Cal Poly baseball (1-2) recorded one win and two losses in their season-opening series against the University of Washington (2-1) from Friday, Feb. 19 to Sunday, Feb. 21 at Baggett Stadium.
Friday
Cal Poly baseball opened their season with a 6-5 game one loss to Washington on Friday, Feb. 19 inside Baggett Stadium.
After two wild pitches, Washington jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Sophomore starting pitcher Drew Thorpe struck out a Husky batter to end the inning.
In the bottom half of the inning, freshman catcher Ryan Stafford led off with a double down the third base line. Senior third baseman Tate Samuelson singled into center field, bringing Stafford home to tie the game at 1-1. After redshirt freshman infielder Matthias Haas singled, sophomore outfielder Reagan Doss cleared the bases with a two-out triple, giving the Mustangs a 3-1 lead.
Washington tacked on another run in the top of the second, slimming the Cal Poly lead to 3-2. Graduate infielder Brett Borgogno began the bottom of the second with a leadoff double. A Stafford ground out moved Borgogno to third, where sophomore shortstop Brooks Lee grounded out to bring him home. After two innings, the Mustangs claimed a 4-2 lead.
The game remained in a 4-2 stalemate until the top of the sixth, where Washington capitalized on Mustang mistakes to tie the game at 4-4. Cal Poly answered in the bottom of the sixth after Doss scored thanks to junior catcher Collin Villegas’ sacrifice fly out, leading once again 5-4.
The Huskies bounced back in the seventh, where a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch gave Washington a 6-5 lead.
The Mustangs could not climb out of the hole, dropping game one of the three-game series by a final score of 6-5.
Thorpe’s first outting finished with 5 ⅓ innings pitched, giving up three earned runs on six hits while striking out 11 Washington hitters. Sophomore pitcher Kyle Scott took the loss, going only one inning, but giving up two runs on four hits.
Saturday
Looking to bounce back after Friday night’s loss, Cal Poly dropped another heartbreaker to Washington on Saturday night, 4-3.
Unlike Friday’s game, the Huskies and Mustangs went three innings without scoring a run. Redshirt junior starting pitcher Travis Weston cruised through the first three innings, striking out two Washington hitters.
In the top of the fourth, Weston gave up a leadoff home run, giving Washington a 1-0 lead. In the bottom half, Cal Poly loaded the bases and sophomore first baseman Joe Yorke delivered a two-run single to give the Mustangs a 2-1 advantage heading to the fifth.
After a scoreless fifth inning, a Washington double and single tied the game at 2-2 in the sixth.
In the bottom of the eighth, Haas crushed a lead off home run to deep left field, putting the Mustangs back on top, 3-2.
The Huskies led off the top of the ninth with a leadoff double. A failed sacrifice bunt and a fly out saw Cal Poly one out away from their first win of the season. After an intentional walk, a Washington double scored the two runners, silencing the Mustang faithful as the Huskies took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
In the bottom half, Stafford hit a one-out double, giving Cal Poly life. Lee was intentionally walked, and a wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third. However, back-to-back strikeouts ended the game with Cal Poly accepting another devastating loss, 4-3.
Weston finished with six innings of work, giving up two earned runs on 10 hits, striking out just two. Sophomore pitcher Derek True took the loss after three innings of relief, allowing two runs on just two hits.
Sunday
The Mustangs closed out the series with a 5-2 victory on Sunday Feb. 20.
Sophomore right hander Kaden Sheedy (1-0) was on the mound for the Mustangs. Sheedy pitched five innings and let up one run on two hits, ending the game with a 1.80 ERA.
The last game of the series on Sunday was highlighted by an offensive onslaught for Cal Poly during the second inning.
After a scoreless first on both sides, the Mustangs scored five runs and went through the entire batting order in a second inning where seven players reached base.
Samuelson started the inning off with a line drive single to short left field on a two-strike count. Next up, Haas singled and both players advanced on an error.
Doss had an RBI single, moving Haas to third. Yorke then sent a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Haas.
When asked what helped him perform well at the plate this series, Doss said “seeing the ball and hitting it, instead of thinking too much about what they’re throwing.”
Doss ended the series with a .400 batting average and 3 RBIs off a double and triple.
With one out, graduate outfielder John Lagattuta tripled with a laser down the first baseline. The ball shot past the first baseman’s glove and rolled down the foul line, scoring Doss.
Sophomore second baseman Nick Marinconz then hit an RBI single and Stafford followed with a double off the wall to give the Mustangs 5 runs.
Stafford also had a strong performance at the plate this series, as he started off the season with a .455 batting average, getting a double in each of the three games. When asked what helped him during this series, Stafford said “trusting myself when I am up there and knowing I’m going to get the job done.”
“From everyone I caught, I thought we did excellent,” Stafford said about working behind the plate. “I think we were making a lot of really good pitches, trusting each other and the coaches.”
In the top of the third, a solo homerun got the Huskies on the board and made the score 5-1. However, neither team scored again for the rest of the game.
The fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth innings were all three up, three down innings on the mound for Cal Poly.
Scott recorded the save for Cal Poly, as he pitched four innings and did not allow a single hit to the Huskies. In the other dugout, the Mustangs ended the game with 11 hits.
Cal Poly will take on Fresno State for a solo game inside Baggett Stadium on Tuesday Feb. 22 at 6 p.m.
According to head coach Larry Lee, this team needs to “continue to execute and from a mental standpoint, [we must] be in the best place possible to succeed.”