Cal Poly Baseball was held to just one run in a 7-1 non-conference loss to Xavier University on Tuesday, March 7 inside Baggett Stadium.
The Mustangs (3-8) committed three errors and couldn’t get much going on offense past the first inning while the Musketeers (6-7) capitalized on the offensive opportunities presented to them.
Xavier struck first in the opening inning with a run on a throwing error to make it 1-0, with Cal Poly responding with a run of their own in the bottom half with a sac fly from senior left fielder Collin Villegas to tie it at 1-1 after the first.
Junior righty Kaden Sheedy got the start for the Mustangs and he struck out two Musketeers in a scoreless top half of the second and third while Cal Poly stranded runners to keep the game tied at one each.
It wasn’t until the top of the fourth inning that Xavier would break the tie with a solo home run to deep right field to bring the score to 2-1 after four.
Sheedy’s day was done after five innings when, in a surprising move, junior right-handed Friday starter Bryce Warrecker was brought in to relieve Sheedy in the top half of the sixth.
Warrecker started off the inning with two strikeouts, but then allowed two runs after an RBI single and double bringing the score to 4-1 in favor of the Musketeers. He was then relieved by junior righty Derek True, who recorded the last out of the inning.
After a scoreless sixth from Cal Poly, Xavier went right back to it as the lead-off hitter got on with a double and then moved to third after a pickoff move from True was thrown into center field, which was followed by an RBI single which extended the Musketeers’ lead to 5-1.
The Mustangs were held scoreless once again in the seventh, while Xavier brought in two runs on a two-RBI single after another Cal Poly error that loaded the bases to bring the score to 7-1.
The Mustangs still couldn’t get much going on offense so the Musketeers cruised the rest of the way to a 7-1 win.
Sheedy was handed the loss despite the nice outing and the Green and Gold have now lost six of their last seven games.
Cal Poly will now look to bounce back in an upcoming three-game series against UNLV from Friday, March 10 to Sunday, March 12 inside Baggett Stadium.
