Cal Poly Opens Series Against Missouri State With 5-1 Victory

Saturday, February 26

Arlington, TX

10 a.m.

3-2

Missouri State

2-3

Cal Poly

Missouri State

Drew Thorpe, shown in a game during 2021 season, struck out 10 Missouri State batters in seven innings Saturday, leading Cal Poly to a 5-1 victory in Arlington, Texas.

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Cal Poly Opens Series Against Missouri State With 5-1 Victory

2/26/2022 1:55:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Drew Thorpe and Dylan Villalobos combined on a four-hitter with 14 strikeouts and eight of Cal Poly's nine position starters collected base hits as the Mustangs opened their three-game non-conference series against Missouri State with a 5-1 victory Saturday afternoon.

The series is being played at the University of Texas at Arlington's Clay Gould Ballpark due to wintry weather forecasts in Springfield, Missouri. At Arlington, the temperature was 38 degrees with a light breeze, but the precipitation held off except for a brief shower in the fifth inning.

Cal Poly (3-2) stretched its winning streak to three games while Missouri State (2-3) lost in its first-ever meeting with the Mustangs.

In seven innings, Thorpe (1-0) struck out 10 Bear batters, the sixth time he has recorded double-digit strikeouts in a game in his Mustang career, and walked only one, scattering four hits. Missouri State scored its lone run in the fifth inning on a single and a double, both with two outs.

Villalobos retired six of the seven batters he faced in the final two innings, allowing one walk and striking out four consecutive Bear batters.

Cal Poly erupted for three runs in the first inning and never looked back, adding single runs in the fourth and sixth frames. Four of the five Mustang runs were part of two-out rallies.

In the first, Matt Lopez drew a two-out walk and scored on an RBI double to left-center field by Tate Samuelson. Matthias Haas singled to right field, scoring Samuelson, and Reagan Doss drove home Haas with a single to right-center field.

Ryan Stafford doubled to left-center field with two outs in the fourth and trotted home on a single to left-center field by Brooks Lee.

Back-to-back doubles by Joe Yorke and John Lagattuta leading off the sixth inning tallied Cal Poly's final run.

With a season-high 13 hits, Cal Poly had other scoring opportunities, but stranded 12 runners on the basepaths.

The loss was charged to Missouri State starter Adam Link (1-1) as he allowed five runs, all earned, and 10 hits over five innings with two walks and a pair of strikeouts.

Stafford, Lee, Samuelson, Haas and Doss all collected two hits for Cal Poly. Missouri State, which scored 34 runs on 44 hits in its series win over Central Arkansas last weekend, was limited to four hits Saturday, including a single and double by shortstop Will Duff.

The two teams will play a doubleheader Sunday at 9 a.m. Pacific with southpaw Travis Weston and right-hander Kaden Sheedy to start on the mound for the Mustangs.