One run is enough as Cal Poly edges Santa Clara to move to 7-0 in midweek games
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Troy Cooper, Josh Morano, and Tanner Sagouspe combined on Cal Poly's third shutout of the season, and a sacrifice fly by Casey Murray Jr. accounted for the lone run of the game in a 1-0 Cal Poly victory over Santa Clara on Tuesday inside Baggett Stadium.
Cal Poly earned its first 1-0 win in eight years and improved its record in midweek games to 7-0 by winning for the 25th time in its last 29 contests despite being outhit 6-5.
The Mustangs, 14-4 at home, are 26-9 for the season, while Santa Clara fell to 14-19. The two teams will play a rematch on April 29 in Santa Clara's Stephen Schott Stadium.
Catcher Jack Collins led off the second inning with his first triple of the season, a shot off the left-center field wall. On the next pitch, Murray flew out to right field, deep enough to score Collins.
Neither team could score the rest of the way.
Santa Clara had two runners on base in the fourth and sixth innings and runners in scoring position in the first, eighth, and ninth frames, but stranded eight runners on the base paths.
Cal Poly second baseman Ryan Fenn doubled with one out in the first but was caught trying to steal third base. No other Mustang runner managed to get into scoring position other than when they scored the only run of the game in the second frame.
Cooper (1-0) earned his first collegiate victory by tossing five scoreless frames, scattering four hits with one walk and a pair of strikeouts.
Morano, the transfer from Arizona, pitched three scoreless innings with one hit, one walk, and three strikeouts while Sagouspe notched his sixth save by striking out three batters in the ninth.
The loss went to Sebastian Schreiber (0-1) as the junior southpaw allowed the lone run and three hits in 2 1/3 innings.
Cal Poly's five hits were by five different batters. Third baseman Alejandro Garza extended his hitting streak to 18 games, tied for the eighth-longest in program history, with a leadoff single in the fourth inning while Fenn's first-inning double stretched his hitting streak to 13 games. Left fielder Dante Vachini's 11-game hitting streak came to an end.
Santa Clara's six hits included a double by left fielder Mateo Garcia in the eighth inning.
Cal Poly's last 1-0 victory was against UC Riverside on May 25, 2017, in the opening game of the season-ending Big West series, also at Baggett Stadium. Erich Uelmen pitched a complete-game six-hit shutout with a career-high 12 strikeouts.
Cal Poly puts its nation-leading 11-game road winning streak on the line with a crucial three-game Big West series at defending conference champion UC Santa Barbara beginning Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
Friday's game on ESPNU begins at 6 p.m. with Saturday's series finale set for a 1 p.m. start.
(Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics)
