Cal Poly Baseball’s home opener on Friday felt familiar. Dominant pitching and an explosive offense posting crooked numbers were hallmarks of the Mustangs’ impressive 2025 season, and through four games in 2026, it seems nothing has changed.
Hosting the Washington State Cougars (1-3) for the first game at Baggett Stadium in 2026, Cal Poly (3-1) picked up a wire-to-wire win, 9-0 the final score.
Friday starter Griffin Naess was dazzling for the Mustangs and delivered the best start of his collegiate career. The right-hander punched out a career-high 14 Cougars over seven clean innings, allowing just one hit on an infield dribbler.
Naess allowed just the one base runner through six innings of work, and only three Cougars reached base against him all night, two of them by errors.
By the top of the seventh inning murmurs of a no-hitter spread throughout a packed Baggett Stadium, and it felt plausible despite Naess likely working with a pitch count limit. A collective groan was let out when Washington State tallied its first hit on a weak ground ball. After the hit, Naess didn’t sulk, instead striking out the side, doubling his previous career high of seven strikeouts.
Finishing with nine swinging strikeouts and five looking, everything was clicking for Naess.
“[I was] just getting ahead and then just being patient for the strikeout,” Naess said. “My pitching coach does a good analysis of the other team, and we had our meeting today. And it just worked out.”
Friday nights are Naess’ time to pitch, and they make for an engaged atmosphere, even with the frigid weather in San Luis Obispo lately.
“It’s really special here, especially Friday nights,” Naess said. “I’ve had multiple new guys that just transferred in here, and they’re just like, this is the most fun I’ve ever had playing baseball.”
Lights-out pitching and a dynamic offense make for “fun” baseball, and that’s what the Mustangs are hoping to deliver regularly.
Naess was given an early cushion from the offense, which struck for four runs in the first and two in the second. They registered 13 hits as a group, with four players posting multi-hit games, including the top three in the order.
Dante Vachini went 2-5 out of the lead-off spot, with Nate Castellon (3-4) and Alejandro Garza (2-5) following suit. First baseman Braxton Thomas had a big game as well, going 2-4 with two RBIs.
The Mustangs were aggressive on the base-paths all night, implementing hit-and-runs and taking the extra base with balls in play. This has been a big part of Cal Poly’s offensive identity, and they plan to wreak havoc all year.
“That’s part of our game,” Garza said. “We hit and run, we drag, we push, we do a lot of stuff, little, small ball stuff, to have teams panic and make sure they play catch.”
Cal Poly isn’t just a small-ball team, however. They pair those tendencies with bats that constantly put the ball in play and display power to the gaps. This combination creates an overall offense that is tough to deal with.
“I think hands down, we’re one of the best [offenses] in the country,” Garza said. “For us not to be one-dimensional really makes us that much more valuable … they’ve got to not only defend us hitting-wise, but they also have to defend the small ball, and that’s what makes us one of the better teams in the country.”
Cal Poly will continue to try to give Washington State headaches throughout the rest of a four-game series. First pitch on Saturday is at 3:05 p.m.