IRVINE, Calif. — Griffin Naess exited the field after the seventh inning against UC San Diego at well over 100 pitches to his name. Under normal circumstances, you’d expect a pitcher’s night to be over — but not Naess, and not tonight.
“We knew where he was, but he passed the eye test,” Cal Poly Head Coach Larry Lee said. “He was our best option, even late in the game.”
Naess willed the Mustangs (34-21) to victory over the Tritons (24-27) in their first game of the Big West Championship tournament, a narrow 1-0 win that sets up a date with UC Santa Barbara on Friday.
WATCH NOW: Griffin Naess’ eleven strikeouts leads Cal Poly Baseball to first round win in Big West Championships
Cal Poly’s ace finished with a career-high 129 pitches over 7 2/3 scoreless innings, surrendering just two hits. The junior’s 11 strikeouts were the second-highest mark of his career, adding another big-game performance to his résumé. Thursday marked the 40th start of Naess’ collegiate career, and to Lee, it shone brighter than the rest.
“Griffin was his best, I think, I’ve seen him in the three years since he’s been here, and he’s had a lot of really quality starts for us,” Lee said.
In the other dugout, UC San Diego’s Head Coach Eric Newman was also impressed by Naess’ performance and his control of the zone.
“[He was] landing three pitches for strikes, and got us kind of off-balance,” Newman said.
Naess’ evening came to an end with two outs in the seventh and the bases full of Tritons. Reliever Nick Bonn was summoned from the bullpen, tasked with recording the final four outs. Bonn immediately induced a ground ball right to Cal Poly’s sure-handed shortstop, Nate Castellon, who made a quick flip to second to escape the jam.
In a game like Thursday’s, no fielder wants to be the one to mess up their pitcher’s line. Castellon — who knocked in the game’s only run on an infield single — credited last year’s experience with calming him down.
“It [was] a crazy game, two pitchers going at it,” Castellon said. “It’s hard not to be nervous in those situations, but last year definitely helped.”
UCSD starter Steele Murdock matched Naess every step of the way, recording 11 strikeouts of his own over 8 innings. The Mustangs were only able to muster three hits together, and all three came in the first two innings. Two of Cal Poly’s hits were of the infield variant, including Castellon’s game-winning dribbler. Murdock finished with 135 pitches and was the only Triton to pitch in the game.
“Murdock’s a high-end pitcher; he’s one of the better right-hand pitchers on the West Coast,” Lee said.
Cal Poly’s combo of Naess and Bonn was enough to outlast the Tritons in the end, but not without a scare. In the ninth, the Tritons got the tying run on board with a one-out single, and a pick-off error from Bonn moved the runner to third. An intentional walk put the go-ahead run on first base, and it was time for Bonn to lock it down. Cal Poly’s closer recorded a huge strikeout on a slider, and the Mustangs were just one out away.
Bonn’s first pitch fastball was sent deep into the left-center field gap, and the ball looked destined to find the dirt of the warning track. Out of nowhere came left fielder Dante Vachini, who reached out to make a spectacular grab, sealing the victory for Cal Poly.
The two teams’ last matchup ended in a 16-15 win for UCSD, and Thursday’s affair couldn’t have been more different. Postseason baseball is different, and each veteran coach showed immense faith in their elite starters.
Cal Poly will now seek revenge on the only Big West team to sweep them this season: UCSB. The conference co-champions will face off with a spot in the championship on the line, while the loser will face the victor of UCSD-Cal State Fullerton. The first pitch in the latest edition of the Blue-Green rivalry will come at 1:05 p.m at Cicerone Field in Irvine.