Cal Poly Baseball got a much needed 11-4 win during their midweek contest against San Jose State on April 7 as they look to right the ship as they head into a crucial stretch of the season.
The Mustangs (18-13) used two big innings in the first and third to power their victory over the Spartans (13-18). This was supposed to be the second matchup between the two teams but their matchup in February up in San Jose was rained out.
In last weekend’s series against UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly managed just six runs and 15 hits. They surpassed that in Tuesday’s contest with 11 runs and 16 hits.
Every starter in the Mustang lineup collected at least one hit, Alejandro Garza led the way with a 4-5 night and Gavin Spiridonoff blasted his second career home run.
From top to bottom the Mustang lineup churned out offense, and the pitching matched their output.
Sean McGrath drew the weeknight start and he shined. Coming into a game with an ERA north of 11, he shut out the Spartans through five innings of work.
Josh Morano, Troy Cooper, Chris Downs and Arlo Pendleton combined for the last four innings of work. They gave up four runs but all were unearned.
“We had two days off and we really worked as a team to just get back to what we know best and that’s grinding out at bats,” Garza said. “We felt like we got out of the plan this last weekend so we had to dial it back in.”
Cal Poly heads into their second straight series against a top ten pitching team when they head to Corvallis to take on No.7 Oregon State April 10-12. The Beavers are ranked 9th with a 3.40 ERA, slightly higher than the Gauchos top ranked 2.89 ERA.
If the Mustangs stick to their gameplan like they did against San Jose State and string together solid at bats, they will do damage to a top pitching staff in the game. If they stray from their gameplan like they did last week, then it could be another long weekend for Cal Poly.
