SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Led by two home runs from Alejandro Garza, seven Mustangs finished with multiple hits and four with multiple RBIs as Cal Poly exploded for a 14-9 series-opening victory over UC Riverside (16-34, 5-23 BW) at Baggett Stadium.
Cal Poly improved to 35-16 overall and 21-7 in the conference after putting up double-digit runs for the fifth time in the last six games. Despite leaving 14 runners stranded, the Mustangs still ended up mashing 20+ hits for the third time this season.
After Cal State Fullerton eked out a 9-7 ninth-inning comeback win against UC Irvine, the Titans locked themselves into the tournament's three seed and became Cal Poly's opponent next Thursday at 7:00 pm in Fullerton.
That result also meant Cal Poly's co-regular season title hopes are still alive as the Mustangs can catch the Anteaters for first place if UC Irvine is swept and Cal Poly sweeps UC Riverside. With the win, Cal Poly moved up three places in the Warren Nolan RPI rankings from 44 to 41.
After a four-hit day for Dante Vachini, his second such effort in May, the freshman outfielder has 12 hits in his last five games. Another freshman, Nate Castellon, having collected eight RBIs this month coming into the game, tallied another three RBIs and went 3-for-5 tonight.
Alejandro Garza (3-for-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI) and Ryan Fenn (2-for-4, 2 RBI) increased their hitting streaks to 10 and 11 games, respectively. Zach Daudet (2-for-5), Jack Collins (2-for-6), Nate Castellon (3-for-5), and Casey Murray Jr. (2-for-5) accounted for the remaining multi-hit efforts aside from the aforementioned Vachini.
Naess and Co. sat down the UCR side in order, including a leadoff K, to kick off the regular season's final series, followed by strikeouts to end the second and third innings.
Alejandro "Peanut" Garza flashed his newly acquired power to clobber his fourth home run of the season 426 feet over left-center to give Cal Poly a series-opening 1-0 lead in the third inning.
With Castellon on base and two outs in the third, Cam Hoiland knocked in an RBI single to put the Mustangs up by another run.
Three straight pop-ups in the fourth inning accounted for Naess' fourth consecutive three-up three-down frame.
Back-to-back hits from Daudet and Fenn led off the bottom of four as Fenn tallied an RBI single to increase the Mustang lead.
Continuing the bottom of the fourth, with Castellon up to bat and both Fenn and Garza on the corners, the freshman shortstop laid down a perfectly-placed bunt down the first base line that jammed up the pitcher with nowhere to go for an out, giving Castellon the RBI bunt.
Later, Hoiland picked up his second RBI of the day in scoring Castellon from third on a sac fly.
After four flawless innings, Naess lost his perfect bid in the fifth with a leadoff walk before allowing a quartet of hits and four runs through the next five Highlander batters, cutting Cal Poly's lead to 5-4.
The Mustangs battled back with a vengeance in the bottom half with Garza's second home run of the day, which put a pair on the board, and an RBI base hit from Castellon, returning a four-run lead to Cal Poly.
UC Riverside scored in consecutive innings when hitting a 2 RBI single to left center that narrowed the Mustang lead once more to 8-6 in the sixth.
That UCR surge ended Griffin Naess' day after 5 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits, seven runs, and three walks while also fanning three Highlanders in his final regular-season start.
Josh Morano took the mound for Naess and promptly struck out his first Highlander batter to close the inning without any more damage.
The Mustangs stretched their lead back to three in the bottom of six with UC Riverside's balk that advanced Vachini home for the run.
The Mustangs tallied four runs in the sixth to eclipse double-digits for the fifth time in the last six games. UCR's pitcher balked Vachini in, Collins smacked an RBI single up the middle, Garza took home on an errant pick-off attempt at third, and Castellon collected an RBI triple to bat Collins in.
UC Riverside managed to load the bases in the top of seven and scored one on a bobbled grounder by Ryan Fenn, which was notched as an error that brought in an unearned run. The Highlanders added a second run in the inning just three pitches later with an RBI single.
RBI singles from Vachini and Fenn added two more runs to the growing Cal Poly lead after seven innings. The base hit from Vachini made for his second four-hit outing of the month and 12th hit in his last five games.
Cal Poly's lead persisted through Josh Morano and Troy Cooper closing the final 3 1/3 innings as Griffin Naess was awarded the win and improved to 6-2 on the season.
(Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics)
Cal Poly reaches double-digit runs again as they beat UC Riverside News Channel 3-12.
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