Senior first baseman Joe Yorke etched his name into Cal Poly Baseball history as the all-time RBI leader as the Mustangs swept UC Riverside in a three-game series.
Yorke now has 162 career RBIs and is in sole possession of the record previously held by Steve Wood.
Along with Yorke, the top half of the Mustangs’ (18-12, 9-3 Big West) batting order continued to carry the load offensively against the Highlanders (9-18, 0-9 Big West).
As the offense was firing on all cylinders in this series, a statistic to keep an eye on for the Green and Gold is their 14-2 record when they score first.
Cal Poly is now in second place in the Big West Conference with a 9-3 conference record just one game back of the first-place No. 16 UC Irvine which boasts a 10-2 Big West record.
Wright’s 11 strikeouts propel Mustangs to win
Cal Poly Baseball rebounded from a gutting extra-inning mid-week loss against San Diego State with a complete performance on both sides of the ball to come away victorious over UC Riverside.
The Mustangs continued their hot stretch of games with a dominant 9-3 win over the Highlanders in the first matchup of a three-game away series on April 5.
The Highlanders pitching staff has struggled all season, and the Mustangs capitalized early, scoring once in the first inning and piling on three more in the second behind a two-run double by redshirt junior infielder Ryan Fenn.
Redshirt sophomore lefty Jakob Wright was lights-out in his eighth start of the season, striking out a season-high 11 batters across seven innings and earning the win.
All three earned runs came in the fourth inning on back-to-back doubles, but Wright corrected course and continued his strong season.
Head coach Larry Lee called on redshirt senior Ryan Baum for the two-inning close, shutting out the Highlanders to seal the win.
Junior catcher Ryan Stafford stood out on the offensive side of the ball, going 3-for-6 and scoring twice. Senior shortstop Aaron Casillas compiled three hits and an RBI on the day.
Junior outfielder Jake Steels raised his season batting average to .400, good for fourth in the Big West, after going 2-for-4 and drawing two walks.
The Mustangs finished with nine runs despite not hitting any home runs. They have struggled to leave the yard all season, tallying just six home runs tied for last in the Big West.
Even without the long ball, their offense has seen a resurgence in recent games behind key contributions from Steels, Stafford, Fenn and others.
Bats, arms working in harmony to secure series win
Looking to build off of their momentum and take their fourth consecutive Big West Conference series, the Mustang offense and pitching staff came together to work in harmony, like they have been the past couple of weeks, to take care of the Highlanders 6-2.
Cal Poly took the lead in the first inning and never looked back after a Stafford RBI double and a two-run home run from Fenn.
Coming into this game, the Mustangs held a 12-2 record when they scored first and kept that trend going with their three-run first inning.
Junior right-handed pitcher Steven Brooks drew the start for Cal Poly and only allowed two runs through six innings of work.
Brooks was relieved by junior southpaw Jake Torres who recorded his second save of the season in three innings.
The Mustang pitching staff was the team’s strong suit before the offense broke through and has continued to impress.
After struggling to hit with runners in scoring position throughout the first nine games of the season, Cal Poly turned a corner and showed it in this game. The Mustangs hit a .364 (4-11) with runners in scoring position and will look to keep those numbers high to close out the series.
Joe Yorke sets school RBI record to complete the series sweep
Despite coming out on top in every series of conference play, Cal Poly Baseball went into game three of three against Riverside hunting their first sweep in the Big West this season.
Freshman righty Griffin Naess would get the start for the Mustangs, but it was another strong performance from the lineup that would help them take down the Highlanders 8-3 on Sunday.
Steels, Stafford, Fenn, Yorke, and freshman third baseman Alejandro Garza would all record multi-hit performances and combine for seven of the eight total runs scored Sunday.
On the season, these five are all batting over a .300 average and, heading into the game were responsible for 252 of the team’s 371 total bases.
Yorke got the Mustangs on the board early with an RBI single in the first, and in the third, he tied the record with another knock that brought in Steels.
The Highlanders responded with a run in the bottom of the third, and then a two-run blast from Anthony Mata gave them a 3-2 lead heading into the sixth.
Fenn responded quickly with an RBI single to tie the game, and next, an off-the-wall double from Alejandro Garza put Cal Poly back on top.
The Mustangs added two more runs in the eighth, and in the ninth, Yorke broke the record with a base hit that drove in two.
As a whole, the team recorded 17 hits, their fourth-highest total on the season.
The Mustangs are rolling and now find themselves second in the Big West after four conference series.
Cal Poly gets back onto the diamond by hosting Fresno State on Tuesday, April 5 in a non-conference game at 5 p.m. at Baggett Stadium.