Cal Poly Baseball clinched a series victory over CSUN in their three-game set this past weekend.
With the win and a Cal State Fullerton loss, the Mustangs (34-16, 20-7 Big West) have officially clinched second place in the Big West.
Up three games on Fullerton, while holding the tiebreaker with just three games to play, the Mustangs have solidified their place in the standings. Cal Poly will compete in the Big West tournament as the two-seed, with their first game on May 22 at 7 p.m.
Offensive domination on Friday
Cal Poly Baseball started their final road series of the season with a 17-1 dominant victory over CSU Northridge on Friday, May 9.
The Mustangs locked up a top-3 spot in the Big West tournament with their victory over the Matadors.
It was a thorough demolition of the Matadors on both sides of the ball.
Sophomore righty Griffin Naess scattered eight hits and a walk in his quality start. He went six scoreless innings, striking out three.
Redshirt junior Luke Kovach struck out the side in his scoreless frame and freshman Troy Cooper also put up a zero on the board.
The Matadors got a run across in the ninth on an RBI groundout, but junior Erik Kvidahl had no problem protecting the 17-run lead he was given to close out the game.
Riding the momentum from a seven-run eighth inning against Pepperdine, Cal Poly scored all 17 of their runs before the sixth inning was finished.
Senior infielder Zach Daudet got the party started three pitches into the game with a lead-off homer and followed it up with an RBI single in the second.
Senior second baseman Ryan Fenn followed it up with a double to score two and jump out to a 4-0 lead.
Senior center fielder Casey Murray Jr. also had an RBI double in the next frame, before the Mustangs started to pour it on in the fourth inning.
A four-run fourth inning was punctuated by junior catcher Jack Collins scoring on a wild pitch after an RBI double by freshman shortstop Nate Castellon to push the lead to 9-0.
The sixth inning saw eight Mustang runs cross the plate, with three bases-loaded walks sprinkled in with four RBI singles by Cal Poly.
Cal Poly emptied their bench during and after that frame with junior Xander McLaurin and freshman Jake Downing both collecting hits off the bench.
Mustangs drop game 2 in back and forth battle
Cal Poly Baseball lost a back-and-forth battle against CSU Northridge on Saturday, May 10 at Matador Field 11-6.
After a 14-1 start to conference play the Mustangs (33-16,19-7 Big West) have gone 5-6 in the back half of the conference slate. The Matadors (14-31, 9-17 Big West) will look for their third straight Big West series win on Sunday.
The homers were flying throughout the night. Collins hit his 12th home run of the season to open up the scoring in the fourth, while freshman left fielder Dante Vachini led off the fifth with his own solo shot to tie the game at 2-2.
Collins would whack a double later in the frame to plate two runs and take a 4-2 lead.
The difference in the game would come in the home half of the fifth.
The Matadors plated three runs with two outs before an error extended their inning, allowing for Matthew Pena to smash a three-run homer to break the game open 8-4.
Senior second baseman Ryan Fenn responded with an RBI single in the next inning, but the Mustangs were unable to gain any real traction against Ryan Halamicek in relief and lost 11-6.
Cal Poly was able to collect 13 hits throughout the game but largely were scattered aside from the fourth inning.
Sophomore lefty Josh Volmerding got tagged with the loss, giving up eight runs (five earned), on 10 hits in 5 ⅔ innings pitches.
Senior right-hander Tanner Sagouspe was first out of the pen, giving up three runs in an inning of work. Sophomore lefty Josh Morano pitched 2 ⅓ scoreless innings to stop the Matador attack.
Mustangs clinch series and postseason berth
After winning in blowout fashion on Friday, it seemed as if the Matadors (14-32, 9-18) were no match for the Mustangs.
After CSUN stole game two, the Mustangs were in danger of losing a series to the ninth-ranked team in the Big West. In game three, the Matadors gave the Mustangs a serious scare, taking the lead back early and getting the deficit to one in the eighth inning.
As has been the case all season long, the offense was able to keep pace with the opposing side, even with Mustang pitching surrendering 15 hits.
On a day that Ethan Marmie usually gets the start, Cal Poly went with a bullpen game, using just three pitchers to cover nine innings.
Luke Kalfsbeek got the start but was unable to get out of the second inning, allowing four runs. His successor, Chris Downs, did a fantastic job in 4 1/3 frames, giving up just one run on two hits. Jake Torres was the third and final left-hander to pitch in the win and covered the last three innings.
Torres gave up four runs, all in the eighth inning, bringing the Matadors to within one run. Torres was able to shut the door with a scoreless ninth, collecting a save.
The Mustangs’ offense had 14 hits of their own, with every starter collecting a hit, something that has happened multiple times this season, a testament to their balanced lineup.
Daudet collected three hits in the lead-off spot, including a solo shot in the second inning. Murray Jr. also homered in the win, a two-run blast to give Cal Poly the lead in the third.
Mustang hitters only had six RBIs despite scoring 10 runs, as four runs scored on errors and wild pitches.
The Matadors had three errors in the game, and the Mustangs made sure to take advantage of the extra outs. Cal Poly needed every run that they got on Sunday, and sloppy play from CSUN made that possible.
Cal Poly will now return home for their last series of the year, facing last-place UC Riverside, a good chance to grab more momentum before postseason play. Game one of the series will kick off on Thursday, May 15 at Baggett Stadium.
