The Cal Poly baseball team (10-26, 3-9 Big West) lost all three games in its three-game conference series to No. 16 Cal State Fullerton (24-13, 10-2) last weekend.
On Sunday, Cal Poly could only muster two runs in the final game of its three-game series, falling 9-2 to the Titans.
Luke Yoder drew a one-out walk in the sixth and eventually scored on a single to right field by Matt Jensen. Jono Grayson singled in the ninth and came home on J.J. Thompson’s single up the middle.
Swept for the third time this season, the Mustangs were held to just six hits by Cal State Fullerton pitchers.
Mustang starting pitcher Eugene Wright (1-3) allowed six runs (four earned) and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings in absorbing the loss in his third start at Cal Poly.
Saturday, Cal State Fullerton scored three times in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back as the Titans defeated Cal Poly 11-3.
In the second, Ross Brayton doubled down the left-field line, took third on Jordan Hadlock’s single to left field and came home on a Cal State Fullerton error in the outfield on a sinking fly ball hit by Evan Busby.
Luke Yoder opened the eighth inning with a first-pitch home run to left-center field, his seventh of the season. For Yoder, it was his 24th career homer — No. 3 all-time at Cal Poly.
Cal State Fullerton starter Daniel Renken (6-2) threw 133 pitches and earned the victory, allowing three runs and 10 hits in 8 2/3 innings. Colin O’Connell secured the final out with one pitch after Renken gave up a run and three hits in the ninth.
The loss went to Mustang starter DJ Mauldin (2-2), as the senior allowed five runs and eight hits in four innings with five walks and one strikeout.
On Friday, even though Thompson tallied four hits, including a three-run homer, he couldn’t help his team rally as the Mustangs fell 8-6 to the Titans.
Trailing 2-0, Cal Poly scored a run in the third inning on Bobby Crocker’s RBI double. The Mustangs tied the game at three on Matt Jensen’s two-run single up the middle in the fifth.
After Cal State Fullerton took a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth, Thompson belted a three-run homer in the sixth to tie the game again at six. But the Mustangs couldn’t hold off the Fullerton offensive and fell in the first game of this weekend’s conference series.
Thompson, entering the game with a .202 average, went 4 for 4 at the plate with three singles — improving his average to .239.
The Mustangs will return to Baggett Stadium next weekend in a three-game conference series against Long Beach State.