IRVINE, Calif. – Last season, Cal Poly was swept by UC Irvine in the regular season, then run-ruled in the second round of the Big West tournament by the Anteaters. That set up a wild weekend where they had to win three games in two days, including beating Irvine twice to win the crown.
This season, the Mustangs (35-21) were swept by UC Santa Barbara in the regular season, the only Big West squad to take all three regular-season matchups from Cal Poly. The script in the tournament rematch this year demanded a rewrite, and Cal Poly dispatched the Gauchos (38-17) 4-2 at Cicerone Field on Friday.
WATCH NOW: Cal Poly Baseball advances to Big West tournament final with 4-2 win over UC Santa Barbara
It’s the 35th win of the season for the Mustangs, the third straight year that they have reached that mark.
Carson Turnquist toed the rubber for Cal Poly; the Saturday starter found his stride after the trip to Oregon State. Despite that, control issues had been the theme of his season, and they reared their head in the first inning.
After getting the Gaucho’s leadoff hitter to strikeout, Turnquist walked three batters, then hit another to bring home the first run of the game. Brady Estes started to warm up in the bullpen in case the inning continued, but Turnquist quickly induced an inning-ending double play to get out of it.
Thursday night, Cal Poly’s offense was stuck in stasis when they mustered just one run on three hits. The Mustangs had two runners in the first but again were unable to scratch a run across.
Cal Poly quickly responded with the bottom of their lineup. With runners on first and third, Dante Vachini executed a perfect safety squeeze bunt to bring Gavin Spiridonoff home, leveling the score at 1-1.
“[Carson] got himself in a jam early and minimized it, only gave up a run. That was big for us,” Head Coach Larry Lee said. “It allowed our offense to get back in the game and get a lead.”
UC Santa Barbara would be next to strike, taking advantage of two close full-count walks that Turnquist thought were inning-ending strike threes. It was Noah Karliner who restored the one-run advantage for the Gauchos with an RBI back up the middle.
Offensively, Cal Poly was collecting baserunners in every frame. Santa Barbara starter Calvin Proskey weaved in and out of traffic all day long, but after Jake Downing singled and stole second on a strikeout, Gauchos Head Coach Andrew Checketts turned to left-hander Chase Hoover to maintain their advantage.
Cam Hoiland was already working on a 2-for-2 night and had no issues going lefty-on-lefty, making it 3-for-3 with an opposite-field single that advanced Downing to third.
“I was talking with the on-deck batter before, and he asked what I was sitting on. I said I was going to try and take the fastball the other way,” Hoiland said. “I was able to do just that, and I was able to work the count and see a bunch of pitches.”
Vachini gave way to pinch hitter Xander McLaurin, who promptly lifted a sacrifice fly to center to tie the ballgame back up at 2-2.
After chasing the game for the majority of the afternoon, Cal Poly got a breakthrough in the seventh inning when an error by the Gauchos allowed Alejandro Garza to reach safely, and with two outs, it was Downing who knocked him home to claim a 3-2 advantage.
Turnquist’s day was done after the sixth inning and a career high 114 pitches. It was his fifth straight start reaching 100 pitches, putting him in line to win his sixth start in as many attempts.
“Coach Moir came up to me and asked how I felt after the fifth inning,” Turnquist said. “I was like, ‘I feel like I have better stuff, like I haven’t emptied the tank. I’m going to do that next inning.’… I emptied the tank with my best stuff.”
Estes finally got the call from the bullpen after warming up off and on, and the second-team Big West selection fired home two critical scoreless innings against the back half of the Gaucho lineup.
Nate Castellon tacked on another RBI to his tournament campaign after knocking in the lone run Thursday night. Hoiland made it a 4-for-4 day at the plate with a double before coming around to score when Castellon returned a 1-1 offering to its sender for some insurance.
Ultimately, the insurance wasn’t required. For the second straight game, Nick Bonn was called upon to collect the save, this time getting a clean ninth inning instead of the bases-loaded jam that he got in his first game of the tournament. He earned his 14th save of the year, tying the Cal Poly record and sending the Mustangs off to the championship game.
Cal Poly now sits in the driver’s seat and has two cracks to collect the Big West Championship. They’ll play the winner of Santa Barbara and UC San Diego-Fullerton Saturday at 6 p.m., where a win would seal the title for the Mustangs.
