Cal Poly baseball sweeps UCSD to improve to a perfect 12-0 in Big West Conference
Cal Poly continues to roll with its 12th straight win to open its Big West Conference season, including two victories in come-from-behind fashion.
The Mustangs (22-8, 12-0 Big West) edged out the Tritons (14-16, 5-7 Big West) by a score of 12-11 win on Sunday after being down 10-7 going into the bottom of the eighth inning. First baseman Jake Downing went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored and catcher Jack Collins and third baseman Alejandro Garza each had two hits in the contest (Collins had two RBIs).
On Friday, the Mustangs opened with a 9-6 come-from-behind win. Shortstop Nate Castellon was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Downing was 2-for-3 with two RBI. Cal Poly was down 5-3 in the fourth before sparking its offensive rally to overtake the Tritons.
On Saturday, Cal Poly secured a more comfortable 8-3 win, taking a 5-1 lead in the fifth on left fielder Dante Vachini’s two-run home run. Second baseman Ryan Fenn went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, improving his season batting average to .307.
“Over and over, we’re just making sure our guys play the game hard, play to win, be relentless and play the full nine innings,” said Cal Poly Coach Larry Lee in a team website recap. “After each game you should be exhausted mentally and physically, and you should learn from every opportunity you get.”
Offense Explodes
Cal Poly’s high-powered offense now has six players hitting over .300 on the season — Zach Daudet (.410), Collins (.361), Garza (.336), Castellon (.321), Fenn (.307) and Vachini (.304).
Collins remains tied for the conference lead in home runs with 10.
Cal Poly’s leading hitter and starting first baseman Zach Daudet sat out the series with a pinched nerve in his neck as well as an infection, according to team officials.
But freshman Jake Downing, of Redwood City and Serra High School (San Mateo), got the nod at first base, going 6-for-10 at the plate in the series with a double, triple and four RBIs. Normally a second baseman, he also handled 22 fielding chances in an unfamiliar position without a glitch.
“Looking at our roster five minutes before we stretched in Thursday’s practice, I just thought Jake would be the best option at first base,” said Lee. “He had never practiced there, never played there in an intrasquad or anything.”
Lee added: “Usually, a Thursday practice is very watered down. We only do certain things on defense. With Jake now at first base, we had to give him a crash course, worked on a few types of team defenses and added a few things to be able to educate him with the entire team out there.”
Pitching and Analytics
Cal Poly’s starting pitching was a shakier than usual, with Griffin Naess (3-2, 4.50 ERA) giving up five earned runs in four innings in his start on Friday. Chris Downs and Jakes Torres combined for five innings in relief, however, giving up only one run.
On Sunday, 6-foot-7 flamethrower Ethan Marmie (4-2, 4.56 ERA) gave up six earned runs in five innings, striking out six, as the Cal Poly offense poured it on to secure the win.
Saturday starter Josh Volmerding (4-1, 5.23 ERA) had the best outing of the starters, tossing five innings, striking out four and giving up only one earned run.
As the Mustangs plan and prepare for pitcher-batter matchups, Cal Poly has made use of new camera technology that has been “widely adopted throughout Major League Baseball, Cal Poly joins Arizona, Arkansas, Auburn, Miami, Stanford, and Wake Forest as the only college programs to have in-stadium versions of KinaTrax,” according to the team website.
“The system consists of 16 cameras, eight focused on the pitcher and eight on the batter,” the website story noted. “Those motion capture devices have already been installed around Baggett Stadium and will finally start collecting in-game data during this weekend’s home series (against Oregon State at the time on March 22)...The Kinatrax technology required $500,000 in gifts to fund the technology and installation.”
Cal Poly’s next faces San Jose State Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Baggett Stadium and kicks off a three-game series versus Hawaii starting Friday at 6 pm.
“The next three weeks, we go through the gauntlet — Hawaii, at home, at UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine at home — three of the best teams, all competing for the conference title and conference tournament participation,” said Lee. “We have our work cut out for us and it’s so important to win every game we can. We can’t afford to lose baseball games, especially at home.”
This story was originally published April 7, 2025 at 1:04 PM.
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