The Cal Poly men’s baseball team clinched its fifth Big West series of the season, after taking two of three from Pacific this weekend to finish out the conference schedule. The Mustangs finished the season 15-9 in the Big West.
After splitting the first two games, the Mustangs defeated Pacific 21-0 in Game 3, earning season highs with 21 runs and 22 hits.
Sophomore pitcher Joey Wagman earned the win, improving to 4-2 on the season after throwing seven shutout innings and giving up two singles.
The Mustangs scored eight runs in the first six innings, and added another nine in the seventh inning — their highest scoring inning of the season.
As a team, Cal Poly hit six home runs, four coming in the seventh, including two from center fielder Bobby Crocker, one from freshman left fielder Jimmy Allen, one from catcher Jordan Hadlock and two three-run home runs from first baseman Tim Wise. Allen has earned 11 hits in his last 18 at-bats.
Twelve Cal Poly batters earned hits en route to the team’s largest margin of victory in more than three years. The last time the Mustangs scored more than 20 runs in a game was in their last game of the 2010 season, with a 25-8 victory over Cal State Bakersfield.
Cal Poly dropped Game 1 of the series with a rare loss from starting pitcher Mason Radeke. Radeke gave up nine hits and four walks as Pacific scored in four of the first five innings. Radeke’s ERA is now 3.11 and he fell to 8-3 this season.
Cal Poly’s lone run came in the third inning when Allen, who reached second on a double to center field, was driven home on a single by Mike Miller.
But Pacific answered with a run in the fourth and two in the fifth as the Tigers cruised to a 6-1 victory.
The Mustangs evened the series behind starting pitcher Steven Fischback, who earned five wins and two no-decisions in his last seven starts. Fischback gave up just one run and struck out seven in a narrow 3-2 Cal Poly victory.
The Mustangs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first, before earning two hits and no runs over the next five innings.
Pacific tied the game in the second inning with first baseman Brian Martin taking a lead-off walk to start the inning and right fielder Allen Riley brought him home on a double to centerfield.
Cal Poly regained the lead in the seventh, with a walk to Crocker and a sacrifice bunt by Denver Chavez, advancing Crocker to second. After a wild pitch sent him to third, Crocker beat the throw home as Mike Miller grounded to shortstop Josh Simms.
In the eighth inning, Mitch Haniger padded Cal Poly’s lead with a solo home run. The homer was Haniger’s fifth in the last nine game.
Pacific rallied back in the bottom of the eighth with a pair of singles, and runners in scoring position with no outs. But the Tigers were only able to score one in the eighth before pitcher Jeff Johnson came in and struck out three to earn his fifth save.
Despite the series victory, the Game 1 loss against Pacific cost the Mustangs a chance at second place in the Big West. With a 2-1 series victory over UC Riverside, UC Irvine clinched the No. 2 spot in the Big West while Cal Poly took the third seed.
The Mustangs will play out the last week of their schedule on the road, facing non-conference opponents Stanford and Cal State Bakersfield. Cal Poly takes on Stanford May 24 at 5:30 p.m. and will finish the season with a three-game series against Cal State Bakersfield starting May 27 at 6 p.m.