Cal Poly baseball blows big lead but recovers to win Big West opener in 11 innings

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - In a high-scoring affair that featured eight-run unanswered stretches from both Cal Poly (7-6, 1-0 BW) and Cal State Fullerton (4-9, 0-1 BW), the Mustangs came out victorious thanks to Dylan Knowles calling the game against the Titans in extra innings just over a year after he similarly walked off North Dakota State.

The Mustangs have notched double-digit hits in five of the last six games, including three in a row. Jack Collins extended his hitting streak again to 13 contests, Casey Murray Jr. hit his first career home run, and Tanner Sagouspe was awarded the win after pitching 3 2/3 innings of near-shutdown baseball.

Collins, with his pair of doubles against Fullerton, is now second in the Big West. The transfer catcher also remains fourth for both hits (21) and RBIs (16). Nate Castellon, helping prop up Cal Poly's small ball success, is tied for third in the Big West for sacrifice bunts (4).

Griffin Naess cut down all three Titans in the top of one within seven pitches, notching one strikeout. Perhaps riding the momentum of his pitcher's shutdown inning, Dante Vachini led off the bottom of one with a double to the right field wall that stretched his trip to third after the Fullerton fielder made an error. Nate Castellon singled down the right field line to easily score Vachini, adding to the freshmen duo's already great lineup chemistry this season.

Right after Castellon's RBI, Alejandro Garza grounded into a fielder's choice but still reached first. Jack Collins extended his hitting streak to 13 straight games to open the year, doubling for the seventh time this season and advancing Garza to third.

Casey Murray Jr. brought Garza and Collins home with a hard-hit single to deep right, putting Cal Poly up by a trio of runs. Dylan Kordic, fresh off his best game of the year (3-for-4 at Fresno State), absolutely crushed a ball 434 feet and over the center field numbers for his first home run of the season, taking Cal Poly to a 5-0 lead.

Cal State Fullerton pulled one run back in the top of two after doubling and singling to lead off the inning, but Griffin Naess sat three of the next four Titans on flyouts to shut down further scoring.

Naess remained steady through the next three innings to keep Cal Poly ahead by five, and the Mustangs increased that lead again in the bottom of five.

Collins doubled for the second time, mimicking his first double down the left field line, to put himself and Garza in scoring position. Daudet grounded out but got enough of the ball to bring Garza in. Murray Jr. went yard over the left field wall in the next at-bat to raise Cal Poly's lead, to 8-1.

The Titans' offense finally got hot in the seventh by stringing together five hits and a pair of walks to gather six runs off the combination of Naess, Troy Cooper, Reece Bueno, and Jake Torres. Southpaw reliever Torres managed out of the jam to keep Cal Poly in the lead, but Fullerton had cut deep into it by then.

In the top of 9, a Titan hitter singled to right but tested Kordic's arm after taking a few routine steps towards second and was gunned down at first. Even with their momentum seemingly stalled for the moment, Fullerton still got the go-ahead run with two down on an RBI single over Castellon at short.

Vachini's second-pitch single right up the middle and over the second base bag led off the bottom of nine before he stole second to get in game-tying position. Garza fought to a seven-pitch walk and a wild pitch on the final ball advanced Vachini to third. Team-leading hitter Collins was up with two outs to work with, and another wild pitch during Collins' at-bat allowed Vachini to tie the game and force extra innings.

Tanner Sagouspe, carrying his appearance over from the eighth inning into extras, sat one Titan on strikes and retired the side to earn Cal Poly a walk-off opportunity. Casey Murray Jr. walked to lead off the 10th and advanced to third on a bunt and flyout but was left stranded.

After "Goose" sat all three Titan batters for the second straight inning, Cal Poly needed just three batters in the bottom of eleven to secure victory. Vachini singled through the right side and advanced to second after Castellon's sacrifice bunt. Dylan Knowles, a regular pinch hitter/runner for the Mustangs, became the hero as he blooped a single into center that was more than enough to score the speedy freshman Vachini.

Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton face off again Saturday at 3:00 p.m. for the second and middle game of this Big West opening series.

(Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics).