Cal Poly Baseball’s season is on the brink of ending after a 12-2 loss to No. 16 West Virginia on Friday.
The Mustangs (39-23) fell behind early with a first inning three-run home run by the Mountaineers’ (44-15) Sean Smith off of Griffin Naess to open up the Mustangs’ NCAA Super Regional debut.
Cal Poly’s offense was kept in check by Chasen Cole, who at one point had nine straight outs as strikeouts. The Mustangs had nine hits throughout the game, but drew just one walk.
Dylan Kordic broke out from an 0-15 Los Angeles regional with a single in the first, and a home run in the fourth that got Cal Poly on the board.
It was the first postseason start for Naess that you could classify as poor for the junior right hander. Naess walked in with a sub 2.00 ERA in postseason starts but was unable to get out of the fourth inning as West Virginia got to him early with the three run blast by Smith. After that, he got 1-2-3 innings in the second and third, before the Mountaineers tacked on a five run fourth and chased Naess from the game.
Offensively Cal Poly got chances, but Cole was able to dance out of them almost every time. Eight of the nine hitters in the Cal Poly lineup got hits, but the lack of walks and the ability of Cole to scatter those hits were the difference.
The best chance for the Mustangs to wrestle back control from West Virginia and the raucous Kendrick Family Ballpark came in the fourth. After Kordic’s blast, Cal Poly got runners on the corners and two outs, but were unable to cash in a second run. Then, West Virginia put up a five run fourth and kept Cal Poly at bay for the rest of the game.
Cal Poly now has to beat West Virginia twice on Saturday and Sunday to advance to their first ever College World series appearance. The Mustangs get back to it Saturday at 9 a.m. PT/noon ET as the designated home team.
