Can somebody here beat Cal Poly, please?

If you have followed the University of Hawaii’s fortunes since joining the Big West Conference especially, you might have begun to wonder.

Officially this growing nemesis is known as California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and if that name is a stumbling block, then consider the handful that the Mustangs are fast becoming on the courts and on the fields for UH.

The weekend sweep of the Rainbow Warriors baseball team by the Mustangs was but the latest in a lengthening series of Cal Poly triumphs that crosses several sports, most notably men’s basketball and baseball, where the Mustangs have won five of the past six meetings in each.

So far this academic year UH is a combined 3-7 against the Mustangs in men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, soccer and volleyball. Over two years, it is 10-13 and needed sweeps by the Rainbow Wahine volleyball and softball teams to get that.

NOW, AS UH’s second year in the Big West moves toward conclusion, it is up to the Rainbow Wahine (19-19) softball team to salvage something against Cal Poly (22-16) in a three-game series that opens here Friday.

"If we knew what (the secret) was, we’d somehow bottle it," Don Oberhelman, Cal Poly’s athletic director said modestly.

And to think that when the vote was taken to admit UH to the lineup of all-California schools for 2012 there were fears that Hawaii, with its $30 million-plus budget and Football Bowl Subdivision football program, might dominate.

Back then, it was Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara that stood out as the programs that figured to cause UH the most trouble.

Cal Poly? It was a Division II member the last time UH was in the Big West a decade ago and something of an afterthought. That is if anybody here thought about the Mustangs, a school just off the Central California coast, at all.

The Mustangs, apart from half-century old Mott Gym, have nice facilities, but they are hardly breathtaking ones. Their budget, even when football (Cal Poly is FCS) and travel are taken out of the equation, are still well short of UH’s. And Cal Poly, which deigns to admit just 31 percent of applicants, isn’t the easiest place to gain entrance. 

BUT THE LATE Stan Sheriff’s alma mater has built a baseball program that is (30-5) and No. 3 in the country right now. You’d think Ozzie Smith, whose statue stands outside of Baggett Stadium, and who has donated $1 million, was still playing for the Mustangs. More surprising, the Mustangs men’s basketball team went from a No. 7 seed to the Big West Conference tournament champion.

When the Mustangs made their improbable run into the NCAA Tournament, people in California and some national media had trouble distinguishing Cal Poly SLO from Cal Poly Pomona. That’s becoming less of a problem here, however, where the Mustangs should have Hawaii’s full attention.

Meanwhile, if Cal Poly asks to book a football game, UH might want to just say, "no thanks."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.