Cal Poly Falls in 10 Innings to Pepperdine, 9-8

Tuesday, March 31

Malibu, CA

3 pm

9-16

Pepperdine

15-15

Cal Poly

Pepperdine

Cal Poly Falls in 10 Innings to Pepperdine, 9-8

3/31/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

MALIBU, Calif. – Chris Fornaci's home run down the left field line leading off the 10th inning lifted Pepperdine to a 9-8 victory over Cal Poly in a non-conference baseball game Tuesday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium.

Senior right-hander Danny Zandona, Cal Poly's closer and the fifth Mustang pitcher of the game, worked Fornaci to a 3-1 count before the Pepperdine leadoff batter hit his third home run of the season, handing Cal Poly its fourth straight loss in Malibu.

Cal Poly falls to 9-16 while Pepperdine evened its record at 15-15. The two teams met twice in the San Luis Obispo Regional a year ago in Baggett Stadium.

Cal Poly jumped to a 6-0 lead with four in the first and two more in the second. Jordan Ellis tripled to knock in two, Zack Zehner doubled to drive in one and Kevin Morgan singled for an RBI and a 4-0 Mustang lead in the first. Zehner's two-run single in the second made it 6-0.

After Pepperdine closed the gap to 6-5 with five runs in the third inning, Cal Poly scored twice in the fourth for an 8-5 advantage. Back-to-back doubles by Peter Van Gansen and Brian Mundell tallied the first run and Ellis singled for another RBI.

Pepperdine battled back with two in the fourth and one in the sixth, setting the stage for Fornaci's walk-off home run leading off the 10th.

Cal Poly outhit Pepperdine 16-13, led by Ellis (pictured above) with his second four-hit game of the season, a triple and three singles. Mundell added a double and two singles while Mark Mathias, Zehner and Morgan each had a pair of hits.

Mathias played his first game of the season at second base after 17 games as the Mustangs' designated hitter.

Hutton Moyer and Brad Anderson each had three of Pepperdine's 13 hits.

Zandona (1-2) suffered the loss while Jordan Qsar (1-1), who started the game in right field and was Pepperdine's sixth pitcher of the game, earned the win with three scoreless innings.

The Mustangs, who haven't beaten Pepperdine in Malibu since 2010, scored eight runs on 13 hits in the first four innings, Tuesday, but was held scoreless on three hits the rest of the way.

Cal Poly opens defense of its Big West Conference championship Thursday night at Cal State Fullerton.