Weston Set for Return to the Mound Tuesday Against Fresno State

Tuesday, May 9

San Luis Obispo, CA

6 p.m.

Fresno State

Travis Weston, sidelined since March 25, returns to the mound Tuesday night as Cal Poly hosts Fresno State for a 6 p.m. non-conference matchup at Baggett Stadium.

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Weston Set for Return to the Mound Tuesday Against Fresno State

5/8/2023 1:43:00 PM | Baseball

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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Graduate student southpaw Travis Weston will make his first start on the mound since March 25 when Cal Poly hosts Fresno State for a non-conference baseball game Tuesday night inside Baggett Stadium.

Weston pitched five-plus innings against UC Irvine more than six weeks ago before coming out with soreness in his left arm. He was penciled in as the Mustangs' starter the following weekend at Long Beach State but was scratched after Cal Poly batted in the top of the first inning.

Weston, who is pursuing his master's degree in public policy after earning his bachelor's degree in business administration a year ago, also missed his next five starts. He had been Cal Poly's Saturday starter since the start of the 2021 season, compiling a 14-12 record and 4.13 ERA with five complete games, including three shutouts.

Weston will make his 37th start as a Mustang against the Bulldogs, who are 24-23 for the season after capturing two wins in three games at Nevada over the weekend. Fresno State bounced back from an 8-4 loss in the opener with 14-6 and 14-8 victories, improving to 13-14 in Mountain West Conference games under first-year head coach Ryan Overland.

Weston was a redshirt at San Diego State in 2018 and pitched one season at Ventura College in 2019, compiling an 8-3 record and 2.63 ERA before transferring to Boise State. He was 1-2 with a 5.06 ERA in three appearances as the Broncos' Friday night starter before the COVID-19 pandemic halted the 2020 campaign.

Weston and two of his Bronco teammates -- outfielder Reagan Doss and first baseman Joe Yorke -- transferred to Cal Poly after Boise State dropped the baseball program a second time.

Fresno State will start junior right-hander Jaykob Acosta (1-1, 6.41 ERA), a graduate of Exeter Union High School and transfer from CSU Bakersfield, for the 6 p.m. contest.

Cal Poly dropped two of three games at UC Davis last weekend, winning the middle contest 8-1 sandwiched by a pair of Aggie shutouts -- 1-0 on Friday and 8-0 on Sunday. The Mustangs are 15-30 for the year and 9-15 in Big West contests despite a 15-5 win at Fresno State on March 28.

Yorke drove in six runs with two home runs and a pair of doubles while Steven Brooks retired all seven batters he faced for the victory on Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium. Yorke produced RBI doubles in the first and fourth innings, hit a solo home run in the second frame and capped Cal Poly's scoring with a three-run blast in the ninth.

Yorke, who entered the game with one double and one home run all year, was 4-for-6 that day, his first of two four-hit games so far this season. He compiled a pair of five-hit games in a six-day span a year ago.

Brooks (1-1) came into the game with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth inning, Cal Poly leading 11-5, and notched the first of his three strikeouts to end the threat. He earned the victory with 2 1/3 scoreless hitless frames.

Cal Poly's 15 runs and 18 hits in that midweek contest, moved up to a noon start due to an approaching storm front, are season highs.

Tuesday's rematch will be broadcast on ESPN Radio (1280 AM and 101.7 FM) with Zachary Anderson-Yoxsimer on the call. Daniel Gillman will be on the mic for the ESPN+ broadcast. Links for audio and video streams as well as live stats are posted on the baseball schedule page at GoPoly.com.

Cal Poly and Fresno State are meeting for the 188th time Tuesday. The Bulldogs own a 119-68 advantage in the series.

In 2005 Cal Poly swept Fresno State in a three-game series for the first time in the then-60-year history of the rivalry and duplicated the feat opening the 2006 campaign in Baggett Stadium and again in 2007 at Beiden Field.

The Mustangs have won 24 of their last 35 games against the Bulldogs, including three of five games during Fresno State's national championship season in 2008.

Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee is 26-13 against Fresno State.

The Bulldogs have a new head coach this spring as Ryan Overland succeeded 20-year Bulldog mentor Mike Batesole. Batesole, who was head coach at CSUN for seven seasons prior to taking over the Fresno State program in 2003, retired last December with an 895-659-2 overall record, including a 639-501-1 mark with the Bulldogs. He was 22-30 against Cal Poly, including a 9-5 record while he was at CSUN.

Overland was an assistant coach under Batesole for 10 seasons before he was named interim head coach on Dec. 30, 2022. A catcher on the Bulldogs' 2008 national championship team, Overland played in 186 games, compiled a career .273 batting average with 11 doubles, seven home runs and 54 RBIs, and was a part of three Western Athletic Conference championships before earning his bachelor's degree in communication studies in 2008.

Overland was a graduate assistant coach at South Dakota State (2009-10), earning his master's degree in health, physical education and recreation in 2010. He then served as Fresno State's baseball intern for the 2011 season and volunteer assistant coach in 2012. Overland was named a full-time assistant coach at Nevada in the fall of 2012 before he was hired by Fresno State prior to the 2013 season.

Overland is a 2004 graduate of Atascadero High School, where he played baseball and basketball. He was a pitcher and catcher with the Greyhounds, earning three team MVP awards and first-team All-Los Padres League and All-San Luis Obispo County honors in both 2003 and 2004. Overland's father, Dale Overland, was head baseball coach at San Luis Obispo High School for seven seasons (1989-95), leading the Tigers to the 1990 CIF-Southern Section 4-A Division championship.

The Bulldogs have made 34 NCAA tournament appearances, including four in the College World Series. The 2019 Mountain West regular season title and tournament championship was Fresno State's 36th conference championship.

Fresno State is hitting .259 as a team but does not have a regular starter with an average at or above the .300 mark. Third baseman Triston "Murf" Gray leads all Bulldog hitters with a .293 mark, seven home runs and 26 RBIs. First baseman Tommy Hopfe is next at .279 with 11 doubles, eight home runs and 36 RBIs, all team highs, while shortstop Travis Welker is hitting .272 with 13 RBIs.

Cal Poly is led by sophomore third baseman Ryan Fenn, who has been swinging a hot bat since the middle of March. Hitting just .192 after the Big West opener against Hawai'i, Fenn has gone 42-for-109 (.385) in his last 28 games to lift his average 164 points to .356.

Fenn had a 15-game hitting streak snapped by Pepperdine last week but went 4-for-10 in the UC Davis series with a double and one RBI. He was 28-for-62 (.452) during the hitting streak with seven consecutive multiple-hit contests.

Shortstop Aaron Casillas is hitting .328 with 12 doubles and 30 RBIs. His 18-game streak was halted by UC San Diego on April 28 but Casillas responded with back-to-back three-hit games to close out that series and has bumped his average up 75 points over his last 26 games by going 41-for-110 (.373).

Catcher Ryan Stafford is hitting .308 with 13 doubles, five home runs and 31 RBIs. The sophomore has thrown out eight base runners trying to steal a base and has picked off three others this season.

Center fielder Jake Steels has 10 steals in 14 attempts and is hitting .296 while left fielder Collin Villegas sports a .281 mark with 13 doubles, 12 home runs and 31 RBIs, all team highs. Yorke has a .273 average while second baseman Tate Shimao has gone 17-for-53 (.321) in his last 17 games to lift his average 51 points to .261.

Cal Poly will play the second of three straight weekend series on the road against Pac-12 member Utah at Smith's Ballpark in Salt Lake City. The Utes are 19-26-1 overall and 8-18-1 in conference play for 11th place. Game times are 5 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday (all Pacific).