Cal Poly baseball is headed to postseason, with shot at the NCAA tourney on the line

For years, Cal Poly baseball players have watched their seasons end with a strong record, but without a first-place finish, they were left reliant on a long-shot at-large NCAA selection to qualify for postseason play.

This is not because they lacked talent, but because only the No. 1 team was guaranteed an automatic bid, and typically just one Big West team has moved on.

This season, for the first time in 27 years, that’s about to change, because the Big West Baseball Championships postseason tournament is back.

The Mustangs (35-16, 21-7 Big West) are heading to Fullerton’s Goodwin Field as the No. 2 seed, with a real chance to fight for a postseason berth in the NCAA tournament and a shot at the College World Series.

Cal Poly is set to wrap up its regular season hosting UC Riverside in a three-game series starting Thursday. The Mustangs won the opener 14-9 and were two games behind UC Irvine at 23-5 in conference, with two games left in the regular season.

But the games won’t affect the Big West tournament rankings because even if the Mustangs finished in a tie with the Anteaters, UC Irvine holds the tiebreaker thanks to its sweep of Cal Poly in April. Cal State Fullerton is he No. 3 seed, three games behind Cal Poly.

Once the regular season concludes, the top five teams in the Big West will head to Southern California to compete in a double-elimination tournament and a chance to win an automatic NCAA tournament bid, starting on Wednesday.

It’s been over a decade since Cal Poly last reached the NCAA tournament, when the Mustangs capped off a historic 2014 season, making their deepest NCAA tournament run in program history and hosting a regional for the first time ever at Baggett Stadium in San Luis Obispo.

“Having the tournament means a lot,” said senior infielder Zach Daudet. “Especially for our team being on the West Coast, we don’t get the love that some of the other schools do with RPI and all that stuff.”

RPI has long worked against teams like Cal Poly. The metric weighs a team’s win-loss record along with the strength of its schedule and those of its opponents, which often favors programs in power conferences with bigger budgets and more national exposure.

In the years since, Cal Poly has often fielded competitive teams, but the lack of a conference tournament and the limitations of the RPI system have kept them out of the postseason.

“We’ve always had quality teams, especially in the first half of the conference each year,” Head Coach Larry Lee said. “But because of RPI, that doesn’t work out west because everybody plays each other too much.”

However, Lee pointed to the recent dismantling of the Pac-12 as a factor shifting attention to the Big West.

With West Coast powerhouses scattering across the Big Ten and ACC, the Big West has become the region’s most stable D-I baseball conference.

“I think RPI is good, and I think if the Pac were still in existence, it wouldn’t be as good,” Lee said.

With the Big West Championships now back in play and Cal Poly currently ranked No. 44 in RPI, the Mustangs are in a position they haven’t seen in years: still standing in mid-May, with everything to play for.

What’s next for Cal Poly at the Big West tournament?

No. 2 Cal Poly, along with No. 1 seed UC Irvine and the eventual No. 3 Cal State Fullerton — will all receive byes past Wednesday’s single-elimination play-in game between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds.

The Mustangs will open tournament play on Thursday against the Cal State Fullerton in the prime-time matchup at 7 p.m.

Thursday’s games mark the start of the double-elimination portion of the tournament. If both higher seeds hold, Cal Poly would face UC Irvine on Friday, the only Big West team to sweep the Mustangs during the regular season.

“Anyone can beat anyone in this conference,” Daudet said. “We can’t take anyone lightly or give anyone too much credit.”

The tournament continues through Saturday, with a potential winner-take-all final on Sunday, if necessary.

In a double-elimination tournament, staying out of the loser’s bracket is going to be crucial for Cal Poly.

If they lose one of the first two games, they might end up having to play five games, and most teams don’t have the pitching depth to survive that.

Cal Poly’s starting pitching has been reliable throughout the year, but tournament play requires more than just a strong top two.

Griffin Naess, a sophomore right-hander, has emerged as a key piece in the Mustang rotation, often taking the mound as the Friday night starter to open series.

With a 3.21 ERA, a 5-2 record, and 50 strikeouts in 75.1 innings, the 6-foot-6 right-hander has given the Mustangs consistent innings and will be leaned on heavily as the team navigates the early rounds.

Naess struggled early in the season with his mechanics but gradually adjusted to his new role as the team’s Friday night starter. After pitching on Sundays last year, when he had the benefit of scouting lineups and typically facing off against a team’s third starter, the jump to Fridays meant facing tougher competition without that prior in-series insight.

“I’m glad the coaches have trust in me to be in (Friday’s) role,” Naess said.

If Cal Poly’s pitching depth begins to thin, especially in the later rounds of the tournament, the offense will need to pick up the slack.

The Mustangs have one of most productive bats in the conference in Daudet, who currently leads the Big West in hitting.

The senior has been one of the most consistent offensive threats in the Big West this season, leading the conference with a .381 batting average, seven home runs and 22 RBIs, and a 1.134 OPS. His .640 slugging percentage makes him one of the most dangerous hitters in the lineup.

“Trusting myself in my swing has been paying off this year,” Daudet said.

Daudet anchors an infield filled with .300 hitters, including sophomore third baseman Alejandro Garza at .362, freshman shortstop Nate Castellon at .358 and senior second baseman Ryan Fenn at .345.

In total, Cal Poly has seven players hitting above .300.

Junior catcher Jack Collins is hitting .309 with a team-leading 12 home runs and 54 RBIs, and senior outfielder Cam Hoiland is hitting .327.

As Cal Poly prepares for its first true postseason shot in over a decade, the Mustangs know the margin for error is slim. Their goal is to win the Big West tournament outright, not leave their fate in the hands of the NCAA selection committee, hoping for an at-large bid.

“We have to be on point with all facets of the game to give us the best chance of advancing (to the NCAA tournament),” Lee concluded.

The Big West Baseball Championships tournament runs from Wednesday to Saturday with all games televised on ESPN+.

This story was originally published May 15, 2025 at 5:28 PM.