Cal Poly smashes Saint Mary’s to advance to Los Angeles Regional Final
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (KEYT) - Catcher Ryan Tayman and designated hitter Cam Hoiland smashed home runs and Carson Turnquist scattered five hits over six innings with seven strikeouts for his ninth win of the season as Cal Poly rolled past Saint Mary's 14-1 in the winner's bracket final of the NCAA Los Angeles Regional on Saturday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs (38-22) won for the 11th time in their last 12 games and jumped to a 2-0 start in regional play for the first time in program history, advancing to Sunday's 6 p.m. championship game against either the Gaels or UCLA. The Bruins staged a dramatic ninth-inning comeback to eliminate Virginia Tech 6-5 earlier Saturday and remain alive as the No. 1 overall national seed.
UCLA (52-7) will play Saint Mary's (35-26) in another elimination game Sunday at 1 p.m., with the winner to take on the unbeaten Mustangs needing two wins to advance to next weekend's Super Regionals against the Morgantown Regional winner. Should Cal Poly fall on Sunday, the "extra game" in the double-elimination event would be played Monday, with the time to be announced.
Tayman belted his 17th home run of the year, one shy of the school record set by Monty Waltz in 1985, leading off the second inning for Cal Poly and tying the game at 1-1. Tayman's monumental blast to left-center field left the stadium at 108 miles per hour and traveled 434 feet.
In the fourth frame, Tayman opened with a single through the left side of the Gael infield and Hoiland shattered the 1-1 deadlock with a two-run home run, his sixth of the year and second of the tournament. The ball driven to right-center field was clocked at 104 miles per hour and landed 412 feet away from home plate.
Cal Poly then shifted into cruise control, sending nine more batters to the plate in the fourth inning resulting in a six-run outburst and added five more runs with nine batters in the sixth for a 12-1 advantage. Eight more batters produced the Mustangs' final two runs in the seventh.
"Well-played game from us," said Lee. "I think it's the first time our offense got rolling in about two or three weeks. Ryan started it off. We're down 1-0, he hits the solo home run and then things kind of rolled from there. So overall, a well-played game."
Turnquist (9-2) allowed a run in the top of the second inning as Ian Armstrong doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch and came home on Jacob Johnson's single down the right-field line.
After the Tayman home run in the bottom of the frame, however, the Paso Robles High School graduate and transfer from Oklahoma was virtually lights out, retiring nine Gaels in a row from the second through fifth innings, including striking out the side in the third.
Turnquist retired the side in order twice and threw 89 pitches over his six innings of work on the mound before turning things over to the bullpen for the final three frames. Chris Downs, Josh Morano and Troy Cooper each tossed one scoreless inning in relief.
"Honestly, everything was going right for me," said Turnquist. "My location was solid. I was just treating every pitch as the same. Taking everything pitch-to-pitch really changed it for me."
Turnquist's batterymate, Tayman, had a 3-for-3 day at the plate with two singles and his second-inning home run which ignited Cal Poly's 22nd come-from-behind victory of the season. Tayman also is from the Central Coast, growing up in Grover Beach and attending Arroyo Grande High School.
"There's really no better feeling (with Ryan behind the plate) because I've been playing against him since high school," said Turnquist. "I think whenever he's behind the plate, I know there's a good shot. He's going to catch the ball in the right spot and he can throw guys out.
"I feel pretty confident with him catching me and it's awesome that we're both Central Coast guys," Turnquist added. "Knowing each other for so long is pretty cool."
Tayman caught a would-be base stealer for the 17th time Saturday, getting Makoa Sniffen, who has 10 steals in 15 attempts this season, to end the first inning.
Cal Poly's final four runs in the fourth inning were the result of an RBI single by Nate Castellon, a grounder to third by Alejandro Garza and a pair of wild pitches.
The five-run sixth-inning Mustang rally featured an RBI single by Tayman, a sacrifice fly by Jake Downing, a two-run double to right-center field by Casey Murray Jr. and Gavin Spiridonoff's run-scoring single to center field.
Cal Poly added its final two runs in the seventh on bases-loaded walks drawn by Downing and Murray.
"Tonight was the first time in a while where we just played the full nine," said Lee. "We had a great dugout. There was great energy in the dugout. Our players just kept going at it. They didn't let up. Once the third out was made, they would go out and play defense. We played extremely good defense. You could see that tonight. The guys were making great first steps. That's really important."
The loss was charged to Saint Mary's starter Lukas Sarantos (4-3) as he surrendered seven runs and six hits over 3 2/3 innings.
Tayman and Castellon each earned three-hit games — Tayman extending his hitting streak to 12 games — while Garza and Spiridonoff added two hits apiece. For Garza, he now has 251 career hits in three years as a Mustang, one shy of the school record set by Jimmy Allen from 2011-14.
Another single-season mark was set by Tayman as he recorded 11 putouts to lift his total to 527, surpassing Erik Peterson's previous record of 518 putouts set in 1979.
Cal Poly was outscored 17-11 in four Big West tournament games and the Mustangs' three victories were by 1-0, 4-2 and 4-3 decisions. At the Los Angeles Regional, Cal Poly has produced 13 hits in each of its first two games, scoring 20 runs.
"Your ultimate goal is to play in a regional and give yourself a chance at winning a national title," said Lee. "Winning the Big West tournament was the only way for us to get that regional bid. That's the stressful part of it … being able to win the tournament … because that was our only path to making a regional.
"There's a lot of truth in seeing that we had some pressure put on us," Lee added. "But when you're able to win your conference tournament, it prepares you for a regional. Any mistakes or any mental issues you might have, you recognize them. And you are able to use that experience and make adjustments so that you have a better mindset playing in a regional."
Despite all the hits, Cal Poly stranded 15 runners on the basepaths in Friday's 6-2 win over Virginia Tech. The Mustangs collected 13 hits again Saturday, but used them more efficiently in scoring 14 times.
"Yesterday's game, we didn't really square up the ball. We had timely hits that were chopped into the ground, but we were putting up ones. Tonight, we were squaring up the ball, and we had some big innings. That's the outcome that you would like to have," Lee added. "Winning those one-run ball games in the conference tournament still prepares you for what lies ahead in a regional, when you're facing high-end pitching and you're facing good defenses."
(Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics)
