Resilient Cal Poly staves off elimination 3 times to capture Big West Championship
Mike Klan
FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal Poly won three elimination games in less than a 30-hour span to win the Big West Championship and earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Regionals.
Calvin Murray Jr. hit a 2-run homer and had a run-scoring triple as the Mustangs beat top-seed UC Irvine 6-4 to win the championship game.
The Mustangs are headed to the NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2014 and they will find out who and where they will play next during Monday’s Selection Show starting at 9 a.m. PDT.
Murray’s big hits staked the Mustangs to a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.
But Irvine, who had left 10 runners on base through the first five innings, finally got a big hit as Jacob McCombs slugged a 3-run home run to tie the game at 4 heading into the seventh inning.
But the Mustangs answered right back as Jack Collins singled in Dylan Kordic to put the Mustangs up for good.
They added an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Anteaters for the second straight game.
UC Irvine stranded 14 runners in the game.
Ryan Fenn was named the MVP of the tournament as Cal Poly improved to 41-17 on the year.