Center fielder Jake Steels went 7-for-14 in the series against Missouri State this weekend, including a double and two singles with two RBIs in Sunday's series-clinching 12-5 victory.
Cal Poly Clinches Series Against Missouri State with 12-5 Victory
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Jake Steels, Aaron Casillas and Evan Cloyd, all newcomers on the Cal Poly baseball team this season, all produced three hits and two RBIs to power the Mustangs to a series-clinching 12-5 victory over Missouri State on Sunday before 1,947 patrons inside Baggett Stadium.
Steels and Casillas each had a double and two singles while Cloyd tripled once and singled twice for the Mustangs, who hit .336 in the series despite six new players in the starting lineup and scored 31 runs on 37 hits in three games.
Joe Yorke, Collin Villegas and Tate Shimao each added two hits and Taison Corio contributed a pinch-hit two-run single for Cal Poly, which also won two of three games against the Bears a year ago in Arlington, Texas.
"It was a real good early-season series that tested us in a number of different ways," said 21st-year Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee. "The majority of our position players have not experienced this level, and now they get a chance to see what happens when you don't hit your spots as a pitcher and, from a hitter's standpoint, you get to see some quality arms that they haven't seen in the past.
"The scores in the series don't reflect the fact that that they got a chance to play some very competitive games," Lee added. "In games 1 and 3, we had real good approaches at the plate, we didn't chase out of the zone very often and we did a good job swinging the bats with some extra-base hits."
Derek True tossed three scoreless innings
with four strikeouts Sunday and finished
the series with four shutout frames
and seven strikeouts.
Cal Poly won Friday's season opener 15-5 and Missouri State answered with a 15-4 triumph Saturday. In the three-game series, the Mustang hitters produced 10 multiple-hit games and there were 11 multiple-RBI performances.
"I always think a quality of a good hitting team is putting up double-digit hits every game and also have multiple players in the lineup with multiple hits," said Lee. "That shows me that we have a chance to do some good things."
Ryan Baum (1-0), a junior right-handed transfer from College of San Mateo making his first Mustang start, earned the victory by striking out seven Missouri State batters over five innings and issuing just one walk. Derek True tossed three scoreless frames and Kyle Scott threw a one-two-three ninth.
The loss went to Troy Ziegenbein (0-1) as he allowed the tying and go-ahead runs in the fifth inning.
Missouri State jumped to a 4-0 lead in the third inning on a sacrifice fly and a three-run home run by Mason Greer. Cal Poly answered with four of its own in the fourth on a two-run double by Casillas, Cloyd's RBI triple and a wild pitch.
The Bears quickly regained the lead in the top of the fifth on a one-out solo home run by Spencer Nivens before the Mustangs took the lead for good at 6-5 in the bottom of the frame on a two-run home run by Yorke.
The Mustangs broke open the one-run contest with six runs on seven hits in the eighth. The first five hitters in the inning all singled -- Cloyd with one RBI and Corio with two -- followed by a two-run double off the bat of Steels and an infield single by Villegas.
Missouri State, an NCAA regional team last year, finishing 31-29, hit .316 in the series with 16 extra-base hits, 25 runs scored and 36 hits in total.
"They're a good team, very aggressive with the bats and have a lot of power," said Lee. "We gave up nine extra-base hits Saturday and were able to be resilient enough to come out Sunday, get down by four early, tie the game up and eventually take the lead and extend the lead substantially late in the game."
The series drew 5,688 fans for an average of 1,896 per game. The Mustangs won a season-opening series for the first time since 2016 when Cal Poly swept a four-game set against Pacific.
Cal Poly visits San Jose State on Monday for a 1:35 p.m. non-conference game -- the Spartans won two of three games at Loyola Marymount over the weekend -- and will head back to the Bay Area next weekend to play Cal twice and Connecticut once in Berkeley.
