Cal Poly Baseball grabbed their first Big West series win this past weekend against CSU Northridge in Baggett Stadium.
The Mustangs (10-9, 2-1 Big West) were very close to completing the sweep after taking the first two games of the series, but a late comeback from the Matadors (10-9, 1-2 Big West) in Sunday’s finale prevented extending their seven-game losing streak.
Timely hitting and steady pitching lead to first Big West win
With runners on first and second and no outs, redshirt junior second baseman Ryan Fenn stepped into the box looking to walk it off for the Mustangs in the bottom of the tenth inning.
Although he was coming off of a game where he recorded five hits, Fenn says he was just trying to move the runners over with two outs.
Instead, Fenn poked a grounder just by CSU Northridge’s diving second baseman scoring redshirt junior center fielder Jake Steels and securing the 5-4 win in 10 innings.
“I tried to stay on the right side and got rewarded there, and luckily Steels is fast enough to score,” Fenn said.
Friday’s game went back and forth between the two teams after the Mustangs struck first in the first inning with a two-RBI double from Fenn.
Fenn seems to be back to his old self who now boasts a .371 batting average after starting the season with a .262 average through the first 15 games.
This game came down to the wire for Cal Poly with redshirt sophomore southpaw Jakob Wright drawing the start and finishing the day with five innings pitched, allowing two earned runs and five strikeouts.
Despite the scoring being tied for most of the game, the Matadors never held a lead throughout Friday’s contest with junior southpaw Jake Torres and redshirt sophomore righty Tanner Sagouspe pitching a combined five innings in relief, only allowing one run and striking out five.
Hitting with runners in scoring position had been an issue for the Mustangs in past games this season but it was anything but as they cumulatively hit 3-for-9 in those situations.
This win marks the first Big West conference win of the season for Cal Poly and their seventh win in their last eight games after starting the season with a 2-7 record.
“We have a winning feeling right now and a lot of other teams don’t have that,” Fenn said.
Offense explodes for the third time this month
Heading into the second inning, the Mustangs and Matadors remained scoreless. With both teams having issues establishing any rhythm offensively early, it seemed that this game would be eerily similar to the matchup between these two teams the previous night: low-scoring and down to the wire.
That all changed in the bottom of the second inning once junior outfielder Casey Murray Jr. smacked a two-RBI single to center field as it was all the Mustangs needed to open up the floodgates.
That inning proved to be crucial as it established the beginning of a dominant offensive performance for the Mustangs where they would cruise to a 17-5 victory on Saturday.
With the win, the Mustangs extended their current win streak to four straight games and marked the third time this season that the Mustangs scored ten or more runs.
The Mustangs’ dominance offensively was helped by two home runs, which isn’t common considering the Mustangs are last in the Big West in home runs this season with four.
Fenn and senior shortstop Aaron Casillas led the way in RBIs Fenn with five and four, respectively.
The two infielders also hit the team’s two home runs in the game. Fenn’s first home run on the season extended the Mustangs’ lead 15-5 in the seventh inning. Casillas’ home run came in the eighth inning and was also his first homer of the year that extended the Mustangs’ lead 17-5.
Casillas has struggled this season offensively, having a .190 average on the year. Having hit his first home run of the season, Casillas was pleased with his play and attributed his successful hitting to the help of his coaches.
“Just really relieved”, Casillas said. “At the beginning of the season, I struggled a little bit. But I’ve been working hard with coach Logan [Denholm], coach [Larry] Lee and coach [Jason] Gill…just trying to get my strength back for the team”.
Fenn shared the same sentiment as his teammate saying “It felt good to finally get one”.
Casillas said the team stuck to the game plan and stayed aggressive throughout despite the dominating start to the game. He ultimately cited this as the biggest reason the team was able to build and maintain their big lead over the Matadors.
“As a team, we have a collective approach”, Casillas said. “We just stick with it throughout the entire game no matter what”.
Series sweep slips through their fingers
With a 7-4 lead going into the top of the ninth inning and Sagouspe on the mound, Cal Poly looked to complete the series sweep against CSU Northridge and put the Big West on notice.
Despite Sagouspe’s recent success, the Matadors finally broke through and strung together hit after hit in the ninth to knock Sagouspe out of the game after giving up four runs and the lead.
Freshman righty Reece Bueno relieved Sagoupse, but he couldn’t stop the bleeding as CSUN scored two insurance runs to go up 10-7 going into the bottom of the ninth.
Despite getting a run back on an RBI double from senior first baseman Joe Yorke, it wasn’t enough as the Matadors snapped their seven-game losing streak and won their first Big West game of the season.
Freshman righty Griffin Naess has seemed to earn the trust of head coach Larry Lee as he made his second straight start along with his second straight quality start, tossing five innings of three-run ball and striking out six batters.
The offense had been the issue for Cal Poly in earlier games this season as they struggled to hit with runners in scoring position but they’re far from it now. It was quite the opposite on Sunday afternoon as the Mustang bullpen gave up seven runs after Naess’ departure.
The Mustangs will continue Big West play and wrap up their homestand with a three-game set against Top 25-ranked UC Santa Barbara from Friday, March 22 through Sunday, March 24 at Baggett Stadium.