Cal Poly Baseball finished up their seven game homestand with the last Big West series against UC Davis on March 21 to 23.
The Mustangs (15-10, 9-2 Big West) had a 10 game win streak on the season heading into the final matchup against the Aggies (10-11, 5-4 Big West).
The Mustangs would take the first two games of the series, 12-11 and 5-4, before failing to complete the sweep in a 8-2 loss in game three.
While the start to conference play doesn’t match up to their 12-0 start last season, they are well on their way to another Big West Tournament appearance and a chance to defend their Big West crown.
Cal Poly outslugs Davis in series opener
Saturday is usually reserved for the second best starter in the team’s rotation, but with the shifted schedule it was instead ace day for Cal Poly as Griffin Naess matched up against the Aggies typical Saturday starter Keenan Anzai.
You could have confused it for a midweek matchup as both offenses dominated the game.
Naess got through the first two innings with relative ease before laboring in the third. UC Davis tagged him for three runs, with two extra base hits punctuated by an RBI triple with two outs.
He failed to get an out in the fourth inning with the Aggies loading the bases on two walks and a hit.
It was enough for head coach Larry Lee, who gave Naess the quick hook in favor of Chris Downs.
It was Naess’ shortest start since he started against Cal State Bakersfield his freshman year.
The Aggies would convert two of the runners Naess was responsible for, but Downs prevented disaster.
Meanwhile the Mustang offense was firing on all cylinders. They struck first with a Braxton Thomas single in the second, then piled it on with back to back multi run innings in the third and fourth.
Cal Poly got more insurance with a three-run seventh, fueled by Alejandro Garza, Cam Hoiland and Casey Murray Jr. all collecting RBI knocks.
Up 12-6 Downs turned it over to Luke Kalfsbeek after two walks in the eighth inning, and that’s where UC Davis did the most damage.
Kalfsbeek got the first hitter to strikeout before the Aggies put three singles together to bring Lee out of the dugout again, this time in favor of closer Nick Bonn.
Bonn also struggled, walking a pair of runners to bring in two runs. He eventually got out of the frame but not before giving up another run to make it a one run game 12-11.
A quiet home half of the eighth brought Bonn out to try and secure the ninth. He worked around a one-out walk to shut down the Aggies and take the series opener.
Cal Poly come from behind to take series win in day two
Sunday’s tilt saw the Corden Pettey matchup against the Aggies usual Friday starter Noel Valdez.
The Mustangs had success in the past against Valdez, but it was the Aggies who struck first in the second.
A two-out two-RBI double followed by an RBI single jumped UC Davis ahead 3-0. Gavin Spiridonoff got one run back on a run scoring triple in the home half of the second, before Cam Hoiland continued his amazing start to Big West play with an RBI single in the third.
Cal Poly continued to knock Valdez around, they collected at least one hit in each of the first five innings, but were unable to string them together to do any further damage.
Tyler Howard gave Davis an insurance run with a home run to lead off the sixth inning to make it a 4-2 game.
The Mustangs were finally able to put together hits on Valdez in the seventh.
Xander McLaurin’s pinch hit double scored Spiridonoff from first, but it was Alejandro Garza who dealt the knockout punch with a homer to left to take a 5-4 lead.
Brady Estes pitched a clean seventh and eighth innings giving up just one hit over the two innings. Nick Bonn came on for the ninth, he gave up a single but got the next two hitters out to secure his Big West leading seventh save of the season and the series win for the Mustangs.
Aggies avoid sweep Monday
The rare Monday game at Baggett saw Carson Turnquist match up against what was in essence a bullpen game for the Aggies.
Cal Poly would open the scoring with Ryan Tayman lifting a sacrifice fly to center field in the first inning. It was the first earned run against UC Davis pitcher Jack Pezzolo all season in his three appearances.
Turnquist on the other side of the ball was cruising through four innings, giving up just one walk. That changed in the fifth, where after not giving up a hit through 4 2/3 innings, Turnquist gave up a triple and single to score UC Davis’ first run of the game to tie it at 1-1.
After giving up back to back hits to open the fifth, the Mustangs turned to Josh Morano to try and keep the game level. But it wasn’t to be with runners on the corners, as former San Francisco Giants draft pick Elijah McNeal lofted his own sacrifice fly to give the Aggies the lead.
The Mustangs, as they had done all series long, responded in a hurry. Loading the bases with zero outs, Dante Vachini was the benefactor of a sacrifice fly of his own to level the score at 2-2.
A wild pitch advanced both runners 90 feet, but they would stay there as a pair of strikeouts ended the Mustang threat when it felt like they should have gotten more runs in the inning.
It would come back to bite them as UC Davis piled on runs in the seventh and eighth, jumping out to a 8-2 lead they would never relinquish.
“I think we did a great job of sticking to our approach against each starter this weekend,” Hoiland said. “His stuff played really well at the top of the zone and we did a good job of eliminating that… he just got us out and some plays went their way.”
Timely hitting both sunk the Mustangs and elevated the Aggies. Cal Poly hit just 2-11 with runners on base while UC Davis had an 8-21 mark.
Despite the setback the Mustangs are sitting pretty at the top of the Big West through three weekends, in what has turned out to be a topsy turvy start to the Big West season.
UC San Diego is in second place with a 5-1 Big West record, and four teams sit at 5-4 in conference play behind them.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the season so far is UC Irvine stumbling out of the gates to a 1-5 record in last place.
Cal Poly goes from a seven game homestand to a five game road trip starting Wednesday, March 25 at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles. They follow that up with a three game set at UC Riverside March 27 to 29.
