Gavin Spiridonoff played shortstop in high school. Not third base, not second base, and not first base, which are the three infield positions he’s played his freshman season at Cal Poly. In Cal Poly Baseball’s 8-5 win over CSUN on Friday, Spirdonoff manned first base while going 3-4 with three RBI at the plate.
Spiridonoff’s biggest swing came in the sixth inning, a go-ahead RBI triple, giving the Mustangs (22-18, 13-6 Big West) a lead they would not give back.
With two outs and a runner on first, Spirdonoff lifted what appeared to be a routine fly ball into center field. The Matadors’ (22-18, 11-11) center fielder hoisted both arms into the air, surrendering to the lights, giving Spiridonoff the signal to go.
“I saw him coming in, I was like, I didn’t think I hit it that bad. And then he puts his arms out, I was like ‘Oh’, I got happy, you know, started running,” Spiridonoff said.
Spiridonoff’s freshman campaign has been very productive, with his batting average creeping up towards .330.
“Yeah, you know, ups and downs. Average has gone down. It’s gone up. You know, you get hot, but [I feel] good,” Spiridonoff said. “In the fall, we get so many at bats, and you know, seeing college pitching translates.”
Griffin Naess, as usual, got the start on Friday night, faced with a tough challenge. The Matadors’ offense ranks among the best in the conference in almost every meaningful category, and they lead the Big West in runs, home runs, slugging percentage, and total bases. The gameplan for Naess didn’t change from any other opponent.
“For me, it’s just like, be me,” Naess said. “Like, know what my game is, and don’t, don’t try to play them, just try to be me.”
Naess turned in a respectable performance: three earned runs in five 1/3 innings and eight strikeouts, the second most in his career.
“I felt really good to be honest. I mean, [it] didn’t really show but they put some good swings on some missed pitches,” Naess said. “Offense picked me up in the bottom half of those innings.”
Naess was relieved by freshman left hander Brady Estes with one out in the sixth, and he took it the distance from there, allowing one run and striking out four.
“[That was] unbelievable,” Naess said. “I mean, that’s what we’ve been needing these past couple weeks, just some good relief, good shutting down their offense when we score some runs. He picked me up big time.”
Grabbing a Friday night win is always big, but in the midst of a conference race and against a formidable opponent, it means more. With UCSB and UCSD both picking up wins in their respective matchups, Cal Poly remains in a three-way tie at the top.
“We haven’t really been playing to our standard at home, so I feel like getting a good win at home is huge,” Naess said.
The Mustangs combined for 15 hits in the win and saw multi-hit games from Nate Castellon, Ryan Tayman, Dylan Kordic, Jake Downing, and Spiridonoff, a balanced effort one through nine. Cal Poly added five more doubles to its Big West-leading total, over 20 more two-baggers than second-place CSUN in the stat.