Thanks to some late-inning heroics, the Cal Poly baseball team managed to complete the comeback in their 5-3 win over San Jose State University May 9.
The Spartans jumped out to an early lead with three hits in a row, driving in one run. San Jose State scored again in the third inning then a final time in the fourth, leading 3-1 by the time Cal Poly went to work. Despite giving up the lead early, the Mustangs outscored San Jose 4-0 in the final five frames.
During their run, the Mustangs came through under pressure, scoring all of their runs with two outs on the board. In the fifth inning, the Mustangs managed a three-hit streak of their own. Junior center fielder Alex McKenna recorded a double, junior shortstop Kyle Marinconz followed with an RBI double and freshman third baseman Tate Samuelson capped it off with an RBI single.
With two outs, a 3-3 tie, and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, sophomore second baseman Scott Ogrin stepped up to put Cal Poly ahead. Ogrin smoked the go-ahead single past the San Jose shortstop and junior first baseman Nick Meyer and Samuelson managed to cross home without trouble.
“It’s really on the pitcher and he’s going to be nervous,” Ogrin said. “Just got a pitch to hit, fastball, middle and tried to keep it simple and ended up getting a hit there.”
The Mustangs’ other key to picking up the win was the lockdown performance by the bullpen. Junior right-hander Austin Dondanville did give up a home run in the fourth, but after that, the bullpen did not give up any more runs.
Senior left-hander Kyle Smith picked up his first win of the season, throwing the last 2.2 innings and striking out three.
“It’s just been the way it is all season,” Smith said. “Just one guy after another doing their job and picking the next guy up.”
Cal Poly resumes conference play this Friday against UC Irvine at Baggett Stadium.