Collin Villegas dons the home run chain and is greeted in the dugout following his two-run blast in the second inning of Sunday's 10-7 victory over Long Beach State.
Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics
Cal Poly Captures Long Beach State Series with 10-7 Win on Sunday
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Designated hitter Matt Lopez collected four hits in a game for the first time in his Mustang career, driving in two runs, as No. 17 Cal Poly scored six times in the first two innings on its way to a 10-7 Big West Conference baseball victory over Long Beach State on Sunday inside Baggett Stadium.
Lopez doubled once and singled three times, Collin Villegas belted a two-run home run and Cal Poly doubled six times as a team to win for the 12th time in its last 15 games.
With the win, the Mustangs clinched the three-game series, two games to one, and climbed into a second-place tie with CSU Bakersfield in the Big West, both with 7-2 conference marks. Cal Poly is 20-12 for the season.
Matt Lopez went 4-for-4 with a double and three singles,
driving in two runs, in Cal Poly's win over Long Beach State.UC Irvine dropped into fourth place at 8-4 with a 12-9 loss at UC San Diego. UC Santa Barbara is first at 10-2 following its 7-1 win at CSUN.
Long Beach State fell to 15-15 and 5-7.
Cal Poly scored three times in both the first and second innings.
Nick Marinconz, Tate Samuelson and Lopez all produced run-scoring singles in the first. Joe Yorke's sacrifice fly in the second made it 4-0 and Villegas hit his third home run of the season, a two-run shot to left field, for a 6-0 Mustang lead.
After giving up a run to the Dirtbags in the fifth inning, Cal Poly answered with two runs in both the fifth and seventh innings to extend its lead to 10-1.
Marinconz opened the fifth with a double and Lopez and Reagan Doss followed with RBI singles. Ryan Stafford doubled to drive in two more in the seventh.
Long Beach State closed the gap to three runs with four in the eighth and two more in the ninth before Jason Franks secured the final out, a fly ball to left field.
Held to six hits in the first two games of the series, Cal Poly put together a 15-hit offensive attack Sunday.
Stafford ended a 0-for-20 slump with a bloop single in the second inning which contributed to the second three-run rally and finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Lee added two singles while Marinconz singled and doubled and Villegas added a double to his home run.
Long Beach State's 10 hits included a home run and single by Jonathon Long.
Dylan Villalobos equalled his longest stint on the mound as a Mustang Sunday, going four-plus innings and giving up one run and three hits with three strikeouts. Villalobos also pitched four innings against CSU Bakersfield in 2019 with seven strikeouts for his first collegiate save.
Zach Button (5-0) earned the victory. He stretched his streak of scoreless innings to 19 before leaving the game in the eighth with nobody out and the bases loaded. All three runs eventually scored.
The loss was charged to Long Beach State starter Zach Voelker (4-1) as he gave up six runs, all earned, and seven hits over 2 2/3 innings. Voelker entered the game 4-0 with a 1.25 ERA.
Lopez was 5-for-8 in the series with a double and three RBIs. Cal Poly won the series despite a .233 team batting average and 11.33 staff ERA.
Cal Poly does not have a midweek game this week and will play its next two Big West series on the road, starting with UC Irvine on Thursday through Saturday. The Mustangs also visit UC Riverside in two weeks.
