Seton Hall
Cal Poly Finally Opens Home Slate Versus Seton Hall Before Fresno State Trip
2/27/2025 2:30:00 PM | Baseball
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SAN LUIS OBISPO — Fourteen days and seven games since the 2025 season kicked off, Cal Poly (2-5, 0-0 BW) is back home at Baggett Stadium for its first home series against Seton Hall (3-4, 0-0 BE) and will have its next midweek game at Fresno State (4-4, 0-0 MW).
About Last Week
The Mustangs, with a 2-2 week, are coming off one of the most significant regular-season victories in program history on Sunday, Feb. 23, when they shocked No. 1 Texas A&M with a rallying 3-2 upset win.
That game marks the third time Cal Poly has taken down a top-ranked program in the D1 era, with the other two being the 2020 MLB4 Tournament game over Vanderbilt and a 2005 defeat of conference foe Cal State Fullerton.
Partly for his efforts in securing the win on Sunday, Tanner Sagouspe earned his first career Big West Pitcher of the Week honor, making three relief pitching appearances last week, two of which were during wins. He has also sat his last ten batters faced, six on Sunday and four on Saturday.
Sagouspe has still yet to allow a run this season, striking out seven and walking just one in the process, alongside giving up only a single hit in 67 total pitches.
Ethan Marmie set Sagouspe up for success against the Aggies, as the sophomore enjoyed inarguably his best career start, holding one of the nation’s best offenses to five hits and a pair of runs through seven complete innings of work.
Mustangs Riding High
Jack Collins, leading the Mustangs in multiple hitting categories, was 5-for-17 last week (.294) with four RBIs and the game-tying home run during the upset against Texas A&M.
Casey Murray Jr. and Nate Castellon made their presence felt with a fantastic week, topping Mustang batters during the four-game stretch in average (.313) while tying Collins for the lead in hits (5).
For the second consecutive year, Cal Poly remains near the top of NCAA Division I baseball in fielding (.987 FLD%), ranked 15th. Collins, along with being the team’s best batter thus far, has also been perfect behind the plate (1.000) and leads the Big West in runners caught stealing (4).
Despite the Mustangs hitting just .193 as a team, their small ball usage is helping compensate for any troubles as they are 35th in Division I baseball for sacrifice bunts, while both Castellon and Zach Daudet are top-30 individually.
Once again, Alejandro Garza is one of the toughest batters to strike out in NCAA Div I (30th). Though off to a tough start in terms of batting average, Garza is still impressively patient and smart in the box, making plenty of contact in the process.
Vs… Seton Hall - Friday, Feb. 28 to Sunday, March 2
The Mustangs and Pirates will face off this weekend for the first time in program history with four games planned over the three days, including a Saturday doubleheader.
Seton Hall was one of the most accomplished college baseball programs in the 1970s, making three College World Series appearances and eight NCAA Tournament Appearances during the decade. Baseball Hall of Famer Craig Biggio notably played for Seton Hall from 1985-87.
The Pirates’ toughest opponent this season was College of Charleston that went 41-14 last year, nearly making an NCAA Regionals appearance, otherwise, Seton Hall does not have a high-RPI opponent this season.
Even if their schedule is not the toughest around, the Pirates are still a solid and determined team with one of the best offenses in Division I baseball at the moment. Their .323 team batting average ranks 31st in the country while also 6th for triples.
Seton Hall has five starters above a .300 clip thus far. The Pirates are led by reigning America East All-Rookie Team honoree AJ Soldra, batting 14-for-30 (.467) with an eye-popping 1.210 OPS.
Following behind Soldra are fellow outfielder Aiden Robbins (.424 AVG, 14 H, 10 R, 4 2B, 2 3B, 9 RBI) and senior catcher Jimmy Brennan (.407 AVG, 11 H, 2 HR, 10 RBI).
Pitching is where the Pirates have seen trouble, with the notable exception of starter Ryan Reich (2.35 ERA, 9 K, .207 OPP AVG). Otherwise, Seton Hall deploys a wide array of bullpen pitchers to keep arms fresh.
The bullpen is surprisingly, yet evenly, split with six relievers yet to allow a run this season but also five with a 9.00+ ERA and four of those higher than an 11.00 ERA.
At… Fresno State - Tuesday, March 4
An opponent that Cal Poly has a storied history with, Fresno State (4-4, 0-0 MW) is on the schedule as much as almost any conference opponent the Mustangs will face in their Big West schedule.
The Bulldogs narrowly lead the series against Cal Poly (31-32), but the Mustangs are 5-2 against their Central Valley opponent in the post-COVID era. There are another three matchups on the docket this year, two road and one home.
This season, Fresno State split a series 2-2 against BYU before taking two of three from Cal State Fullerton last weekend and heavily losing a midweek game to St. Mary’s on Tuesday. Prior to playing Cal Poly, the Bulldogs will come up against ranked UC Santa Barbara for a full series before driving up the Central Coast to San Luis Obispo.
One of Fresno State’s leading hitters, third baseman Murf Gray (.313 AVG, 10 H, 6 RBI) is ranked by MLB.com as the 83rd-best draft prospect this season. He is one of seven Bulldogs hitting above .250 and one of four above .300, headed by Cam Schneider (.400 AVG).
JT Guerrero currently leads Fresno State’s bullpen (6.2 IP) with eight strikeouts while allowing just one run through 23 batters. Otherwise, the Bulldogs hold a 5.58 ERA currently with five pitchers under a 5.00 ERA.
