Lauren RabainoThe Cal Poly baseball team went 1-3 at the University of San Diego Baseball Tournament over the weekend, returning home with just a Saturday win against No. 24 Fresno State.
In the Mustangs’ first contest, they fell 9-8 Thursday to No. 22 San Diego State in Tony Gwynn Stadium. The game started well for the Mustangs when they took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after a sacrifice fly by junior centerfielder Logan Schafer, but San Diego State responded with six runs on five hits, two walks and a pair of hit batters to lead 6-1 after the first inning.
Cal Poly tied the score in the eighth with four runs, but surrendered a two-out RBI double as San Diego State prevailed.
Friday, the Mustangs were edged again, 3-2 by No. 17 San Diego in Cunningham Stadium.
Sophomore designated hitter Luke Yoder had his first solo home run as a Mustang in the third inning to give Cal Poly a 1-0 lead, and senior second baseman Pat Pezet followed with another run in the sixth on a bloop RBI single to right field.
Although Cal Poly outhit San Diego 9-7 and played errorless defense, the Toreros’ Josh Romanski belted a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to put San Diego over the top.
Upon returning to Tony Gwynn Stadium on Saturday, the Mustangs’ luck changed, as they edged the Bulldogs 2-1.
The Mustangs scored in the second inning when Yoder singled, and with the score tied by the seventh inning, he crossed home plate again with a go-ahead run in the ninth.
While outhitting their opponent for the fourth day, the Mustangs couldn’t close out a win against No. 5 Missouri. Once again, Cal Poly started strong, with a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but Missouri scored three runs in the third and had a 6-3 lead in the seventh, which would mark the final score.
Cal Poly will play at UC Santa Barbara at 2 p.m. Tuesday.