Cal Poly Baseball opened up its long-awaited 2025 season against UCLA this past weekend at Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles.
The Mustangs (0-3) are looking to build off of their successful 2024 campaign that saw them exceed expectations, but the Bruins (3-0) have made it difficult for them to shine early in the season.
UCLA outscored Cal Poly 37-4 in the three-game set. A combination of poor pitching all around and a non-productive offense proved to be a disaster against a UCLA team that was firing on all cylinders.
Opening Day loss
Cal Poly lost their season opener on the road to UCLA on Friday, Feb. 14, by a score of 3-2 at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The Mustangs (0-1) jumped on an error by the Bruins (0-1) in the third, with true freshman shortstop Nate Castellon being the benefactor.
Head Coach Larry Lee praised Castellon for his high baseball IQ, and he looks to fill the shoes of Cal Poly’s shortstop from 2023-24, Aaron Casillas, who graduated after last season.
A double by junior catcher Jack Collins put both runners in scoring position before senior first baseman Zach Daudet squeezed in Castellon to start the scoring.
Collins is taking over the catcher position for Ryan Stafford after he manned the position from 2021-24. After Stafford was drafted in the offseason, Collins transferred in from Big West foe Long Beach State.
Senior second baseman Ryan Fenn promptly doubled in Collins to stake Cal Poly to a 2-0 lead. That extended his hitting streak to 12 games, dating back to last season.
Sophomore righty Griffin Naess got the nod for the opener and cruised through the first two frames.
Naess, the 2024 Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year, is the presumptuous ace coming into this season with the departures of last season’s Friday and Saturday starters Jakob Wright and Steven Brooks.
In the third, Naess found trouble finding the zone, walking the bases loaded before walking in one run and hitting the next batter to force in another run to tie the game at 2-2.
Sophomore right-hander Reece Bueno relieved Naess in the fifth as both teams traded scoreless frames.
Senior southpaw Jake Torres took over for Bueno and found trouble at the bottom of the seventh, giving up a pair of walks before UCLA singled in the go-ahead run. Torres recovered with a pair of strikeouts to escape the jam.
The Mustang offense was stuck in neutral, however, and finished the last two innings with just a single, losing the opener 3-2.
Collins went 2-for-4 with a double in his Mustang debut, and Bueno threw two scoreless frames in his first work this season.
Naess picked up a no-decision with four innings pitched, giving up two runs on two hits and six walks.
Mustangs routed in by Bruins on Saturday
On the heels of a close 3-2 loss on Friday, Cal Poly baseball could not keep Saturday’s game tight and ultimately fell to UCLA by a final score of 18-2.
Nothing went right for the Mustangs (0-2) in this one, as they were outclassed by the Bruins (2-0) in every phase of the game.
Just like last season, the Mustangs have started the season slow, something head coach Larry Lee said he wanted to avoid.
Sophomore left-hander Josh Volmerding got the start but was quickly chased out of the game by the relentless Bruin bats. Vomerding only lasted one inning, giving up eight hits and six earned runs.
The Mustangs used seven pitchers in the game, six giving up runs.
The only pitcher to keep the Bruins off the board was sophomore southpaw Josh Morano, who pitched one and a third scoreless innings. Morano transferred from the University of Arizona after his freshman season and is another lefty option in the bullpen.
Cal Poly’s offense tallied a respectable seven hits, but only two came with runners on and zero with runners in scoring position.
Senior infielder Zach Daudet hit a solo home run, the first homer of the year for the Mustangs. Daudet, who hit four home runs all of last season, has his first early this year.
Sophomore designated hitter Braxton Thomas contributed the other RBI. Thomas was a big story last year, hitting five home runs in just 17 games.
Thomas missed most of the season due to a knee injury, one that required surgery this offseason, but the powerful lefty is now healthy and looking to provide offensive production in the middle of the Mustangs lineup.
The Mustangs will look to salvage game three against the Bruins on Sunday.
Cal Poly dominated yet again on Sunday
A disastrous first series for the Mustangs has finally concluded, with the Bruins earning the series sweep with a 16-0 win on Sunday.
Cal Poly was outhit in the game 14-2 and 36-13 in the weekend series.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Ethan Marmie started the game for Cal Poly. He started two games as a freshman but showed enough flashes and had a good offseason to earn a spot in the weekend rotation.
With a depleted bullpen, length was needed out of Marmie. The 6-foot 7-inch right-hander struck out three in four innings of work, giving up seven runs.
The Bruins’ offense was relentless all series long and did not let up on Sunday, including nine runs in the sixth inning. Head coach Larry Lee had to dive deep into the bullpen yet again, using six pitchers in the game.
Projected closer, Tanner Sagouspe got his first action of the season and was dominant, striking out the side in one inning of work despite the score being out of hand. Sagouspe, a redshirt junior, will likely be the go-to pitcher in high-leverage spots for Lee’s staff this year.
Collins has been the most productive hitter for Cal Poly thus far, starting in all three games. Collins has four hits in his first nine at-bats as a Mustang.
The rest of the lineup will need to get going to spell their pitching staff in the early season.
The Mustangs’ next opportunity to do so will also be in Los Angeles when they visit the LMU Lions on Monday, Feb. 17.
It won’t get much easier after that as Cal Poly will travel to College Station, Texas, to take on No. 1 ranked Texas A&M from Friday, Feb. 21 through Sunday, Feb. 23.