Cal Poly Baseball delivered a statement win in their home opener, beating Seton Hall 18-4 on Friday, Feb. 28 at Baggett Stadium.
Freshman outfielder Dante Vachini contributed six RBI’s in a balanced scoring attack that saw the Mustangs (3-5) score in seven out of eight innings on offense.
The Pirates (3-5) pitching staff had no answer for the scorching bats of Cal Poly, giving up 15 hits. All nine starters in the lineup for the Mustangs recorded a hit in the blowout win.
In the first true offensive explosion of the year for the Mustangs, junior catcher Jack Collins continued his success with a two-hit, three RBI performance. Senior center fielder Casey Murray Jr. also recorded two hits while sophomore third baseman Alejandro Garza contributed three RBI’s of his own.
Freshman finding his groove
Vachini, who was moved to the leadoff spot at the start of the Texas A&M series, has found a groove as a table setter for the offense.
“I like just setting the tone for our team, seeing a lot of pitches, [and] trying to get on base for the guys behind me,” Vachini said.
With how balanced the offense was from top to bottom on Friday, Vachini had several at-bats with runners on base and capitalized on such opportunities. The Cotati, Calif. native’s six RBI’s are tied for sixth all-time in the Division I era for Cal Poly.
Vachini was not a starter at the beginning of the season, but has impressed with his ability to get on base in limited playing time, and he has been rewarded with a larger role.
Being thrust into such a role as a true freshman can be a big ask, but Vachini credited the upperclassmen on the team for his calm demeanor.
“I get a lot of great leadership for my older guys, they really help me out,” Vachini said. “I just try to take a couple deep breaths and just live in the moment. Just play baseball, have fun.”
The Friday starter delivers
Sophomore right-hander Griffin Naess manned the rubber for the Mustangs tonight and delivered his best start of the young season. The Friday starter pitched seven strong innings, only allowing two hits, walking none and striking out seven.
Naess used the energy from a packed Baggett Stadium to set the tone for his start.
“When I was warming up, you just feel it’s different,” Naess said. “There’s something in the air, something about Baggett thats just amazing.”
Naess had everything working in this one, with his pitch mix keeping Pirate hitters off balance. Naess’ patented pitch, his changeup, was particularly effective.
“[Throwing] a change up in any count and then getting ahead with the fastball has been important,” Naess said.
Naess only tossed 79 pitches in the start, yet was pulled after seven. Due to the offense extending innings, Naess was sitting for a while at a time, trying to keep his arm warm. Head Coach Larry Lee decided to pull the right-hander after seven innings, not risking potential injury to his ace.
“I was basically not worried about anything other than just keeping my arm warm, because these innings were long,” Naess said. “The bats were working.”
Looking ahead
Despite a slow start to the season, it seems as if the Mustangs are finding their identity as a team.
“We started off really slow, but we’re slowly getting the pieces to our team figured out, we’re all playing better,” Naess said. “Its a good vibe.”
Playing tough competition to kick-off the year stalled the Cal Poly offense, but the team knows they are capable of putting up good numbers offensively for the rest of the season.
“Every game we go out there knowing that we can do what we did today, we know we can string a bunch of hits together,” Vachini said. “It’s gonna be a fun year.”
The Mustangs will look to extend their first win-streak of the season when they take on Seton Hall in a double-header on Saturday at Baggett Stadium.