Cal Poly routed by West Virginia at Super Regionals — and now it’s win or go home

Cal Poly’s first-ever trip to the NCAA Super Regionals got off to an inauspicious debut in a blowout 12-2 loss to West Virginia on Friday.

The defeat came in the opener of a three-game series that immediately put the Mustangs’ backs against the wall with a spot in the College World Series on the line.

Now, Cal Poly needs to win the next two games to earn a trip to Omaha, Nebraska.

Playing in front of a raucous stadium full of blue-and-yellow-clad Mountaineer fans at Kendrick Family Ballpark in Morgantown, the Mustangs were in trouble from the first pitch, when starter Griffin Naess opened the game by giving up a leadoff double to Armani Guzman.

That was followed by a walk and a three-run home run from designated hitter Sean Smith, dropping Cal Poly into a 3-0 hole after the first inning.

Naess settled down and put up scoreless frames in the second and third while Dylan Kordic went deep himself to narrow the score to 3-1.

But then disaster struck again in the fourth.

Smith ignited another rally with a leadoff double, scoring on a single by Brodie Kresser that was sandwiched around two walks and loaded the bases.

Then up came Tyrus Hall, who drilled an opposite field grand slam — the first of his career — to push the score to 8-1.

Things could have gotten even worse for Cal Poly in the fifth, when the Mountaineers loaded the bases against Brady Estes with no one out.

But Estes was able to induce a pop fly and a double play to escape further damage.

Cal Poly strung together three singles in the seventh inning to add a run and make the score 8-2, but West Virginia wasn’t finished, adding three in the bottom of the inning and another in the eighth to push the score to 12-2.

Meanwhile, Chansen Cole controlled the game on the mound for the Mountaineers, throwing seven innings of two-run ball with 11 strikeouts. It was a season high in strikeouts for the Mountaineer right-hander.

“He was good today, he did his job,” Kordic said. “Bt

Naess went 3-2/3 innings, giving up eight runs with three walks and only a lone strikeout. The eight runs surrendered were the most Naess had given up in a single start in his Cal Poly career.

Aside from the Kordic home run, Cal Poly was limited to two doubles — from Ryan Tayman and Cam Hoiland — along with a collection of singles. The Mustangs totaled nine hits in the game.

How Cal Poly got to the Super Regionals

Cal Poly advanced to the Super Regionals by running the table at the Los Angeles Regional, where the Mustangs beat Virginia Tech and Saint Mary’s twice to advance.

For the first time in university history, the Mustangs joined the field of 16 teams vying for a trip to the College World Series.

Now, they’ll have to win two in a row in hostile territory if they want to extend their season.

Game 2 of the series is at 9 a.m. on Saturday, streamed on ESPN2.

If needed, a winner-take-all game would be played on Sunday.

This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 12:08 PM.