LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Gavin Spiridonoff says he doesn’t remember anything about his at-bat in the sixth inning.
“I think I blacked out. I didn’t really remember it. Don’t remember the swing at all.”
It’s a good thing that his teammates and Cal Poly supporters across the globe can remind Spiridonoff of that at-bat, because they will never forget his home run that powered the Mustangs to a 5-2 victory and a spot in the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament.
WATCH NOW: Cal Poly Baseball beats Saint Mary’s to clinch first NCAA Super Regional berth in program history
It’s the first time that Cal Poly (39-22) have advanced to Super Regionals in program history.
Saint Mary’s (36-27) matched up against Cal Poly for the second day in a row, having eliminated the national No. 1 seed UCLA just hours prior on a walkoff.
For a while it looked like a repeat of the Big West Tournament, where Cal Poly lost to a UC San Diego squad who were playing back-to-back games.
The Gaels jumped ahead on an RBI double in the second, then added on to their lead in the third.
Meanwhile the Cal Poly offense couldn’t get anything sustained.
They got one back in the fifth as Nate Castellon knocked in one run, but still were chasing the game.
Battling back from an injury that cost Josh Volmerding most of the regular season, he was doing everything he could to keep Cal Poly in it. After giving up those two runs, he buckled down and locked up Gael hitters the rest of the way. He finished six innings of work with two runs on five hits and seven strikeouts.
“It’s been slow, took some time off, just ramping up those pitches every week, getting back in the swing of things,” Volmerding said. “Tonight it all just clicked. It happened to be at the right time.”
When Volmerding got out of a jam in the fifth inning with a huge strikeout to keep the deficit at one, it felt like the Mustangs had to score.
“They play hard, they play the game the right way,” Head Coach Larry Lee said. “They’re very resilient, they have learned just to take the emotion out of it, unless the emotion is on our side… They do a lot of things that really good teams do. They have those qualities in them.”
It started with Ryan Tayman, whose program record tying 18th home run of the year would be the headline news on any other day, exited stage left to tie the game up at two and force a pitching change.
On for Saint Mary’s was David Robert, fresh off of earning the win with a scoreless 10th inning against UCLA.
Quickly Cal Poly got two runners on, and brought Spiridonoff to the plate.
The only freshman to be a consistent starter in the Mustangs lineup had poise beyond his years, taking two pitches outside of the zone before sending the third sailing through the Los Angeles night.
“Having these coaches, they prepare you. I mean, Coach Lee is out there so much with us throughout the fall, making sure we’re all ready,” Spiridonoff said. “My name was called earlier in the year, and I got to stick with it.”
Alejandro Garza also placed his name atop the Cal Poly record books, with his 253rd career hit in the seventh inning of the game.
Corden Pettey was called upon for a scoreless seventh frame, but with two on and no one out in the eighth was lifted in favor of closer Nick Bonn.
Facing runners on the corners and no one out, Bonn wiggled his way out of it, with a 5-4-3 double play ending the last threat the Gaels would have.
After the theatrics of the eighth, Bonn went 1-2-3 in the ninth to send the Mustangs through to the Super Regionals.
It’s taken Coach Lee 24 years at Cal Poly to advance past the Regional stage, if you add on his 16 years at nearby Cuesta College he’s spent 40 years helming a San Luis Obispo college baseball team.
“A lot of hard work over the years,” Lee said. “Representing San Luis Obispo County, representing Cal Poly, it’s a pretty, pretty great moment. So, there’s a lot of emotion that goes in it for me.“
Cal Poly still awaits their dance partner in the Super Regional, Kentucky and West Virginia play Monday in a winner take all game. If West Virginia wins then the Mustangs will head to Morgantown, but if Kentucky wins then the Mustangs could potentially host the Wildcats next week June 5-8 in a best of three to advance to the College World Series.
