Griffin Naess’ 2026 season in some ways was a step back from his first two seasons in the Green and Gold. His ERA jumped almost two runs and he had a 2-4 record coming into the Big West tournament, a far cry from his 12-2 record coming into the year.
The thing that never escaped Naess was his big game pitching. Last year he opened the Big West tournament by shutting down Fullerton, then followed it up with a dominant but unlucky outing against Arizona where he gave up just two hits over seven innings.
This season, he christened the home opener at Baggett Stadium with a 14 strikeout, one hit performance over seven innings. He outdueled Steele Murdock after Murdock dominated UC Santa Barbara to take first place in the Big West.
Is it any surprise that he rose to the occasion yet again?
Tabbed as the game one starter, the first of potentially five games, Naess pitched the game of his career.
Don’t believe me? Ask Head Coach Larry Lee.
“That was the best I’ve seen him in the three years he’s been here. He’s had a lot of quality starts for us in a lot of big ballgames,” Lee said. “I think the setting of tonight, he took it to another level.”
Naess threw 129 pitches, a ludicrous amount, and was only pulled once he had loaded the bases with a 1-0 lead. He gave up just two hits, walked three and struck out 11 batters. Cicerone Field looked like a nice summer day at Lopez Lake, UC San Diego was more often than not fishing at curveballs and changeups below the zone. Most importantly he did what aces do, and that’s win tight games.
I would be remiss to wax poetic about Naess and not do the same for his dance partner Steele Murdock, who deserved better than being on the wrong end of a top tier pitching duel. He kept the Mustangs bats off balance, for every zero Naess put up Murdock answered.
Except for the second inning. Cal Poly got two runners on and Nate Castellon ripped a hard hit grounder that traveled about 50 feet in between Triton defenders.
The Mustangs got their run on what could be generously described as a Baltimore Chop, but with the game on the line the San Diego’s pinch hitter from the previous inning rocketed it into the left center gap. A hit that if it was just ever so slightly more in the gap would have likely gotten down and given the Tritons the lead. That’s the way baseball goes, the game of inches cliche was true Thursday night.
Winning every game 1-0 is not sustainable, but Cal Poly probably won’t see another grade-A ace the rest of the postseason. Jackson Flora went against Fullerton, and is likely done for the rest of the tournament.
Naess outdueled Murdock in game one, now it’s on the offense to hold up their end of the bargain the rest of the way. This is a team that has relied on their hitting to power their winning ways, once they figure it out offensively this team can go a long way the rest of the season.
