SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Grant Desme and Garrett Olson highlight the list of former Cal Poly baseball players expected to play in Saturday’s Alumni Game at 1 p.m. in Baggett Stadium. Desme, who played at Cal Poly in 2006 and 2007, was named MVP in the Arizona Fall League after hitting 11 homers and 27 RBIs for the Phoenix Desert Dogs. Recently invited to the Oakland A's spring training camp, Desme retired from baseball Jan....

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly opened practice for the 2010 baseball season Friday afternoon at Baggett Stadium, seeking a return trip to the NCAA regionals. Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs, who posted a 37-21 overall record, one victory shy of the school's Division I mark, and 14-10 Big West record for third place, took the field at 1 p.m. to begin preparations for the Feb. 19 season opener against Southern California. The Mustangs, selected by the...

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Former Cal Poly outfielder Grant Desme, recently invited to the Oakland A's spring training camp, has retired from baseball in order to pursue a career as a priest. Desme, Big West Conference Player of the Year at Cal Poly in 2007 and the only player in the minor leagues last year to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases, plans to enter St. Michael's Abbey in Orange County this summer and said...

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Various coaches from Southern California, including six from the Big West Conference, traded in their baseball bats for spatulas Friday at the ESPN Zone Anaheim in the Downtown Disney District for the SoCal Media Day event. Combined with the SoCal Media Day was the second annual NCAA Baseball Coaches Cook-Off as coaches from the Big West, Pac-10, Mountain West and West Coast conferences showed off their skills behind the hot plate. Competing from the...

Two dozen teams make up the Division I college baseball landscape in California, including Hall of Fame players, Cy Young Award winners and collegiate national championships. For the first time in state history, teams from around the state will be a part of the Easton California College Baseball Media Day -- January 22 at ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney and January 26 at Stanford University. Each day of the event-series will begin at 9 a.m. Coaches from...

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- The Cal Poly baseball team, one season after earning its first-ever NCAA Division I regional playoff berth, has been selected by the nine Big West Conference head coaches to repeat its third-place conference finish of a year ago. Eighth-year Mustang head coach Larry Lee welcomes back 18 letter winners, including seven position starters and three starting pitchers, off last year’s squad which finished 37-21, one win shy of the school Division...

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly could have as many as six former players in the Major Leagues next spring. Ex-Mustang third baseman Brent Morel is among 15 non-roster players invited by the Chicago White Sox to Spring Training next month in Glendale, Ariz. The South Siders made the announcement Thursday. White Sox pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training on Sunday, Feb. 21, and the first full-squad workout will take place Friday, Feb. 26.  Morel, 22,...

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- For the second year in a row, Cal Poly second baseman Matt Jensen has been invited to the USA Baseball team trials. After accepting the invitation a year ago, Jensen fractured his collarbone in a Cal Poly game in early May and was unable to participate in the trials. This summer's trials run from July 5-11 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina. The final roster for Team...