Cal Poly rallies to eliminate host Oregon at Eugene Regional
Mike Klan
EUGENE, Oregon. – Casey Murray Jr, drove in three runs in a 4-for-4 day at the plate in his first start as Cal Poly’s clean-up hitter while Jake Torres pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief for the win as Cal Poly defeated Oregon 10-8 in an elimination game of the NCAA Eugene Regional baseball tournament Saturday at PK Park.
Oregon, the host for the four-team event and the top seed, belted five home runs and outhit Cal Poly 14-11, but let an 8-5 lead get away as the No. 12 national seed ranked No. 5 by D1Baseball.com this week, surrendered four runs in the seventh inning and one more in the eighth. Oregon finishes the year 42-16.
Now 42-18 for the year, Coach Larry Lee’s Mustangs will play Utah Valley (33-28) in another elimination game Sunday at 3 p.m. The Wolverines fell 14-4 to Arizona in Saturday’s winners’ bracket final. The championship final will be played Sunday at 7 o’clock, with the “extra” game of the double-elimination event, if necessary, set for Monday.
Murray led off an inning three times and responded with two singles and a solo home run in the sixth inning, his ninth of the year, which pulled the Mustangs to within 6-5.
He came up again in the seventh with the bases loaded and knocked in two runs with a single to left field. tying the game at 8-8. Cam Hoiland snapped the deadlock with an RBI single down the right-field line.
Zach Daudet added an insurance un in the eighth inning for Cal Poly with his eighth home run of the season, a solo blast to left-center field, giving the Mustangs a 10-8 cushion.
Torres (5-4) struck out all three Oregon batters in the ninth to nail down the victory. He secured seven outs, allowing two hits and a pair of walks with four total strikeouts.
The loss was charged to Duck southpaw Ian Umlandt (6-2) as he allowed the final three runs of the seventh inning.
Neither starter was involved in the decision. Cal Poly’s Josh Volmerding, who retired the first seven Ducks of the game, gave up six runs and nine hits over 5 2/3 innings with one walk and five strikeouts while Oregon’s Grayson Grinsell, who entered the game with a 2.62 ERA and a 9-3 record, allowed six runs and seven hits over six innings with a walk and two strikeouts.
In addition to Murray’s four hits, Dante Vachini contributed a pair of doubles while Daudet also had two hits. Dominic Hellman and Jeffery Heard each had three hits for Oregon.
Cal Poly jumped to a 2-0 lead on Dylan Kordic’s seventh home run of the year, a two-run shot to right-center field, in the second inning. Vachini doubled down the right-field line and came home on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Fenn for a 3-1 advantage in the third frame.
Vachini also hit a ground-rule double to left-center in the fifth and trotted home as Fenn extended his hitting streak to 20 games with a run-scoring single to left.
Murray’s first single of the game leading off the second inning stretched his hitting streak to 17 games.
Kordic earned his seventh and eighth outfield assists of the season to thwart a couple Oregon rallies. The senior right-fielder gunned down Maddox Molony trying to stretch a single into a double in the sixth inning and threw out Mason Neville trying to go from first to third on Jacob Walsh’s single in the eighth frame.
With 11 hits, Cal Poly has produced double-digit hits in 39 of its last 53 contests.
Utah Valley, which upset Oregon 6-5 on Friday, finished tied for third place in the Western Athletic Conference standings at 13-11 and went 4-0 in the WAC Championships at Mesa, Ariz. with victories over Texas-Arlington, Sacramento State and Abilene Christian twice.
The Wolverines, who will move to the Big West on July 1, 2026, and Mustangs have played four games against each other. Cal Poly swept a three-game series against Utah Valley in early March 2021 at Baggett Stadium and also earned an 8-6 triumph in a tournament in 2010 at Surprise, Ariz.
Utah Valley is competing in its second NCAA Division I postseason, finishing 0-2 in the Baton Rouge Regional in 2016, falling to LSU and Southeastern Louisiana.
Top Wolverine hitters are center fielder Jayden Smith (.389, 15 doubles, 41 RBIs) and catcher Mason Strong (.373, 19 doubles, 11 home runs, 67 RBIs). Strong was named WAC Tournament MVP after going 7-f0r-20 with two home runs and seven RBIs.
Starting on the mound against Cal Poly will be sophomore southpaw Jacob Heppner, who sports a 4-3 win-loss record and 6.47 ERA with 57 strikeouts over 57 innings. He was named WAC Pitcher of the Week in early April after tossing a seven-inning shutout against Utah Tech.
Cal Poly will counter with junior lefty Luke Kovach (1-0, 5.68 ERA), who has appeared in four games on the mound this season, including a three-inning stint for a victory against UC Riverside on May 17.
Nate Rasmussen is in his first season as head coach at Utah Valley after serving three seasons as a Wolverine assistant coach. He also has coached at Northern Colorado, Pacific (Oregon) and Puget Sound.
(Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics).