Cal Poly baseball walks-off again with 11th inning victory against UC Davis
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Searching for a way back into title contention, and with UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine both holding series in hand, the Cal Poly Mustangs did themselves a huge favor by pulling off their fifth walk-off of the season in a 3-2 extra innings win over UC Davis.
Wind gusts whirled around Baggett Stadium at speeds of up to 31 miles-per-hour, causing multiple potential outs to be turned into hits, and vice-versa, in the process. Despite sparse offensive production, Cal Poly vastly outhit the Aggies while holding them to a measly three hits.
The MLB Pipeline’s 140th-ranked draft eligible prospect, Wright, was relieved in the sixth inning after eclipsing over 110 pitches. Despite some walks and HBP partially due to the windy conditions, Wright otherwise had an outstanding start, allowing just 2 hits and 1 run to pair with 5 strikeouts while also pitching four straight hitless innings following the first.
Jakob Wright tossed a leadoff strikeout against UC Davis’ undisputed top hitter, Mark Wolbert, attempting to set the tone for his outing on Friday evening. Despite a pair of baserunners and a run scored, Wright struck out a second Aggie to end the first frame.
Jake Steels stretched his on-base streak to 39-straight games, the entire season thus far, by drawing his team-leading 27th walk to lead off Cal Poly’s first half inning.
Although the Mustangs could not convert in the first, a stand-up double from Dylan Kordic and subsequent Zach Daudet RBI-double tied up the game in the second at 1-1 for Cal Poly.
Consecutive wild pitches for Wright in the top of the third allowed an initially singled baserunner to take another pair of bases and sit in scoring position. A hit-by-pitch gave Davis runners on the corners before Wright stopped the bleeding and kept the score tied by forcing a third-out fly ball.
Wright came back at Wolbert again in the fifth inning for his second K of the leading Aggie batter, beginning to settle in and trade solid middle innings with the Davis starter. Just like the first inning, Wright’s fifth strikeout of the evening bookended the frame.
In the absence of hitting success, Ryan Baum pitched excellently in relief of Wright to hold UC Davis in place. Three of Baum’s first four batters faced fell on strikes in just 17 pitches thrown.
In response to Baum’s defensive efforts, Aaron Casillas notched his second hit of the game leading off the bottom of the seventh. Daudet advanced Casillas to second on a ground out, but Steels delivered a solid RBI-single to center field, finally putting Cal Poly up 2-1 and forcing out the Davis starting pitcher.
First pitch of the eighth inning’s first at-bat yielded the Aggies a leadoff solo home run to tie the game just minutes after the Mustangs took their first lead of the night. Even so, Baum stood tall after a shaky start to the inning and held the Aggies to a tie heading into the bottom of the eighth.
Tanner Sagouspe took over for Baum heading into the ninth and struck out the side with consistent curveballs that buckled Aggie batters one after another. The Mustangs were unable to find the ninth inning walk-off, forcing extra innings in the series opener.
Nine innings were not enough but that did not stop Sagouspe from cutting down two more Aggies on strikes to set up a walk-off opportunity. The righty continued dealing into the eleventh and shut down UC Davis yet again, keeping the opposition’s hit total down to just three on the evening.
True freshman Braxton Thomas had his redshirt removed after 39 games of the 2024 season just in time to gift Cal Poly an eleventh-inning walk-off victory with his fielder’s choice that batted Tate Shimao in from third.
The Mustangs now look for another Big West series win tomorrow afternoon with first pitch set for 3:00 p.m. on Saturday at Baggett Stadium.
(Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics)
