Friday, April 21
Northridge, CA
3 p.m.
10
at
12
CSUN
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Taison Corio smashed a pair of opposite-field home runs and drove in five runs for Cal Poly on Friday at CSUN.
Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics
CSUN Rallies from 7-Run Deficit to Beat Cal Poly in Series Opener
4/21/2023 7:28:00 PM | Baseball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. -- Shunsuke Sakaino's grand slam in the eighth inning capped a seven-run rally as CSUN, which at one time trailed 10-3, stormed back to beat Cal Poly 12-10 in the opener of a Big West Conference baseball series Friday afternoon at Matador Field.
Sakaino, who took a borderline 0-2 pitch for ball one, sent the next pitch over the left-field wall with two outs in the eighth inning for his first home run of the year. Joshua Romero tossed a 1-2-3 ninth for his seventh save.
The loss dropped Cal Poly to 13-22 for the year and 7-9 in Big West games. CSUN improved to 22-10 and 9-4, two games behind first-place Cal State Fullerton.
Cal Poly built its 10-3 lead on two home runs and five RBIs from Taison Corio, a two-run shot by Wyatt King, RBI singles by Ryan Stafford and Aaron Casillas plus Joe Yorke's run-scoring groundout.
CSUN began its comeback in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run home run by Jakob Simons, his Big West-leading 11th of the year, and, still trailing 10-5 in the eighth, moved ahead with a seven-run uprising ignited by Andrew Sojka's sacrifice fly, an RBI single by Ben Griffin and a run-scoring double by Joey Kramer, setting the stage for Sakaino's heroics.
Mustang starter Bryce Warrecker pitched 6 1/3 innings in a no-decision, leaving with three strikeouts and a 10-5 lead. Ryan Baum finished the seventh inning before surrendering five runs in the eighth.
Carlo Lopiccolo (0-2) struck out the first Matador batter he faced for the second out of the eighth before hitting a batter to load the bases for Sakaino.
Hits were even at 13 apiece.
For Cal Poly, Ryan Fenn singled three times, his fourth three-hit game of the season and extending his hitting streak to nine games. Fenn, who was Cal Poly's leadoff hitter for the first time after Jake Steels was removed from the lineup due to illness, has gone 26-for-67 (.388) in his last 18 games to lift his average 141 points to .333.
Stafford, Corio and Casillas each added two hits for the Mustangs. Casillas extended his hitting streak to 15 games, going 27-for-67 (.403) during the run to hike his average 76 points to .329.
Barraza singled three times for CSUN and Simons, Sakaino and Griffin each contributed two hits.
Xavier Martinez (4-1) allowed just one run and two hits over 3 2/3 innings in relief of starter Lucas Braun for the victory.
Second game of the series will be played Saturday at 2 p.m. with sophomore right-hander Steven Brooks (3-1, 6.69 ERA) of Cal Poly to face CSUN sophomore right-hander Thomas Bainton (5-1, 3.93 ERA).
Sunday's series finale starts at 1 o'clock.
Sakaino, who took a borderline 0-2 pitch for ball one, sent the next pitch over the left-field wall with two outs in the eighth inning for his first home run of the year. Joshua Romero tossed a 1-2-3 ninth for his seventh save.
The loss dropped Cal Poly to 13-22 for the year and 7-9 in Big West games. CSUN improved to 22-10 and 9-4, two games behind first-place Cal State Fullerton.
Cal Poly built its 10-3 lead on two home runs and five RBIs from Taison Corio, a two-run shot by Wyatt King, RBI singles by Ryan Stafford and Aaron Casillas plus Joe Yorke's run-scoring groundout.
CSUN began its comeback in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run home run by Jakob Simons, his Big West-leading 11th of the year, and, still trailing 10-5 in the eighth, moved ahead with a seven-run uprising ignited by Andrew Sojka's sacrifice fly, an RBI single by Ben Griffin and a run-scoring double by Joey Kramer, setting the stage for Sakaino's heroics.
Mustang starter Bryce Warrecker pitched 6 1/3 innings in a no-decision, leaving with three strikeouts and a 10-5 lead. Ryan Baum finished the seventh inning before surrendering five runs in the eighth.
Carlo Lopiccolo (0-2) struck out the first Matador batter he faced for the second out of the eighth before hitting a batter to load the bases for Sakaino.
Hits were even at 13 apiece.
For Cal Poly, Ryan Fenn singled three times, his fourth three-hit game of the season and extending his hitting streak to nine games. Fenn, who was Cal Poly's leadoff hitter for the first time after Jake Steels was removed from the lineup due to illness, has gone 26-for-67 (.388) in his last 18 games to lift his average 141 points to .333.
Stafford, Corio and Casillas each added two hits for the Mustangs. Casillas extended his hitting streak to 15 games, going 27-for-67 (.403) during the run to hike his average 76 points to .329.
Barraza singled three times for CSUN and Simons, Sakaino and Griffin each contributed two hits.
Xavier Martinez (4-1) allowed just one run and two hits over 3 2/3 innings in relief of starter Lucas Braun for the victory.
Second game of the series will be played Saturday at 2 p.m. with sophomore right-hander Steven Brooks (3-1, 6.69 ERA) of Cal Poly to face CSUN sophomore right-hander Thomas Bainton (5-1, 3.93 ERA).
Sunday's series finale starts at 1 o'clock.
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