SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Two opponents at the top of the Big West and receiving votes in multiple national polls, the Mustangs and Rainbow Warriors went the distance in a 10-inning nailbiter that saw Cal Poly's win streak end with the 4-2 loss.
In front of 2,818 fans at Baggett Stadium, the venue's second-largest crowd of the season, Cal Poly (23-9, 12-1 BWC) and Hawai'i (24-8, 10-6 BWC) battled to the bitter end in game one of D1Baseball.com's mid-major weekly spotlight series.
Tanner Sagouspe (3-2) was shackled with the loss after allowing Shunsuke Sakaino's go-ahead home run in the top of ten.
Ryan Fenn went 3-for-5 in his second straight three-hit effort and seventh of the season, while Alejandro Garza extended his hitting streak to 15 after notching his first collegiate home run.
On the defensive end, Griffin Naess enjoyed one of his best starts on the mound, providing eight complete innings for the Mustangs while allowing just four hits and one run. Naess, the reigning Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year, tallied seven strikeouts for the second time this season to tie his single-game career high.
All was quiet on both fronts through the first three innings. Naess was dealing and the Mustangs were having trouble finding consistency at the plate, but all that changed with Cam Hoiland's second home run in as many games.
The solo homer went 353 feet and stayed just inside the right-field foul pole to put Cal Poly up by one in the third.
Naess did not allow a Hawai'i baserunner until a lead-off walk in the fourth inning, but the Rainbow Warriors built on the breakthrough to pull back a run on a fielder's choice and close play at home plate.
For the most part, both side's bats went relatively silent through the next two innings until the bottom of six when Garza clobbered his first career collegiate home run over left field. The pair of solo shots from Hoiland and Garza were the only runs Cal Poly would gather in the end.
With Tanner Sagouspe relieving Naess to start the ninth, Hawai'i later found itself working with a pair of one-out baserunners in scoring position.
A fly ball to shallow left field allowed Vachini to earn the second out, which sent the Rainbow Warrior home on a tag-up. Vachini slightly overthrew Castellon's cut-off and Downing gathered the rolling ball to gun down a runner heading to third. Despite the final out via Downing, the Hawai'i baserunner from third made it home in time, tying the game at two.
Jack Collins was intentionally walked in the ninth with two outs and a chance to walk off the game with the go-ahead run at third, sealing extra innings after Casey Murray Jr. was struck out.
Shunsuke Sakaino hit a no-doubter for the go-ahead two-out, two-run homer at the top of ten, and Cal Poly never really found enough offense in the tenth for a comeback. Hawai'i took game one 4-2 with the win going to Isaiah Magdaleno.
The Mustangs and Rainbow Warriors play game two on Saturday with the first pitch set for 3:05 pm at Baggett Stadium.
(Article Courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics).
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