With the first Big West Baseball Championships in 27 years looming, Cal Poly Baseball took on last-place UC Riverside in a three-game set this past weekend.
The Mustangs did not try to look ahead to the highly anticipated tournament. Instead, they swept the Highlanders in dominant fashion, looking to take their built-up momentum into this upcoming weekend.
Cal Poly will go into the tournament as the No. 2 seed with a 37-16 overall record and a 23-7 Big West record. The Mustangs finished right behind UC Irvine in the conference standings, who sported a 39-13 overall record and a 24-6 Big West record.
Cal Poly will take on No. 3 seed Cal State Fullerton in their first game of the double-elimination tournament on Thursday, May 22.
In the series, the offense got back on track as they scored 36 total runs as opposed to Riverside’s 21 runs.
Slugfest in series opener
Cal Poly Baseball started their final series of the season with an offensive slugfest victory over UC Riverside 14-9 on Thursday.
The Mustangs tallied 20 hits and drew eight walks against the battery of Highlander pitchers.
The win also marks the ninth 35-win season under head coach Larry Lee since he took over the program in 2003.
The beginning of the game saw a lot of Mustang traffic. Through the first two innings, Cal Poly had tallied four walks and a base hit, with no runs to show for it.
That changed in the bottom of the third. Sophomore third baseman Alejandro Garza uncorked a drive into the left field tree line to start the scoring, followed by an RBI single by senior designated hitter Cam Hoiland to chase Highlander starter Adrian Blanchet.
“I’m just trying to be more patient at the plate,” Garza said. “Get my pitch instead of hitting a pitch that they want me to swing at.”
Cal Poly kept their foot on the gas scoring three runs in the next frame, using a safety squeeze and a sacrifice fly to manufacture runs.
Sophomore righty Griffin Naess had been cruising throughout the first four innings, he hadn’t allowed a baserunner to that point, but in the fifth UC Riverside was able to tag him.
A walk and a pair of singles scored one, and it quickly cascaded as two more singles brought home three runners to make it a 5-4 game.
In the home half of the inning, Garza again went deep, this time with a runner on and two outs. That sparked a Mustang rally, the next three batters all collected a hit to plate another run. By the end of the fifth inning, all Mustang starters had recorded a hit.
“The way we see it we’re playing every inning as one [game]” Garza said. “I think just seeing it as a one-inning game instead of a whole nine-inning game has been the mentality for all of us and it’s been paying off.”
Naess was chased in the sixth inning, with a two-out two-RBI single knocking him out of the game. His final line was 5 ⅔ innings, with six runs on seven hits picking up the win.
Cal Poly was not done scoring, with a four-run sixth inning highlighted by two Riverside defensive miscues and a balk to plate four runners making it 12-6.
Sophomore lefty Josh Morano got the last out of the sixth inning and came out for the seventh. The Highlanders were still in the zone, as they plated another pair of runs. Cal Poly responded in the bottom of the frame with their own pair.
While UC Riverside tallied a ninth-inning blast off freshman right-hander Troy Cooper, it was inconsequential as the Mustangs won 14-9.
Collins wins series in walk-off fashion
The Mustangs plated five runs with two outs, including the winning run on junior catcher Jack Collins’ walk-off single in their 6-5 win on Friday.
Cal Poly got going early, with a two-out single from freshman Nate Castellon in the first inning to open the scoring ledger.
In the second inning senior Ryan Fenn did something he usually doesn’t do, go deep as he ambushed a first-pitch offering over the left field wall to make it 4-0.
Sophomore lefty Josh Volmerding cruised through two clean innings before Andrew Rivas broke through with a two-out double to plate two Highlanders. It was Rivas again in the fifth with a sacrifice fly to make it a 4-3 game.
Volmerding found even more trouble in the sixth, with a leadoff single cascading into runners on second and third after his own throwing error and a sacrifice bunt. But Volmerding was able to overpower the next two Highlanders, freezing one for strike three, then getting the next batter to pop out to escape the jam.
Senior center fielder Casey Murray Jr. extended the Mustang lead with his own solo shot in the bottom of the sixth to make it 5-3.
Senior lefty Jake Torres got the ball for the seventh inning, Volmerding’s final line was 6 innings, with three runs on seven hits and six strikeouts. Torres would have had a 1-2-3 seventh inning before a two-out error extended the inning.
That allowed Manoah Chapman to tie the game with a towering shot into the trees before Torres was able to get out of the frame.
The bottom of the ninth saw two quick outs before Fenn hit a single. Sophomore third baseman Alejandro Garza laced one up the middle to advance Fenn to third.
Unlike Hawai’i earlier in the season, UC Riverside decided to pitch to Collins even after first base opened up. Down 1-2 in the count, Collins looped one over the first baseman’s head and inside the line to start the celebration.
“I’m just looking for something middle away in the zone,” Collins said. “Something I can drive into right field or right-center, eventually that’s what he threw me.”
Mustangs secure sweep in blowout on Senior Day
An offensive explosion and a series sweep of UC Riverside capped off the 2025 regular season for Cal Poly baseball, winning 16-7 on Senior Day.
This was the fourth time the Mustangs had at least 20 hits in a game this season and the 18th time they’ve scored at least 10 runs.
Six Mustang hitters collected at least three hits and five different players had an RBI, a balanced attack that has been a theme all season long.
No one had a bigger game than senior Dylan Kordic, however, as the Mustang right fielder went 4-for-4 at the plate, including a massive 431’ grand slam in the fifth inning. That swing only accounted for half of Kordic’s RBI on the day, as his eight RBI tied a single-game program record.
“Glad that I’m able to do it, just blessed to be out here with the guys,” Kordic said. “They put me in a position to be able to get all those RBI.”
Ryan Fenn, a redshirt senior, playing in his last game at Baggett Stadium went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
Murray Jr. matched Kordic with four hits of his own, while Castellon, Hoiland and freshman outfielder Dante Vachini all contributed three hits each. Alejandro Garza notched his third home run of the series, and sixth of the season, 395’ over the left-field wall.
Garza’s power surge has been a notable topic as the sophomore third baseman hit zero home runs his freshman year and zero this season through the first 31 games.
Redshirt junior Luke Kovach started on the mound and made his third appearance of the season after dealing with injuries the most of the year.
The lefthander pitched three strong innings, allowing one run while striking out six. Sophomores Josh Morano and Ethan Marmie also made scoreless appearances in the win.
Doing it for the seniors
Wrapping up the regular season with a win is always a nice way to honor the seniors, and things were no different on Saturday afternoon.
Kordic, a senior who will exercise an extra year of eligibility to return to Cal Poly, understands the importance of recognizing the impact the seniors have.
“Getting the win for them today means everything, I mean they’ve given us everything,” Kordic said. “Worked hard, always been good teammates, so being able just to get a win on their last game here on home turf felt really good.”
Vachini, who collected 10 hits in the series — all singles — has often thanked the seniors and upperclassmen for the success he’s endured in his freshman campaign.
“These guys mean a lot to us. They mean a lot to me, especially,” Vachini said. “It means a lot just giving them this one for sure.”
Tournament Time
The Mustangs will now head down to Fullerton to partake in the inaugural Big West Championship Tournament.
Cal Poly will be the No. 2 seed and take on the hosts of the tournament, Cal State Fullerton, on Thursday, May 22 at 7 p.m.
“We know what it takes mentally, physically, to get there. We’re preparing. We know what teams we’re going to face. We’ve seen them,” Vachini said.
Despite the competition put in front of them, the Mustangs have had one goal in mind since the beginning of the year: winning the Big West tournament.
“Since the beginning of the year, we knew that winning the tournament was the goal,” Kordic said. “We knew that’s what we had to do to be able to continue to go.”
