Cal Poly Baseball dropped the second game of their four-game weekend series against the Nevada Wolf Pack 2-1 on Saturday, Feb. 20 inside Baggett Stadium.
The Mustangs (1-1), who came off a shutout victory against the Wolf Pack (1-1) in their previous game, could not find a way to score early in the game despite consistently leaving runners in scoring position.
Similar to last night’s contest, the two teams started scoreless through the first two innings. The Mustangs struggled to capitalize on scoring opportunities as they went 0-8 as a team with runners in scoring position by the end of the sixth inning.
Freshman left hand pitcher Travis Weston picked up where Thorpe and Villalobos left off yesterday after pitching six scoreless innings, allowing six hits with eight strikeouts.
Then, freshman right hand pitcher Kyle Scott took the mound in relief, but gave up an unearned run in the top of the seventh inning after throwing a wild pitch. The Mustangs found themselves trailing to the Wolf Pack 1-0 during the seventh inning.
The Mustangs tried to respond in the bottom of the seventh after third baseman Tate Samuelson drove a deep triple to the center field warning track, but were still unable to score, keeping the game at 1-0 at the end of the seventh inning.
Nevada kept the pressure on the Mustangs in the top of the ninth inning after Wolf Pack shortstop Wyatt Tilley drove a triple to deep center field. Tilley scored on the next at-bat after catcher Marco Valenzuela hit a sacrifice fly down the left field line, giving the Wolf Pack a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, with runners stranded at first and third base, junior center fielder Cole Cabrera hit an RBI single down the left field line to cut the deficit to 2-1. However, the Mustangs couldn’t complete the comeback as they finished hitting 2-11 with runners in scoring position, which proved to be the difference maker down the stretch.
Cal Poly will look to take back the series lead as their home weekend series continues against Nevada on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. inside the friendly confines Baggett Stadium.