In their final non-conference series of the season, Cal Poly Baseball took three out of four games from Utah Tech, preparing them for two more crucial Big West matchups.
The Mustangs (31-19, 17-7 Big West) took the series over the Trailblazers (13-39, 9-18 WAC) behind timely hitting and steady pitching.
The weekend series didn’t affect Cal Poly’s Big West record, but the Mustangs currently sit in third place in the conference behind second-place No. 15 UC Irvine and first-place No. 22 UC Santa Barbara.
Cal Poly took two out of three against both teams earlier in the season, meaning they hold tiebreakers over the Gauchos and Anteaters should the situation arise.
However, the Mustangs are one game behind UC Irvine and three games back of UC Santa Barbara. So the Green and Gold would need help from other Big West teams to push Cal Poly over the top.
Wright cruises through eight while offense stays hot
Redshirt sophomore lefty Jakob Wright trotted back to the mound in the eighth inning with 91 pitches through seven innings pitched.
Despite giving up a single to the second batter that inning, head coach Larry Lee trusted his ace and let Wright finish the inning.
Wright would go on to strikeout the next two batters he faced, capping the inning off with a swinging strikeout with a slider in the dirt.
“If I just fill up the zone with all my pitches, it’s going to be a long night for the hitters,” Wright said.
Wright’s eight innings of one-run ball and nine strikeouts helped propel Cal Poly over Utah Tech on Friday, May 10.
“He was good, a lot of quality pitches,” Lee said. “Sets the tone on a Friday night.”
True freshman designated hitter Braxton Thomas smacked a sacrifice fly in the first inning to put the Mustangs on the board first.
This was the first time Thomas hit in the three-hole all season after usually hitting sixth or seventh in the lineup.
Coach Lee says this series allowed him to play with the lineup a little more because of the lower stakes of a non-conference series.
“This weekend is the time to experiment if there’s any experimenting going on,” Lee said.
Redshirt junior second baseman Ryan Fenn tacked onto the lead with a solo home run in the second inning.
Despite hitting into a triple play in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Mustangs scored runs in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth to secure the 7-2 victory.
Mustangs just edge out Trailblazers in game one of doubleheader
The Mustangs continued the series by taking a 3-2 victory over the Trailblazers in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. The game marked their sixth consecutive win against Utah Tech.
Unlike Friday’s win, the Mustangs took a while to get going offensively. They managed to rack up five hits across the game’s first three innings, but couldn’t capitalize on any of their opportunities, leaving all five men on base.
It wasn’t until the fourth inning that Cal Poly finally scored the game’s first run, courtesy of Thomas
Thomas continued the white-hot start to his college career by launching a 455-foot home run to right center field. The blast marked his fifth of the year, giving him the second most on the team in only his ninth game of the season.
After allowing just one hit and tallying three strikeouts through the first four innings, Mustang junior starter Steven Brooks began to falter.
Brooks faced just three batters in the fifth, loading the bases with an out yet to be recorded. Coach Lee made a pitching change, bringing on junior reliever Jake Torres.
Though Brooks only allowed one hit he struggled for control all game, giving up six walks while hitting three batters and recording only three strikeouts over his four innings.
The Trailblazers capitalized on the bases-loaded situation scoring their first run on a fielder’s choice. A balk from Torres the very next at-bat brought the runner on third base across home plate, giving Utah Tech a 2-1 lead without having recorded a hit in the inning.
Once again, though, it was Thomas who came through for the Mustangs tying the game at 2-2 with an RBI groundout. Two batters later, freshman third baseman Alejandro Garza ripped a single back up the middle, scoring senior first baseman Joe Yorke and re-gaining the lead for the Mustangs at 3-2.
Torres cruised through the next two innings, and junior closer Tanner Sagouspe secured the win for Cal Poly in the ninth, picking up his seventh save of the year.
The bullpen once again proved to be the hero for the Mustangs, and it was Torres who had the game’s most heroic effort. He thought the reason for his strong outing was a rather simple one.
“Just going after the hitters… I think [that was] the biggest thing,” he said. “When you fall behind in counts, you gotta give them good pitches to hit. So [the key was] just staying ahead, and then making my pitch and trusting in the process.”
However, Torres felt that with the team entering the season’s home stretch, a win like that was exactly the kind they needed.
“I think it’s super important, especially from a pitching perspective… showing the offense that if they’re struggling, we can pick them up sometimes.”
On Saturday, Torres once again delivered a stellar outing in a high-leverage situation, earning his second win of the year in the process; 4 innings pitched, four strikeouts, and no hits, walks, or runs allowed.
Offense struggles as Mustangs split doubleheader
Despite another strong effort from the bullpen Cal Poly’s offense struggled in the doubleheader’s nightcap, and the Mustangs suffered their first-ever loss to Utah Tech by a score of 6-2.
Head coach Larry Lee was extremely blunt in his assessment of his squad’s performance—or lack thereof—when asked what the positives from Saturday’s pair of games were.
“We just haven’t played well this entire series,” Lee said. “I understand it’s a non-conference series, and the intensity level… is at a higher level [in conference play], but we’ve just come out flat.”
Utah Tech jumped out to a 1-0 first-inning lead. But, like they had done all series long, the Mustangs immediately responded in their half of the inning.
Yorke added to his school-record RBI total by punching the ball back up the middle for a two-RBI single, giving Cal Poly the lead.
With a runner on second and two outs, freshman starter Josh Volmerding looked to escape the jam.
Instead, the very next pitch he threw was smoked the other way for a game-tying RBI double, and after a passed ball during the next at-bat, the Trailblazers took a 3-2 lead.
Utah Tech didn’t falter, chasing Volmerding from the contest, taking a 5-2 lead in the third inning.
Volmerding was charged with his first loss of the year, lasting just 2 2/3 innings while allowing six hits and five runs, in addition to striking out three batters and walking two.
The Trailblazers would tack on one more run in the fifth inning off of sophomore reliever Charlie Royle, who was the only other pitcher used by Cal Poly.
While the Mustang offense stalled, Royle went 6 1/3 innings, allowing just four hits and one run, while striking out two batters.
Both Royle and Torres gave Cal Poly much-needed length out of the bullpen on Saturday. But, as consistent as the Mustang offense has recently been, they ran out of gas in the nightcap.
“Offensively, I thought we hit it well [in both games]. A lot of balls hit hard, just right at guys,” Ryan Fenn said. “We just didn’t piece it together that much in the second game.”
Individually, it was junior catcher Ryan Stafford (2-2 with a double, a run scored, and two walks), Yorke (1-4 with two RBIs), and Fenn (2-4 with a double and a run scored) who led the way for Cal Poly.
Cal Poly’s offense wakes up to complete series win
Cal Poly Baseball found a rhythm on both sides of the ball, in Sunday’s 8-1 win over Utah Tech to close out the series win.
Freshman starter Griffin Naess led the way for the Mustangs with a stellar outing. Naess went seven innings without allowing a single run and striking out seven Trailblazers.
Similar to Friday’s contest, the Mustangs struck first with a sacrifice fly in the second inning off the bat of junior outfielder Zach Daudet.
Cal Poly tacked on four runs in the fourth inning to take a commanding 5-0 lead before scoring three more runs in the fifth inning.
Fenn led the way in the leadoff spot for the Mustangs finishing the day 3-for-5 with one RBI. Daudet also tacked on two hits and three RBIs.
Cal Poly will look to take this momentum into two crucial Big West Conference series against UC San Diego and Long Beach State.
The Mustangs sit in third place in the Big West behind No. 22 UC Santa Barbara and No. 15 UC Irvine.
Despite holding head-to-head tiebreakers over the Gauchos and Anteaters, Cal Poly will need some help from their opponents as they sit three games back of first-place UC Santa Barbara.
Before enduring their most crucial stretch of the season, the Mustangs will travel to Malibu, CA to take on Pepperdine in a mid-week non-conference matchup on Tuesday, May 14 at 3 p.m.
