Already up 16-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning, redshirt junior second baseman Ryan Fenn came up to the plate with a runner on first and one out with a chance to become part of program history.
Fenn pulled a high and inside 1-0 fastball down the left field line, scoring senior center fielder Jake Steels from first base and anchoring down at second for a double.
Fenn might not have realized it then, but he became the 20th Cal Poly baseball player in their Division I history to record five hits in just one game.
Despite this achievement and being just a home run away from hitting for the cycle, Fenn seemed more concerned about getting the win.
“I’m just happy to see I can put together five hits, [and] help our team get a good win,” Fenn said.
Fenn would’ve been the first player ever in Cal Poly’s baseball history to hit for the cycle and came close to becoming just the third player in Cal Poly history to record six hits in one game, but he’d rather take the 19-7 win over UNLV on Wednesday night instead.
This was the second time this season that the Mustangs (8-8) have scored 19 runs this season, while the Rebels (9-7, 2-4 Mountain West) pitching staff struggled to record outs.
Cal Poly started the game off aggressively, scoring seven runs in the first inning and never looking back.
Fenn finished the day 5-for-6 with two RBIs while Steels and senior first baseman Joe Yorke both recorded three hits in three at-bats with four RBIs each.
Freshman southpaw Christopher Downs drew the start pitching three innings of three-run ball, but the Mustangs still used six different pitchers to get through the contest.
Rounding out the non-conference schedule with a win like this is big for the team and Fenn knows they can do some damage in the Big West.
“I think we all feel confident in our ability offensively, defensively and pitching-wise that we can go and dominate [the] conference how we have been these past couple of weeks,” Fenn said.
The Mustangs will look to start Big West play strong as they welcome the CSU Northridge Matadors for a three-game series this Friday, March 15 through Sunday, March 17 at Baggett Stadium.