College Baseball: UCSB, Cal Poly and Westmont all win
Mike Klan
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) –
Big West Baseball:
UCSB 4, Bakersfield 3: The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (29-15, 15-8 Big West) relied on two veteran leaders to get across the line Saturday night at Cal State Bakersfield (18-27, 9-14 Big West), with four-year Gaucho Corey Nunez driving in three of his team’s four runs and Santa Barbara native Chase Hoover locking down a five-out save to secure the 4-3 victory. Nunez’s three hits and three RBIs are both season highs, with Hoover’s save his joint-team-leading fourth of the year.
HOW IT HAPPENEDThe Gauchos did all the damage they needed to do early, getting on the board with their first two plate appearances of the night. Liam Barrett walked, took second on a wild pitch, third on a failed pickoff attempt, then home on Nunez’s RBI double. Nunez would advance to third, then score on Rowan Kelly’s sacrifice bunt.
The Roadrunners responded with a solo home run off of Gaucho starter Calvin Proskey in their half of the first, but that would be all. Noah Karliner helped preserve Santa Barbara’s 2-1 lead with a laser beam throw from right field, cutting down Bakersfield’s lead runner trying to reach third base.
Even better, the Gauchos got that run back in the top of the second. Xavier Esquer punched a single through the left side of the infield, then made a good read on a ball in the dirt to get to second base, setting him up to score on Nunez’s RBI single.
Nunez was involved again when Santa Barbara extended its lead to 4-1 in the fourth, with Barrett’s one-out single preceding yet another RBI double for the Gaucho shortstop.
Proskey made that lead stick with perfect second and third innings, then by working around a pair of walks in the fourth. After the lead-off man got on to start the fifth, Cole Tryba replaced Proskey on the mound and retired the next three Roadrunners he faced on strikes, needing just nine pitches to do it — an immaculate inning.
Walks got more ‘Runners on the bases against the Gauchos in the sixth and the seventh, though Tryba got out of the trouble both times. It was relatively easy in the sixth, with the lefty retiring three batters in a row with two more punchouts, but the seventh was more dramatic. Tryba faced loaded bases with two outs, but got out of it. His night finally ended in the eighth, though he left two runners aboard. Both of them would come home to score on a one-out double that cut the margin to one run and brought Hoover out of the bullpen.
A strikeout and a groundout got the former San Marcos Royal out of the eighth with the lead still intact, and he was perfect in the ninth. After starting the inning with a strikeout, a grounder and pop fly both went right to Nunez and the Gauchos slammed the door.
UP NEXTElsewhere, Santa Barbara got more help in The Big West standings, with UC San Diego and Cal State Fullerton both 0-2 in their weekend series and two games adrift of the Gauchos. Santa Barbara will look to complete a sweep of the Roadrunners in Sunday’s series finale, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. from Hardt Field. Fans can catch all the action live on ESPN+ or by following along with live stats and a free audio-only broadcast at ucsbgauchos.com.
(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)
Cal Poly 11, UC Irvine 2: Five shutout innings by Carson Turnquist and a 15-hit offensive attack led by five Mustangs with multiple hits powered Cal Poly to an 11-2 victory over UC Irvine on Saturday, evening the best-of-three Big West baseball series at a game apiece.
On Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark, shortstop Nate Castellon and center fielder Casey Murray Jr. each produced three hits while right fielder Dylan Kordic and second baseman Jake Downing both drove in three runs for the Mustangs, who remain alone atop the conference standings with a 16-7 record.
Cal Poly is 26-19 for the season while UC Irvine slipped to 20-24 overall and 10-13 in the Big West.
Also in the Big West on Saturday, Cal State Fullerton fell at home to UC Davis 11-5, UC San Diego dropped an 11-1 decision at Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara edged host Cal State Bakersfield 4-3. The Mustangs lead the Gauchos (15-8) by one game, the Tritons (14-9) by two games and the Titans (13-10) by three games.
Turnquist allowed just one hit, a first-inning double by Frankie Carney, while walking four and striking out five. The redshirt junior right-hander, who struck out 11 in each of his previous two outings, improved to 5-2 for the season, threw 104 pitches and topped out at 97 miles per hour with his fastball.
Josh Volmerding, making his first appearance on the mound since March 15 due to a lower body injury, retired all three batters he faced in the sixth inning, including one strikeout, while lefty Chris Downs earned a three-inning save, his first of the year, with four hits, two runs, no walks and three strikeouts to his credit.
UC Irvine starter Finnegan Wall (3-4) was removed from the game after giving up one run and two hits in 1 2/3 innings and suffered the loss.
Castellon singled three times for his 10th three-hit game of the year and 20th multiple-hit effort. Murray also notched three singles for his 13th multiple-hit game of 2026 and sixth three-hit contest. Both drove in one run — Castellon with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and Murray with a bases-loaded walk in the first frame.
Kordic smashed a three-run home run in the third inning for a 4-0 Cal Poly lead and added a double leading off the seventh inning. He has 10 multiple-hit games this season, all two hits. Downing knocked in three runs with a bases-loaded walk in the fifth inning, a sacrifice fly in the seventh and a double in the eighth.
Kordic has six home runs this season, all in the last 19 games, and has gone 23-for-58 at the plate (.397) in those 19 contests with eight doubles and 25 RBIs, lifting his batting average 141 points to .308.
Third baseman Alejandro Garza is the team leader with 22 multiple-hit games after collecting a single and double Saturday and he drove in one run while catcher Ryan Tayman singled twice for his 19th multiple-hit contest of 2026. First baseman Gavin Spiridonoff notched a pair of RBIs by getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth inning and doubling in a run in the eighth.
UC Irvine averted a shutout when center fielder Tommy Farmer, a transfer from Texas, homered down the left-field line in the seventh inning. The Anteaters, held to just one hit in the first six innings, also bunched together a double and two singles for a run in the ninth.
With 15 hits, Cal Poly reached double figures for the 12th time in its last 15 games.
Rubber game of the series will be played Sunday at 1:05 p.m. with Cal Poly to send Corden Pettey (3-2, 4.86 ERA) to the mound against UC Irvine’s Hunter Manning (0-1, 5.00 ERA) in a matchup of freshman right-handers.
Pettey is coming off his third quality start of the season last Sunday against CSUN at Baggett Stadium, allowing just two earned runs and scattering six hits over six innings with a pair of walks and six strikeouts in the 5-2 triumph.
Manning, a 2025 graduate of West Ranch High School in Stevenson Ranch, Calif., will be making just his second start of the season Sunday. He drew his other start last Tuesday against No. 21 USC and pitched two scoreless innings with one walk and five strikeouts.
Manning also has appeared in relief 13 times and has one save and 25 strikeouts over 18 innings this season.
(Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics)
PacWest Baseball:
Game 1: Westmont 2, Menlo 0
Game 2: Westmont 5, Menlo 2
A dribbler in front of the plate and a throw to first by Westmont catcher Griffin Brown resulted in the final out of today’s doubleheader with Menlo and clinched a berth for the Warriors in next week’s PacWest Baseball Championship. Westmont’s two wins by scores of 2-0 and 5-2, gave the Warriors a final regular season record of 29-19 overall and 25-17 in PacWest play.
In the first game, Josh Hickey and Manny Soto combined for a shutout. Hickey pitched the first three innings, allowing just one hit. He struck out one and walked one. Soto, who improved his record to 3-0, allowed just three hits in six innings. He struck out six and walked one.
The Warriors recorded their first run in the bottom of the second. With two away, Zach Mora doubled to right center. That brought up Jesse Di Maggio who drove a deep shot to center. Mora scored what proved to be the winning run, but Di Maggio was thrown out attempting to stretch his RBI-single into a double.
In the top of the third, Menlo’s Brayden Wilson reached on a one-out walk before Shane Aldridge sent a moonshot to deep right field. Westmont right fielder Noah Williams tracked the ball to the warning track, waited at the base of the fence, then timed his leap to catch the ball before it hit the outfield wall.
Mora started things off for the Warriors in the bottom of the fifth with a single up the middle, then advanced to second when Di Maggio walked. After Mora stole third base, Brown sent a 1-1 pitch to right field for a sacrifice fly that provided Westmont a 2-0 lead. As it turned out, that would be the final score.
With one win in the books, Westmont needed just one more to assure itself a place in the PacWest Tournament. Head coach Paul Svagdis sent Matt Vasquez to the mound and the freshman provided five innings of work, allowing two runs on four hits. As the winning pitcher, Vasquez improved his record to 4-4.
KJ Rieden earned his second save of the year by pitching two scoreless innings. Though he allowed two hits, Rieden induced two ground balls that turned into double plays to erase any threat.
Menlo scored first in the nightcap when Aldridge sent the first pitch of the game over the center field fence, giving the Oaks an early 1-0 lead.
However, a two-out rally in the bottom of the second put the Warriors on top. After Di Maggio singled through the left side, Brown and Jayden Mingus were both walked to load the bases. That brought up Williams who beat out a throw off a slow roller to short, driving in Di Maggio and keeping the bases loaded.
With the score tied, the Warriors benefited from some productive baserunning. Mingus induced a throw to second base by the Menlo catcher. As soon as the throw left the catcher’s hand, Brown broke for home. Mingus was ultimately thrown out at third, but not before Brown had put the Warriors on top 2-1.
Menlo responded in the top of the third with a solo home run to left by Jack van Gorkum, tying the game at two runs apiece.
That changed on the first pitch in the bottom of the fourth with Brown reversing the vector on a fastball and sending it 378 feet over the left field fence. The ball left Brown’s bat at 102 mph.
Then in the bottom of the fifth, Joey Rico added insurance runs with a 361-foot, two-RBI blast to right center. Rico’s home run left the bat at 104 mph and drove in Veal who had reached on an error.
Rieden and the Warriors made the score hold up through two more innings, securing that victory and the tournament berth.
The PacWest Tournament, which consists of a four-team double-elimination tournament, begins on Wednesday, May 6 at Russ Carr Field. The Warriors, who are the number four seed, will take on top-seeded Point Loma (41-10, 37-7) in the tournament’s first game at 11:00 a.m. Concordia (29-23, 27-17), the second seed, will take on third-seed Fresno Pacific (32-24, 27-17) at 2:30 p.m.
Three games, including two elimination games, are scheduled for Thursday, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Then on Friday, the first championship game will be played at 11:00 a.m. If needed, a winner-take-all game will commence at 2:30 p.m.(Article courtesy of Westmont Athletics)
