With less than a month remaining in the spring athletics season, the Mustang baseball, softball and track and field teams hit the road during the weekend.
Baseball
Cal Poly baseball walked off with a win against Pepperdine on Tuesday night following a 10th-inning home run by third baseman Jimmy Allen, but the Mustangs couldn’t continue their momentum during the weekend as UC Davis dealt the team a 2-1 series loss.
The two losses, both by one run, dropped Cal Poly’s record to 27-19 overall and 10-8 in conference, forcing the Mustangs to lose ground on conference-leader Cal State Fullerton.
On Friday night, the Mustangs scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning after Allen singled with two out to knot the score at four runs apiece. Yet, Cal Poly couldn’t capitalize in extra innings before the Aggies hit three singles against Reed Reilly, pitching in his third inning, and forced across the winning run.
Joey Wagman pitched 6 2/3 innings while allowing four earned runs, but he did not factor into the decision.
Saturday was a new day, though, and Cal Poly’s power hitters proved too much for the Aggies to handle as the Mustangs came from behind to win 12-7. With UC Davis leading 6-4 in the seventh inning, Mitch Haniger, the Big West’s leader in home runs and RBIs, came to the plate with Tim Wise at first base and swatted his 10th homer of the year.
The Mustangs broke the 6-6 tie in the eighth inning with five consecutive two-out hits and gave Chase Johnson, pitching in relief of Kyle Anderson, a five-run cushion.
Right fielder Nick Torres, a true freshman, blasted a solo home run in the top of the ninth to add to the Mustangs lead. It was his fourth homer of the year — only Haniger has more for Cal Poly.
The Mustangs weren’t able to take the rubber game of the series despite rallying from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game in the fifth inning. Wise and Haniger homered to bring the score to 4-4, but the Aggies forced across a run in the bottom of the eighth on a single by Eric Johnson.
Cal Poly will face Cal State Bakersfield in a non-conference series this weekend at Baggett Stadium and will conclude the home part of their schedule the following weekend against rival UC Santa Barbara.
Softball
The Mustang softball team lost its seventh consecutive game on Sunday after falling in three straight games against UC Santa Barbara. Despite the Mustangs earning a season-high 13 hits in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Gauchos prevailed 5-4 in extra innings. It was the ninth time this season Cal Poly has lost by one run.
The Mustangs saw some success with Nora Sobczak’s six hits during the two games on Saturday, including four in the nightcap, while Whitley Gerhart and Madi Vogelsang hit solo homers.
The losses drop Cal Poly’s record to 12-34 overall and 4-14 in conference as the Mustangs have struggled since losing starting pitcher Rebecca Patton for the season. In her place, head coach Jenny Condon has been forced to start freshmen pitchers Jordan Yates and Chloe Wurst.
Wurst took the loss in the final game of the series as the Gauchos jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the second inning and went on to win 8-0.
The team returns home for the final series of the season against UC Riverside this weekend in Bob Janssen Field.
Track and Field
The Big West Conference Championships began in Irvine over the weekend as the multi-sport events kicked off the event that will conclude next weekend when the remaining athletes take the track.
The Mustang women placed two athletes in the top 12 of the heptathlon and scored three points for the team, while Devin Bennett, competing in the men’s decathlon, placed eighth.
Whitney Sisler was Cal Poly’s top finisher in the heptathlon, finishing sixth overall, and was bolstered by a 1.77 meter high jump and a 15.12 second time in the 100 meter hurdles. Sisler, a senior who also competed with the Cal Poly women’s soccer team, finished with 4,839 points in the eight-event competition.