Despite being mathematically eliminated from Big West contention last week, Cal Poly Baseball took this weekend’s series against Long Beach State.
The Mustangs (35-22, 20-10 Big West) sent multiple seniors off on top in their final game on Saturday over the Dirtbags (25-29-1, 10-20 Big West.)
First baseman Joe Yorke, center fielder Jake Steels, shortstop Aaron Casillas and right-handed pitchers Ryan Baum and Evan Tomlinson were all honored on Senior Day by their teammates, families and fans before their final game as a Mustang on Saturday.
Cal Poly finished their season in third place in the Big West Conference behind No. 13 UC Santa Barbara and No. 14 UC Irvine.
Picking off Wright where they left off
The Mustangs took the first game of their final series of the season 8-5 against the Long Beach State Dirtbags.
The Mustangs are officially out of playoff contention after losing a three-game series against UC San Diego last weekend.
Redshirt sophomore lefty Jakob Wright took the mound for Cal Poly. Despite letting up six hits total, the Mustangs let the Dirtbags collect five runs due to some defensive mistakes.
Long Beach snuck in a run during the third inning with a sacrifice fly to take the first lead of the game. However, that run could have been prevented.
The runner advanced to second due to a passed ball and got to third with one out, which allowed him to tag home on the sac fly of the next batter to make it 1-0.
In the fourth inning, they scored three runs on three consecutive doubles by Yorke, redshirt junior second baseman Ryan Fenn and freshman third baseman Alejandro Garza.
An opposite-field home run by Long Beach State that narrowly stayed fair made it 3-2 in the top of the fifth.
The Mustangs responded with three more runs in the bottom of the inning. Fenn collected his third hit of the game with a double down the left-field line to score two.
Baum took over in the seventh inning after Wright allowed just three hits.
Jonny Rodriguez hit another home run for Long Beach, this time a two-run shot that made the score 7-4. With one out and runners on first and second, junior southpaw Jake Torres came in and shut down the inning with a strikeout and foul out.
Long Beach got away with another run in the eighth. Torres gave up a double with one out and the runner advanced to third on a balk. As a result, the runner scored on a ground ball to third base.
As the Dirtbags kept creeping up, the Mustangs continued to respond. Casillas hit a triple off the wall in the bottom of the eighth.
Long Beach played with the infield against Steels. He topped the ball with just enough juice to bounce over the pitcher’s head for a single to score Casillas.
Redshirt sophomore right-hander Tanner Sagouspe closed for the Mustangs and ended the 8-5 win on a 1-2-3 inning and two swinging strikeouts.
Mustangs’ comeback effort falls short
Cal Poly Baseball couldn’t come through when it mattered in an eighth-inning comeback attempt against Long Beach State.
The Mustangs (34-22, 19-10 Big West) dropped the second game of their final series of the year, losing to the Dirtbags (25-28-1, 10-19 Big West) by a score of 5-3.
They had loaded the bases with just one out in the frame, but an inning-ending double play dashed their hopes for late-game heroics.
Garza led the way offensively for the Mustangs, going 4-for-4 while junior catcher Ryan Stafford went 2-for-4 and added an RBI to a season total of 46.
He currently sits No. 11 in the Big West in RBIs.
The pairing of Stafford and Steels, currently hitting .368 and .381, respectively, sit third and fifth in the Big West in batting average.
The Mustangs outhit the Dirtbags on the day, but they failed to convert with runners in scoring position late in the game.
Right-handed starter Steven Brooks got the nod for his final start of the season, pitching four innings of four-run ball along with six strikeouts.
Freshman lefty Josh Voldermerg took over for the next 4 2/3 innings in relief, allowing just one run with five strikeouts.
Volmerding kept the Mustangs in contention after coming into the game with the Dirtbags having scored four runs in the previous two innings.
Mustangs cap off season in walk-off fashion
With the bases loaded and one out, sophomore designated hitter Wyatt King stepped into the box looking to play hero for the Mustangs on Senior Day.
Down 6-5 amid a ninth-inning comeback attempt, King quickly found himself down 1-2 in the count.
Cal Poly came into the eighth inning down 6-3 before coming within two runs with a Steels RBI single.
The Mustangs came within one in the ninth with a sacrifice fly from Garza, setting up King to be the hero.
King took a high offspeed pitch and belted it off the left field wall, as the largest crowd of the season at Baggett Stadium erupted with excitement and the dugout mobbed King at second base.
King finished the day 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBIs and one walk while Steels went 4-for-5 with two home runs and three RBIs.
The win capped off a 35-win season for the Mustangs, but it wasn’t enough to push them past No. 12 UC Santa Barbara and No. 13 UC Irvine for the Big West title.
On the pitching side freshman Griffin Naess drew the start and struggled, giving up six runs across 5 2/3 innings.
Freshman southpaw Christopher Downs relieved Naess in the sixth inning and only allowed one hit through his 3 1/3 innings pitched allowing the offense to complete the comeback.
Along with the five departing seniors, the Mustangs are also expected to lose Stafford and Wright to this summer’s MLB Draft, meaning a multitude of players will need to step up in their absence next season.