Cal Poly Baseball’s offense came alive en route to a 15-5 win over Fresno State on Tuesday, March 28 at Bob Bennett Stadium.
The Mustangs (7-14, 3-3 Big West) have now won four of their last five games with the victory over the Bulldogs (13-10, 7-4 Mountain West).
The Mustang vs. Diamond Dog annual rivalry game has been dominated by Fresno State in the past decade, as seven of the last 10 matchups have gone to the Bulldogs. However, Cal Poly got the best of them this time around.
The route began in the top of the first when Cal Poly put up six runs on Fresno State starter Trevor Garcia.
The runs were accumulated on a pair of RBI doubles from junior first baseman Joe Yorke and junior infielder Aaron Casillas, a three-run homer from freshman infielder Evan Cloyd and an RBI single by redshirt sophomore infielder Kemet Brown.
After freshman righthander Freddy Rodriguez tossed a scoreless bottom half of the first, Yorke kept it rolling with a solo shot, his second of the year, extending the lead to 7-0.
The Bulldogs managed to make up some ground with two runs in the third, but Yorke stayed hot and drove in another run in the top of the fourth on his second RBI double of the day, bringing the Mustang lead to 8-3.
Fresno State continued to try to claw its way back into the game, tacking on one run in the fourth and two more runs in the fifth, cutting the deficit to 8-5.
However, the comeback effort was put to rest when Cal Poly added on three runs in the sixth in the form of a Casillas RBI single and a two-run single by freshman infielder Tate Shimao.
From there, the bullpen trio of junior Derek True, sophomore Steven Brooks and redshirt freshman Tanner Sagouspe tossed 4 ⅓ scoreless innings while allowing just two hits and striking out seven.
To put the cherry on top, senior infielder Taison Corio blasted a solo homer in the top of the ninth and Yorke followed with a three-run homer of his own, giving him a 4-for-6 day with two homers and six RBIs.
Sagouspe shut the door in the bottom of the ninth to clinch the 15-5 win.
Joining Yorke in the multi-hit club in the midweek matchup was sophomore catcher Ryan Stafford (2-for-5), Casillas (3-for-5), Shimao (3-for-5) and Brown (2-for-3).
Cal Poly’s 15 runs and 18 hits are both season highs.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, went 4 ⅔ innings allowing five runs, four of which were unearned, on six hits while striking out three.
The Mustangs will look to keep this momentum going into a Big West series against Long Beach State beginning on Friday, March 31 at 6 p.m. at Blair Field.