Mustang News Staff Report
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Even on the road the wins keep coming. No. 1 Cal Poly baseball used a three-run eighth inning to knock off Long Beach State 6-3 in the series opener at Blair Field on Friday night.
Junior right fielder Nick Torres smacked a two-run single to break up a 3-3 tie late in the game and help the Mustangs (36-5, 12-1 Big West) earn their nation-leading 12th straight win. The’ve now won 12 of 15 away from Baggett Stadium.
Junior right-hander Reed Reilly (3-1) got the victory in relief as he allowed two hits in 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Those two base knocks were the only hits Reilly has allowed in his previous five appearances. He hasn’t given up a run in his last 11 2/3 innings.
Cal Poly is now two games ahead of second-place UC Irvine; the Anteaters game at UC Davis was rained out on Friday. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday. Meanwhile, Long Beach State (18-21, 5-5) dropped its third consecutive game.
Cal Poly starter Matt Imhof went 6 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on six hits while striking out four. As a staff, the Mustangs entered the weekend second in the country in strikeouts per nine innings.
Torres led the way at the plate collecting three RBIs on Friday, while sophomore shortstop Peter Van Gansen went 2 for 3 with a run scored.
Virginia and Louisiana-Lafayette, the two teams behind Cal Poly in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll this week, both won their series openers on Friday.
The Mustangs and Dirtbags play game two on Saturday with the first pitch at 2 p.m. Freshman righty Justin Calomeni (7-1, 3.40 ERA) will take the hill for Cal Poly.
Stephan Teodosescu contributed to this report.