The Cal Poly baseball team (22-31) continued their winning ways Friday night at Baggett Stadium with a commanding 12-3 victory over Cal State Bakersfield (25-29). The victory was the third straight for the Mustangs and they have now won five of six games on their end-of-the-year homestand.
The Mustangs greeted the visiting Roadrunners with two runs in the bottom of the first. Senior left fielder Luke Yoder led off the inning with a single to left field on the first pitch he saw. He came home on a slicing double down the left-field line by center fielder Adam Melker. It was the 45th double of Melker’s career and extended his hitting streak to 12 games. After a bunt single by right fielder Bobby Crocker put runners at first and third, first baseman David Van Ostrand hit into a fielder’s choice which drove in the second run of the inning.
Cal Poly continued their offensive attack with two more runs in the bottom of the second inning. The Mustangs began the inning with three straight singles by catcher Jordan Hadlock, shortstop J.J. Thompson and third baseman Evan Busby. Busby’s single drove in Hadlock from third for his 21st RBI on the season. After a sacrifice bunt from second baseman Denver Chavez moved runners to second and third with one out, Yoder hit an RBI groundout to third base which drove in another run and made the score 4-0 after two.
In the third, the Mustangs added one more run on a sacrifice fly by designated hitter Mitch Haniger which scored Bobby Crocker, who doubled to left center to begin the frame. With the sacrifice fly, Haniger drove in his 43rd run of the season which ties him with Crocker for the team lead.
The Mustangs scored three more times in the bottom of the fourth to chase starter Mickey Jannis from the game. Busby led off the inning with a triple to right center and later came home on an RBI groundout to second by Chavez. Then, Yoder singled and stole second base. The next batter was Melker who singled to right to score Yoder. The third run was driven in on the second RBI groundout of the game by Van Ostrand.
Jannis (4-5) finished the game with 3 1/3 innings, allowing eight runs on 11 hits while striking out one. He allowed a Mustang lead-off batter on base in each of the four inning he pitched. Brandon Van Dam came on for Jannis to get the final two outs of the inning.
The Roadrunners were finally able to get on the board against Cal Poly starter Matt Leonard in the fifth inning. Henry hit a sacrifice fly to Crocker to score left fielder Kevin Younger who had singled to begin the inning.
The Mustangs responded with four more runs in the fifth to continue to add on to their lead. With the bases loaded and one out, Yoder doubled down the left-field line, his 50th career double, to extend the lead to 10-1. Melker then singled up the middle scoring two more runs to make the score 12-1 at the end of the fifth inning.
Bakersfield scored two runs in the top of the eighth inning on back to back doubles from third baseman Martin Medina and first baseman Jason Kudlock.
On the mound, Leonard (2-7) won his second straight start. He went eight innings allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out three. Kyle Anderson came on to get the final three outs in the ninth inning to close out the game.
The second game of the three-game series is scheduled at 1 p.m. tomorrow.