Behind an explosive offensive effort, Cal Poly Baseball swept UC Davis in a three-game set at Baggett Stadium starting Friday, April 26.
With the sweep over the Aggies (18-23, 5-13 Big West), the Mustangs (25-16, 15-6 Big West) are just half of one game back from first place in the Big West Conference.
No. 12 UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and CSU Northridge currently hold a three-way tie for the Big West crown, all sporting an 11-4 conference record.
Cal Poly holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Gauchos and Matadors and takes on the nationally ranked Anteaters in a crucial road series next weekend that could determine the eventual Big West Champion.
An extra-inning walk-off starts it off
In the bottom of the eleventh inning tied at two, junior outfielder Dylan Kordic sat on second base with sophomore outfielder Tate Shimao on third base.
Freshman outfielder Braxton Thomas was standing in the box in his second collegiate at-bat.
Thomas hit a weak ground ball to the right of the pitcher’s mound, and Shimao took off running to home plate. Caught in a fielder’s choice, UC Davis gambled in an attempt to take Shimao out at home plate.
Shiamo just snuck his hand under the tag leading to a 3-2 walk-off victory for the Mustangs over the Aggies at Baggett Stadium on Friday, April 26.
“I knew we had the right guy on third base”, junior center fielder Jake Steels said. “Really impressive for a freshman like Braxton in his second at-bat of the year to hit the ball like that, especially at night”.
The walk-off run by Shimao marked the fifth walk-off victory for the Mustangs this season.
For the Mustangs, winning this opening game in this series was crucial as it comes right after the team dropped a Big West conference series against the University of Hawai’i, lowering their conference record and standing in the Big West to fifth.
Despite being ranked last in the Big West in batting average and the second-to-lowest total runs, the Aggies started the game with a 1-0 lead at the top of the first inning.
The Mustangs, who rank fourth in the Big West in batting average and sixth in runs, responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the second inning via an RBI double from junior infielder Zach Daudet.
Even with runners in scoring position multiple times throughout the scoreless four-inning stretch, neither team could establish any rhythm.
It quickly became a pitcher’s dual as redshirt sophomore Jakob Wright struck out five batters over five innings while Aggies junior Bryan Green struck out seven batters in six innings.
The bottom of the seventh inning opened up with a single up the middle from senior shortstop Aaron Casillas, advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt from Daudet.
Steels singled into center field a few plays later, and advanced to second on a throwing error, scoring Casillas and taking a late 2-1 lead.
“Once I saw the line drive from Steels bat, I knew they were playing back so I was able to get a good read”, Casillas said. “Steels had a great at-bat that gave us the lead and was a huge momentum shift”.
The Mustang’s lead was short-lived as UC Davis answered right back with a home run toward right field by senior outfielder Damian Stone.
The final innings were eerily similar to innings three to seven with both teams struggling to hit taking the game into extras.
UC Davis began the eleventh inning just as they did the tenth: two flyouts and a foul out.
However, the Mustangs started the eleventh inning with some momentum and never looked back.
Senior first baseman Joe Yorke drew a walk while Shimao substituted in as a pinch hitter and immediately advanced to second base after a sacrifice bunt from freshman infielder Alejandro Garza.
A few plays later, a wild pitch led to Shimao advancing into scoring position at third base.
This led to Shimao scoring the game-winning run off the bat of Thomas to secure game one of the three-game series.
Brooks strikes out nine en route to an 8-3 victory
Cal Poly Baseball defeated UC Davis by a final score of 8-3, on Saturday, April 27 to mark their sixth series win in Big West play.
Junior Saturday starter Steven Brooks got the nod on the mound for the Mustangs, and his offense wouldn’t wait long to give him run support.
Brooks sat down the Aggies in order in the top of the first, and three batters into the bottom of the inning the Mustangs found themselves with runners on second and third.
Yorke would hit what looked to be a routine ground ball, but a fielding error would allow for both Steels and redshirt junior second baseman Ryan Fenn to score.
The second inning did not go as smoothly for the Mustangs, as Brooks found himself pitching with the bases loaded and only one out.
In a huge strikeout situation, Brooks did exactly that, striking out two straight to get out of the jam without a run coming across.
The scoring would stall until the bottom of the third when Cal Poly would break the game open.
The Mustangs drove in five runs behind RBI hits from Kordic, Thomas and Garza.
That would be all the support that Brooks needed on the bump.
The Aggies would tag on singular runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, but the Mustangs had plenty of insurance.
Brooks would earn the victory with his nine-strikeout performance across six innings.
Cal Poly will look to sweep the Aggies in the final match of the series tomorrow.
The Mustangs complete their second series sweep in dominant fashion
Cal Poly Baseball had an offensive explosion on Sunday, April 28 to secure their second series sweep of the season with a 13-6 victory.
The Mustangs started red-hot, scoring five runs in the first three innings, capped off by a solo home run from Thomas in the third inning.
Thomas hadn’t played the entire season, yet was a heavy contributor throughout the weekend series.
Thomas batted in the walk-off run in Friday’s game, hit an RBI in Saturday’s contest and now hit his first collegiate home run on Sunday.
Fellow freshman righty Griffin Naess drew the start for Cal Poly and pitched 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball while striking out five Aggies.
Naess continued his stellar freshman campaign and lowered his earned run average to 3.31 on the season.
Cal Poly scored runs in the fifth and sixth innings before Steels smacked a three-run home run over the wall in the seventh inning to extend the lead to 11-5 and essentially put the game out of reach closing out the 13-6 win and series sweep.
Six Mustangs recorded multiple hits in Sunday’s contest with Steels leading the charge with four hits and three RBIs.
The Cal Poly offense is peaking at just the right time as it will be crucial in their next two matchups.
After traveling to Fresno to take on Fresno State in a midweek matchup on Tuesday, April 30, Cal Poly will take on their tallest task of the season.
The Mustangs will travel to Irvine, CA to take on the No. 12 ranked and first-place in the Big West UC Irvine Anteaters in a three-game set starting on Friday, May 3.