Cal Poly Baseball wrapped up their second Big West Conference series with an upset against Blue-Green rival and No. 25 UC Santa Barbara on Sunday, taking two out of three games.
After starting the year off 2-7, the Mustangs (12-10, 4-2 Big West) are since 10-2 and are right in the mix at the top of the Big West Conference, while the Gauchos (13-7, 4-2 Big West) will likely fall out of the Top 25 rankings.
The series win for Cal Poly marks their first against UC Santa Barbara since 2019 and their first at home since 2018.
Wright reaches career-high strikeouts, offense remains hot
The Mustang looked to build off of their momentum from their first Big West Conference series win of the season last weekend against CSU Northridge.
That they did with an 8-3 upset win on Friday night against the No. 25 ranked, and Blue-Green rival UC Santa Barbara.
Redshirt sophom*ore southpaw Jakob Wright drew the start in Friday’s contest and struck out a season-high 10 Gaucho batters over 5 1/3 innings while only allowing two runs.
As Cal Poly’s Friday starter, Wright has had a breakout season as he currently sports a 2.84 ERA, earned run average, through his first six starts, and continued his stellar season on Friday.
It was tightly contested in the early innings as Cal Poly held a 2-0 lead going into the fifth inning.
The Mustangs added to that lead with an RBI groundout from redshirt junior second baseman Ryan Fenn and an RBI single from senior first baseman Joe Yorke to take a 4-1 lead heading to the sixth inning.
Fenn missed the first series of the season due to a hamstring injury and struggled when he did return, but he has bounced back and is currently on a 15-game hitting streak.
The Mustangs would hold on to that lead for the rest of the game as they added some insurance runs in the sixth and eighth innings before redshirt sophom*ore righty Tanner Sagouspe recorded the save in the ninth to secure the 8-3 win.
Wright’s performance combined with the Mustangs’ red-hot offense led to their win against the Gauchos as they looked for the same in game two.
Back and forth shootout ends in disappointment
Down one run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, senior shortstop Aaron Casillas had the chance to walk it off for Cal Poly.
Casillas had been struggling mightily at the plate only mustering a .155 batting average through the team’s first 17 games of the season. Casillas had begun to find his footing in Friday’s game by recording three hits.
It seemed Casillas was the perfect man to get the job done down 9-8 in the bottom of the ninth with two outs.
Casillas put the second pitch he saw into the air towards right field, but it was caught for the second out of the inning.
Luckily enough for Casillas, the ball went deep enough for sophom*ore outfielder Tate Shimao to tag up from third, score on the sacrifice fly and tie the game at nine apiece.
The game would go into extra innings until UC Santa Barabra broke through in the top of the 12th inning where they scored up two runs before shutting the door on the Mustangs.
Despite this offensive effort from Cal Poly and a great late-inning performance from Sagouspe, the Mustangs still dropped game two against their Blue-Green rival UC Santa Barbara 11-10.
The contest saw the Mustangs down 5-0 through the first four innings before Cal Poly finally broke through in the fifth inning thanks to a two-RBI double from junior catcher Ryan Stafford and an RBI from Fenn.
The Mustangs responded to a Gacuho run in the sixth inning that saw Cal Poly score five runs and take an 8-6 lead courtesy of RBIs from Casillas, Stafford, Fenn and junior outfielder Dylan Kordic.
UC Santa Barbara would not go quietly, however, as they retook the lead in the seventh inning with three runs of their own.
Sagouspe took over for freshman lefty Caden Pearlman in the seventh inning before he pitched 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief while striking out eight Gauchos.
The Mustangs would force extra innings in the bottom of the ninth with the Casillas sacrifice fly before junior lefty Jake Torres relieved Sagouspe and allowed the game-losing runs.
Sagouspe and Torres have undoubtedly been used the most by head coach Larry Lee out of the bullpen with 20 2/3 and 25 innings pitched for both of them.
Without seemingly another reliable bullpen arm to go to, Lee will have to use those two more than he would like.
First series win over a Top 25 opponent
The Mustangs wrapped up their homestand on Sunday by cruising to their third straight series victory, pulling out the upset over the No. 25 Gauchos in a 6-3 win.
Sunday’s victory puts the Mustangs into a four-way tie for second place in the Big West.
As was the case for much of the season the Mustang offense struck first, and did so in the game’s opening inning. Stafford ripped a one-out single through the left side and moved to third thanks to a Fenn first-pitch single through the same spot. On the very next pitch, Yorke reached on a fielder’s choice, bringing Stafford home for the game’s first run. Stafford’s run made “Big Joe” just the fourth player in program history to record 150 career RBIs, bringing him closer to Steve Wood’s program record of 160.
Despite the Green and Gold grabbing the first-inning lead, the Gauchos immediately responded, tying the score in the second inning on Jessada Brown’s two-out, solo home run off of Mustang freshman starting pitcher Griffin Naess.
The 1-1 tie didn’t last long, however, as the Mustangs scored multiple runs in the second inning, this time bringing home four different runners and chasing Gaucho starter Reed Moring after just 1 2/3 innings.
Back-to-back walks by Kordic and sophom*ore designated hitter Evan Cloyd started the rally, as Casillas moved both men into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Junior left fielder Cam Hoiland scored Kordic via a sacrifice fly to left, and senior center fielder Jake Steels continued his white-hot offensive season by tallying an RBI single to right that brought home Cloyd.
The Mustangs weren’t done, as Stafford notched his second hit with a double to right-center to bring the speedy Steels home. Stafford scored just four pitches later, thanks to an RBI double from Fenn that brought the Mustang lead to 5-1 as it was a lead Cal Poly didn’t relinquish. Gaucho runs in the fifth and eighth innings never led to any sustained momentum, and thus the Mustangs were able to complete the eventual 6-3 win in a game that lasted just 2 hours and 33 minutes.
On the scorecard, Naess gave up five hits and two earned runs, but also recorded six strikeouts and walked just two. Freshman reliever Josh Volmerding picked up his first save of the year in 2 2/3 innings.
Fenn extended his hitting streak to 17 straight games while it seems Casillas has finally found his footing this season.
Casillas has built off that performance and has since raised his batting average to .234 at the end of this series.
Up next, Cal Poly will look to continue their strong start to Big West play when kick off their first road series of the conference schedule, visiting the CSU Fullerton Titans at Goodwin Field on Thursday, March 28, at 6 P.M.
