Cal Poly stays undefeated in Big West as Mustangs run winning streak to 10
Mike Klan
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) – Alejandro Garza smashed a two-run seventh-inning home run 382 feet over the left-field wall to give Cal Poly its first lead and Nick Bonn earned his seventh save as the Mustangs rallied from behind for the ninth time this season in a 5-4 victory over UC Davis on Sunday inside Baggett Stadium.
Trailing 4-2, Coach Larry Lee’s Mustangs scored three times in the seventh on an RBI double off the bat of pinch-hitter Xander McLauren and Garza’s eighth career home run as a Mustang on an 0-1 pitch from Noel Valdez to overtake the upstart Aggies.
Bonn, who pitched 1 2/3 innings the day before, throwing 44 pitches, allowed a one-out hit to Trevor Howard in the ninth but nothing else for a one-inning save, thanks in part to a pair of dazzling defensive plays by the Mustangs to close the game.
With its 10th straight victory, Cal Poly clinched its third straight Big West series and improved to 8-0 in conference play and 14-7 overall by producing double-digit hits for the sixth straight game and ninth in its last 11 contests.
UC Davis fell to 9-11 (4-4 Big West).
The visiting Aggies jumped to a 3-0 lead in the second inning as Joey Wright doubled to right-center field, driving in two, and Zach Story singled down the right-field line for the third tally.
Cal Poly closed the gap to 3-2 with single runs in the second and third frames. Gavin Spiridonoff’s triple to the gap in left-center field in the second frame and Cam Hoiland’s single to left in the third made it a one-run game.
Tyler Howard homered leading off the fifth inning, his second of the year for a 4-2 UC Davis advantage, setting the stage for the heroics of McLaurin and Garza in the seventh.
Mustang starting pitcher Corden Pettey went six innings on the mound in his third career start, allowing four runs and eight hits with one walk and six strikeouts. His Whitney High School (Rocklin, Calif.) teammate, Brady Estes (2-0), earned the victory with two scoreless innings of one-hit baseball and Bonn closed it out in the ninth, giving him two saves in each of Cal Poly’s three Big West series so far this season.
In the ninth, Howard beat the throw from shortstop for an infield hit with one out before Elijah McNeal’s blooper into shallow right field was fielded on a hop by Cam Hoiland. Hoiland alertly threw the ball to second base to force Howard for the second out. Kai Mault then hit a grounder up the middle which was flagged down by Nate Castellon behind second base and he flipped the ball backward to Garza covering the bag for the final out of the game.
The loss went to Valdez (1-3), who was facing Cal Poly for a third time as a starter for UC Davis. After going 3.0 and 4.2 innings the last two years against the Mustangs, suffering losses in both games, Valdez pitched into the seventh inning Sunday and scattered a dozen hits while giving up all five Cal Poly runs.
Garza, who had four hits in Saturday’s 12-11 Mustang victory, added three more hits Sunday and is 7-for-8 with a walk in the series so far. Hoiland also finished with three hits, his hitting streak going to nine games, while Casey Murray Jr. extended his hitting streak to 11 games with two singles. Spiridonoff added a single and triple.
During the winning streak, Murray is hitting .465, Hoiland .432, Spiridonoff .429, Ryan Tayman .378, Dante Vachini .367, Nate Castellon .364, Braxton Thomas .333 and Garza .319. In conference games only, Murray sports a .514 mark, Hoiland .429, Spiridonoff .406 and Castellon .400.
As a team, Cal Poly is hitting .352 in its winning streak and .356 in Big West contests.
UC Davis was led at the plate by Howard with a home run and two singles.
Cal Poly’s 10-game winning streak, the longest for the Mustangs since the 2022 squad won 13 in a row in the final month of the season, is the third-longest active winning streak in the nation. UCLA (15) and Southeast Missouri (13) both won Sunday while Auburn saw its 12-game streak come to an end against Texas.
At 8-0, the Mustangs lead UC San Diego (5-1) by two games in the Big West standings. UC Santa Barbara, CSUN and Cal State Fullerton all sport 5-4 conference marks, tied for third place, while UC Davis (4-4) is sixth.
Final game of the series will be played Monday at 1 o’clock. Cal Poly will send junior right-hander Carson Turnquist (2-0, 1.40 ERA) to the mound against UC Davis freshman southpaw Jack Pezzolo (0-0, 0.00 ERA).
Over the last two weekends, Turnquist has pitched five or more innings in relief for victories against Hawai’i and Cal State Bakersfield. Pezzolo has pitched four scoreless innings against Texas, two scoreless frames versus UC Riverside and 2 2/3 innings without giving up a run against UC Santa Barbara, all as a starter.
(Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics)