After finishing in a tie for first place in the competitive Big West Conference, Cal Poly Baseball took home 11 All-Big West selections, the most of any team in the conference.
Led by Big West Co-Coach of the Year Larry Lee, the Mustangs won 30 games for the third straight year and will enter the Big West tournament as the second seed yet again. This is coach Lee’s second time earning Coach of the Year honors, he won in 2014 when Cal Poly took home the Big West title.
Catcher Ryan Tayman earned co-Big West field player of the year in a tie with Fullerton’s Paul Contreras. The junior backstop mashed 16 home runs to tie for the conference lead, with 10 of those coming during Big West play. He slashed .351/.443/.673, which were all top-five marks in the conference.
READ MORE: How Ryan Tayman is continuing Cal Poly Baseball’s lineage of dominant catchers
After being named to D1 Baseball’s preseason Big West player of the year before the season, Alejandro Garza lived up to the hype and landed a spot on the first team. Garza led the conference in hits (83) by a large margin, finished top-five in batting average with a .337 mark and gave the Mustangs positional versatility bouncing at times between third and second base.
Nate Castellon was Garza’s partner either on the side of the infield or up the middle at shortstop and also made the first team. Castellon built on a strong freshman campaign where he was a second team nominee last year and a freshman All-American. He finished just behind Garza in batting average at .335 and in hits with 74.
Nick Bonn rounded out the Mustangs who earned first team nods. The transfer from Dallas Baptist has shined in the closer role left behind by Big-12 first team member Tanner Sagouspe. He leads the Big West in saves with 12, a mark that also ranks third in the nation.
Casey Murray Jr. took home Big West Defensive Player of the Year, along with a second team nod. He locked down center field and hit above .300 for nearly the entire season.
Despite hitting below the Mendoza line as Big West play started, Dylan Kordic roared to a .307 batting average by season’s end to earn a second team nod.
Both Carson Turnquist and Brady Estes were key arms in the Mustangs Big West title race and earned second team nods for their efforts. Turnquist was thrust into a Saturday starter role due to injuries to the rotation, opponents hit just .190 against him throughout the year. Estes was used as a bulk reliever throughout the year, holding a 3.59 ERA.
Gavin Spiridonoff, Jake Downing and Griffin Naess all earned honorable mentions from the Big West.
Spiridonoff and Downing usually occupied the right side of the infield at second base and first base respectively, both had over 12 doubles and better than a .280 batting average. Naess earned his third straight Big West honorable mention occupying the Friday starter slot for a second season in a row for the Mustangs, with a 6-4 record.
Cal Poly travels to Irvine to defend their Big West Tournament title again as the two seed. UC Santa Barbara, Hawai’i, Fullerton and UC San Diego join them, with the Mustangs taking on the Tritons to open their Big West Tournament Thursday, May 21 at 6 p.m.
