Cal Poly baseball makes history with stirring run to its first-ever super regionals

For the first time in program history, Cal Poly baseball is headed to the super regionals after defeating Saint Mary’s 5-2 and going undefeated all weekend at the Los Angeles Regional.

Now, the Mustangs are one of the last 16 teams standing in the nation with a shot at the College World Series, having just secured they’re biggest postseason breakthrough ever.

And, they did it without ever having to face the No. 1 team in the country, who was gone before Cal Poly ever had a chance to play them.

UCLA, the top seed in the Los Angeles Regional and host of the weekend, was eliminated Sunday at Jackie Robinson Stadium after Saint Mary’s defeated the Bruins for the second time in three days.

That left Cal Poly with the Gaels in the regional final and the same opportunity it had been chasing for years.

The Mustangs entered Sunday from the winner’s side of the bracket, needing one win to advance. Saint Mary’s entered the game having played extra innings in a battle with the Bruins just a couple of hours before facing Cal Poly.

“We didn’t play the No. 1 team in the country, UCLA, and so maybe that made the path for us a little different,” Head Coach Larry Lee said. “It is what it is, and we survived.”

Lee has been with the program for 24 seasons and has led Cal Poly to five regional appearances. Until Sunday, none of those trips had ended with the Mustangs moving past the first round.

What made this group different, he said, was simple: mentality.

“They’re very resilient,” he said. “They have learned just to take the emotion out of it, unless the emotion is on our side, and just to deal with reality.”

Saint Mary’s beat UCLA, but couldn’t beat Cal Poly

The Mustangs never had to go through UCLA, but they still had to beat the team that knocked out the No. 1 team in the nation.

Saint Mary’s had already proven it could survive elimination games, but Cal Poly kept the pressure and after routing the Gaels 14-1 on Saturday, took the deciding game in comeback fashion.

Despite the Gaels jumping out to a two-run lead, Cal Poly answered quietly at first, scratching one run across in the fifth when Nate Castellon singled home Casey Murray Jr. to get the Mustangs on the board.

Then, in the sixth, Ryan Tayman stepped to the plate and sent one over the wall to tie the game.

It was the second consecutive night Tayman went deep, tying Cal Poly’s program record with 18 home runs in a single season.

After Saturday’s win, Tayman had made it clear the Mustangs would avoid a winner-take-all game, and the mentality followed suit.

Gavin Spiridonoff, the only freshman position player in the starting lineup, delivered in the biggest moment of his young career after costly walks put Cam Hoiland and Murray Jr. on base with two outs.

With one swing, the first baseman turned a tie game into a game the Mustangs could control witih a three-run blast that gave the Mustangs a lead they would not relinquish.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Spiridonoff said. “That’s something you dream of. I think I blacked out. I don’t remember the swing at all.”

The transition to college baseball wasn’t easy, he said, but when Lee handed him the first base job, Spiridonoff took full advantage.

Meanwhile, on the mound, Cal Poly’s pitching staff once again turned in a lock-down performance.

This time, it was Josh Volmerding’s turn to put up a quality start, going six innings and giving up only two runs.

That added up to a total of just five runs across three games in the Los Angeles Regional.

Lee credited that consistency to the way his staff handled the tournament and the preparation behind each outing. He said pitching coach Seth Moir has helped the Mustangs play what he described as a “pro-style game.”

“I have a great staff,” Lee said. “Seth Moir is my pitching coach, and he does a great job. He mentors these pitchers, he teaches them, he develops them and he calls a really good game.”

Volmerding took the mound Sunday despite battling through an injury that cost him games in March and all of April. He made limited appearances in May, working his way back, but his 81-pitch, seven-strikeout performance on Sunday was the most he had thrown all season.

“Took some time off, just ramping up those pitches every week, getting back in the swing of things,” Volmerding said. “Tonight, it all just clicked. It happened to be at the right time.”

Volmerding’s gem followed on the work of Griffin Naess, who gave up two runs in seven innings while striking out 9 in Friday’s 6-2 win over Virginia Tech, and Carson Turnquist, who threw six innings of one-run ball in Cal Poly’s 14-1 rout of Saint Mary’s on Saturday.

In Sunday’s final, Volmerding handed the ball and a 5-2 lead to Corden Pettey, who threw a scoreless seventh before closer Nick Bonn took over for the final two innings, striking out two and sending Cal Poly players swarming onto the field in celebration.

The regional round will wrap up Monday, and when it’s done, the 64-team field that began the weekend will be whittled down to 16.

The super regional sites are yet to be announced, but Cal Poly will face the winner of the Morgantown Regional Final between West Virginia and Kentucky, who will play a winner-take-all game on Monday.

The winner will meet the Mustangs in a best-of-three series that will send one team to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

For Lee, that longtime dream is still alive.

Over his 24 years leading Cal Poly, the coach has walked off fields in the postseason wondering what more it would take.

On Sunday night in Los Angeles, he finally got his answer.

“We go on, and our job is not finished,” Lee said.

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