pep talk, the venue erupted with the fans’ rhythmic shouting peaking between cymbal crashes.

Af ter ward, Mack in got real with his audience and said, “(It’s the) best feeling in the world to look out and see you guys singing our songs.”

Key later introduced “One Bedroom,” the show’s first acoustic-guitar-centered song.

“I want you to find your best Chris Martin, Coldplay voice (when I go) ‘oo-ooh-oooh,’” Key said.

Key took advantage of the guitar swap following “One Bedroom” to introduce the

Monday, May 11, 2015 band members. When guitarist Ryan Mendez’s turn came, Key had a little fun with the crowd.

“Did you know he has pneumonia? Did you know he has tonsilitis?”

Mackin chimed in: “He’s literally collecting as many viral diseases as possible.”

Key then decided it was time to introduce the bassist: “Ladies! Josh Portman on the bass,” and after a brief pause, “Men! Josh Portman on the bass.”

Key reached for the ignition as the setlist approached its final turn. They climbed an emotional peak with “Believe,” one of the many hits off the platinum-selling Ocean Avenue.

The song, which according to Mackin was “meant to sort of commemorate the heroes of 9/11,” ignited energy in the venue. Mackin pumped his fists ferociously during the choruses, matching the intensity of the fans closest to the stage.

“That’s my moment,” Mackin said. “That’s the eye of the storm for me. Every night, just watching people sing, ‘Everything is gonna be all right.’”

T h e s on g’s c on c lu s i on brought a feeling of camaraderie between Yellowcard and the crowd. It’s easy to find value in any stanza of Key’s lyrics, and “Believe” gave the crowd a necessary attitude boost.

Key then opened up, admitting the band was tired after touring for 10 consecutive weeks with no breaks. He proceeded to thank the crowd at SLO Brew for the night and for how quickly the show had sold out once tickets went on sale.

“We needed the energy tonight,” Key said.

Every member except Key exited the stage. He sat front and center with a NORD-keyboard, serenading the crowd with “California.”

After the final track off its

ARTS | 5

latest album concluded, the crowd begged for an encore.

And the y got it: three more songs.

“My friends, are you tired yet?” Key said as the band re-assumed their positions onstage.

They opened the encore with “Fighting” as Mackin tossed the remains of a water bottle over those closest to the stage. There was a brief moment of tension in the crowd through the encore, as Yellowcard still had not played its biggest hit.

Soon, the palm-muting began and worries transformed into cheers.

Key began, “There’s a place off Ocean Avenue…”

The audience got its final wind, jumping wildly. I spotted the first crowd surfer of the night, and my ears began to ring.

They still haven’t stopped.

I know when some of you heard we were playing (at SLO Brew), you went and told your friend, ‘Hey, Ocean’s Boulevard is playing.’

RYAN KEY FRONTMAN

TRENT MERFELD | MUSTANG NE WS PHONES SILENT, EARS RINGING | Lead singer Ryan Key kept the show personal, asking audience members to put away their phones.

Alex Rademacher Math Senior

“Mustang News has a lot of good information.”

TRENT MERFELD | MUSTANG NE WS

Monday, May 11, 2015

OPINION | 6 MUSTANG NEWS

Justice Department to investigate Baltimore police

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Garrett Ahern @CPMustangNews

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“He’s the type of guy that orders half a cider.”

Garrett Ahern is a biological sciences junior and Mustang News liberal columnist. These views do not necessarily reflect the opinion or editorial coverage of Mustang News.

This past Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released a statement outlining plans to investigate the Baltimore City Police Department for recurring patterns of civil rights abuse within its ranks.

This announcement came just weeks after the brutal and senseless murder of Freddie Gray.

Gray was a Baltimore local who died in early April as the result of a spinal cord injury incurred while in police custody ensuing his unlawful arrest.

Following her visit to Baltimore this week, recently confirmed U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch shared concern that recent events, including the “tragic in-custody death of Freddie Gray,” had led to a “serious erosion of public trust,” motivating local representatives and community leaders to pursue a federal probe into the city’s policing practices.

The investigation, Lynch continued, will decipher “whether the Baltimore Police Department has engaged in a pattern or practice of violations” of the U.S. Constitution or the community’s civil rights, looking closely at “allegations that Baltimore

Police Department officers use excessive force, including deadly force; conduct unlawful searches, seizures and arrests; and engage in discriminatory policing.”

Last Tuesday, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who requested the probe, claimed the DOJ will investigate whether city police have “engaged in a pattern of stops, searches or arrests that violate the Fourth Amendment.”

A patterns and practices investigation will occur — in addition to the one being conducted by federal attorneys — which seeks to examine whether civil rights laws were violated specifically during Gray’s arrest. The city is already undergoing a voluntary investigation into alleged police brutality, which began in accordance to the DOJ six months prior to Gray’s death.

This announcement came just a week after Maryland State Attorney Marilyn Mosby shared that the state would be filing criminal charges against the officers involved in Gray’s death.

Though welcoming the news, civil rights advocates question whether either the prosecution of the officers involved in Gray’s murder or a federal investigation into the police department they represented can go far enough to address the root causes of police violence against minority groups in the U.S. Those who wish to see progress made toward addressing inequitable treatment within our justice system must take every

The conscience of a progressive step as a victory. The unearthing of discrimination within police departments nationwide must take place on a case-by-case basis, slowly gaining force as supporting evidence accumulates and the widespread nature of this issue becomes irrefutable.

The facts of the matter exist, but it is our responsibility to make them known in a manner appropriate to the future we wish to realize.

As history has shown, those of us seeking progress toward peaceful changes must embody changes we wish to see. We cannot expect to gain the support and legitimacy required by such a movement if we are guilty of the same violence.

The truth many of us are aware of but only some of us wish to admit is that countless law enforcement agencies across the country continue to uphold a

culture of racial discrimination within their ranks. Without much more needing to be said, the time has come for citizens to dismantle the biases plaguing many who “serve and protect” them. To commence this lengthy process, we must begin bringing those who brutally misuse their force to justice. Only by scratching the surface can we make progress toward addressing the root of this issue.

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Monday, May 11, 2015

SPORTS | 8

Baseball drops pivotal Big West series to UC Irvine Mustang News Staff Report

@CPMustangSports For the second straight Sunday, the Cal Poly baseball team made things interesting in the late innings but left the bases loaded in the ninth as the Mustangs lost 6-5 in the series finale at UC Irvine.

Cal Poly scored two runs in the top of the eighth inning to bring it within one, but junior first baseman Ryan Drobny, who had not been retired on the day, grounded out to end the game with the tying run 90 feet away.

The Mustangs (23-25, 10-8 Big West) dropped a pivotal series to the conference’s top team and likely lost a chance to secure their second straight Big West title.

With an RPI of 120, the Mustangs won’t receive an at-large regionals berth, meaning Cal Poly needs to clinch the outright regular season title to earn the conference’s automatic postseason bid. But the Mustangs’ series loss to UC Irvine (31-17, 13-5), as well as losses to the other teams ahead of them in the Big West standings (Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara) earlier in the season, now makes a league championship improbable.

UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton lead the Big West with a 13-5 conference record. The Gauchos are 12-6, while Cal Poly sits in fourth with its 10-8 mark.

Senior left fielder Zack Zehner and junior right fielder John Schuknecht hit home runs on Sunday afternoon as four different players collected two RBI in the game. The Mustangs outhit

the Anteaters 12-9 but left 12 runners on base, including three in that final inning.

Senior left-hander Taylor Chris earned the loss for the Mustangs in his first career start. Chris, a staple out of the bullpen with 77 career relief appearances, gave up six runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Cal Poly earned a series-opening victory with a 9-6 win against UC Irvine on Friday night before losing the next two games. Junior right-hander Casey Bloomquist improved to 6-2 with his sixth straight victory on the mound, as he allowed two earned runs in 8 1/3 innings in the Friday opener.

Junior designated hitter Brian Mundell and sophomore catcher Brett Barbier each collected three RBI en route to the win in that game.

On Saturday, the Mustangs exploded for five runs in the top of the third inning but then surrendered seven runs in the bottom half of the frame. They would never recover and eventually lost 9-6. True freshman pitcher Kyle Smith earned the loss, as he was tagged for eight runs in 2 1/3 innings on the mound.

Cal Poly will welcome UC Riverside to Baggett Stadium for the final home series of the year next weekend. The Mustangs will finish the season with a three-game set at UC Davis the following weekend.

Stephan Teodosescu contributed to this report.

MUSTANG NEWS FILE PHOTO MARKY MARK | Second baseman Mark Mathias hit safely in each game of this past weekend’s series at UC Irvine, tallying two RBI. The junior leads Cal Poly with a .362 batting average, 39 runs and eight steals.