Another game, another double-digit scoring effort from Cal Poly Baseball and another grand slam for catcher Ryan Tayman. A couple of recent trends shone through in a 10-4 Mustang (17-10, 10-2 Big West) victory over Fresno State (8-17-1).
Tayman, the reigning Big West Field Player of the Week, launched his third grand slam of the month, tying Cal Poly’s Division I career and single-season grand slam records. Tayman hit two home runs on the day, marking the fourth game in a row that he has gone deep, another D1-era Mustang record.
To no surprise, Tayman leads the club with nine homers on the year, already a career-high for the Cal transfer in just 27 games. The Mustang backstop tallied three of the team’s ten hits on the day to go along with five RBI. No other Mustang recorded a multi-hit day, but eight different batters recorded a knock.
It was all-hands on deck for the pitching staff as well, as six arms saw action in Tuesday’s win. Luke Kalfsbeek made the start for the Mustangs and was solid, surrendering two runs on just one hit in four 1/3 innings of work. Chris Downs picked up the win after pitching a 1-2-3 sixth inning, and freshman Sean McGrath struck out two in a scoreless frame.
Cal Poly beat Fresno State in both contests this season, securing the season series with one more game to be played between the teams on May 12. The Mustangs reached double-digit runs for the third time in the last four games, and double-digit hits in 13 of the last 17.
Cal Poly faces a tough challenge with top MLB Draft prospect Jackson Flora and the UCSB Gauchos coming to town this weekend, and the offense will need to keep rolling to pick up wins against the Big West Preseason favorites.
That Big West heavyweight duel will begin on Thursday, April 2, at 6:05 p.m. back at Baggett Stadium.