Cal Poly Baseball fell in a high-scoring, back-and-forth affair against Santa Clara by a score of 11-10 in 10 innings on Tuesday, April 25 at Stephen Schott Stadium.
The Mustangs (14-24, 8-10 Big West) have now lost three of their last four while the Broncos (20-15, 7-8 WCC) have now won back-to-back games.
Cal Poly started with a bang, as junior centerfielder Jake Steels led off the game with a home run down the right field line to kick start a three-run first inning.
Junior shortstop Aaron Casillas kept the scoring going with an RBI single, which extended his hitting streak to 18 games. Following Casillas, freshman right fielder Wyatt King kept the rally going with an RBI double, scoring Casillas and bringing the lead to 3-0.
After a scoreless second inning, Santa Clara dropped three runs of its own to tie the game up.
The Mustangs answered quickly in the fourth by loading the bases, setting up Steels for an RBI fielder’s choice to put Cal Poly up 4-3.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Broncos picked up their first lead of the game at 5-4 on a hit by pitch and an RBI groundout with the bases loaded.
Each team scored a run in their frame of the sixth, leaving the score at 6-5 in favor of Santa Clara heading into the seventh.
In the top of the seventh, Cal Poly seemed to have broken the game open with four runs courtesy of an RBI single by senior second baseman Taison Corio and a three-run homer by freshman designated hitter Evan Cloyd.
However, the Broncos scored one run in the seventh and two runs in the eighth to tie the game back up heading into the ninth inning.
After a scoreless ninth, the game headed into extra innings, Cal Poly’s fifth extra-inning game of the season.
In the top of the 10th, sophomore catcher Ryan Stafford came up clutch for the Mustangs with a solo homer to right to take a 10-9 lead into the bottom half.
Santa Clara picked up an RBI sacrifice fly in the 10th to knot things up once again before shortstop Malcolm Williams blasted a walk-off homer over the wall in left-center field, giving his Broncos the 11-10 win.
Cal Poly will return to Big West play to take on UC San Diego in a weekend series beginning on Friday, April 28 at 6 p.m. at Baggett Stadium.