Cal Poly doubles up Pepperdine
MALIBU, Calif. - With two weekends of conference baseball remaining for Cal Poly (32-19), the Mustangs will now travel to UC San Diego after completing a sweep of the Pepperdine (12-37) home-and-home series in a 12-6 win over the Waves.
Cal Poly's new-look top of the lineup put in early work as Ryan Fenn led off by being hit by a pitch before Ryan Stafford doubled to center and put both of them in scoring position. That double by Stafford officially earned him the program's career doubles record. Braxton Thomas, continuing once again to build on his promising freshman campaign, flew out for a sacrifice and RBI.
Despite struggling to find his groove this season, Ethan Marmie pitched well in opening the final midweek contest of the season. Prior to Ryan Baum entering in relief, Marmie threw three scoreless innings while allowing four hits.
After the dust settled for the next few frames, Cal Poly's bats came alive again in back-to-back innings. Dylan Kordic walked to lead off the top of the fourth, but the Mustangs quickly found themselves in a two-out hole as Kordic advanced to second and third during those outs.
Zach Daudet's well-hit single to left field scored Kordic, and after Casillas walked while advancing Daudet to second, Fenn cleared the bases on his own single to center field, giving Cal Poly a three-run lead before Pepperdine finally found its first run on the inning's flip-side.
The Mustangs put up an even better inning in the fifth as Cam Hoiland collected his second home run of the season, this one over the right-center wall, which brought Alejandro Garza in as well as Kordic for the second time in the afternoon.
Pepperdine's offense went four successive batters in the fifth inning alternating walks and hit-by-pitches, not only loading the bases but gifting the Waves another run. Their deficit shortened to four runs at that point. Cal Poly responded by scoring for a third consecutive inning as a wild pitch allowed Aaron Casillas to capitalize and take home for a 7-2 advantage.
Cal Poly opened up the floodgates during the eighth inning with a five-run rush of scoring. Stafford doubled down the left field line to open the frame strong, which later turned into loaded bases as Tate Shimao was hit by a pitch and Joe Yorke singled to center field. Kordic walked in the next at-bat for the inning's first RBI and run.
Garza singled through the left side to bat Shimao in, which was further built on by Daudet (2 RBIs) and Casillas (1 RBI) who took the game to 12-2, seemingly out-of-range for a potential Pepperdine comeback. Despite a four-run desperation rally from the Waves, Cal Poly and Tanner Sagouspe held out for a 12-6 victory to wrap up the non-conference schedule.
(Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics)
