UC Riverside
Mustangs Mark Historic Weekend with Visit to UC Riverside
4/11/2025 12:12:00 PM | Softball
Cal Poly Softball
Upcoming Matchups
SAN LUIS OBISPO – During a Saturday, April 12 afternoon when the Cal Poly softball team celebrates both the 50th anniversary of the program’s first varsity game and Jenny Condon’s 1,000th game as head coach, the Mustangs open a three-game series at UC Riverside with a 1 p.m. doubleheader. Series action concludes with a 12 noon solo matchup on Sunday, April 13 for Cal Poly, which resumes play after taking two of three home matchups from Cal State Bakersfield (April 5-6). With 12 regular season contests remaining, Cal Poly (7-28, 2-13) trails sixth-place UC Riverside (16-22, 7-8) by five games in the Big West standings as the top six programs qualify for the inaugural May 7-10 Big West Championship.
FOLLOW CAL POLY THIS WEEK: ESPN+ coverage and live stats for all three of Cal Poly’s April 12-13 series matchups at UC Riverside will be available via GoPoly.com HERE.
CAL POLY VERSUS UC RIVERISDE: The Mustangs have taken two of three series games from UC Riverside during each of the last two seasons with the 2023 series win Cal Poly’s first against the Highlanders since 2016. The Mustangs lead the all-time series, 99-43, dating to the first meeting – a 4-1 Cal Poly win – on April 16, 1976. One Cal Poly victory provides the Mustangs their first 100-win total against any opponent in 51 seasons.
BARNETT ADDS OFFENSE TO THE RESUME: The reigning Big West Defensive Player of the Year honoree, senior catch Julia Barnett remains Cal Poly’s top hitter, leading the Mustangs with a .295 (31-for-105) batting average, 31 hits and 16 RBI. Having hit safely a team best 22 times this season, Barnett – who swatted her second career homer during a Feb. 8 home matchup with Oregon State – also paces Cal Poly with eight multi-hit games and four multi-RBI games. A starter in all 122 games since the start of the 2023 season, Barnett is a .986 career fielder with just 10 errors in 727 total chances. After finishing second among NCAA Division I catchers last season by throwing out 19 baserunners, Barnett currently ranks sixth nationally with 14 thrown out.
BLANCHARD HEATS UP: Having reached base in 23 of her last 27 appearances, junior center fielder Kiara Blanchard – the Big West’s leader with 11 doubles and first in Cal Poly’s lineup with 43 total bases, 16 RBI and 12 runs – enters the April 12-13 series at UC Riverside batting .400 (8-for-20) in the program’s last eight outings. Also batting a team best .343 (12-for-35) in Big West play, seven of Blanchard’s team leading eight multi-hit games have occurred since March 1.
Mustangs hit the road this week to visit UC Riverside for a three-game, April 12-13 series. Action on ESPN+ gets underway Saturday, April 13 with a 1 p.m. doubleheader!#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/D7Ry52Me2y
— Cal Poly Softball (@CalPolySoftball) April 7, 2025
ERSKINE ON THE RISE: Just one Mustang – senior catcher Julia Barnett – had produced a three-hit game this season until freshman shortstop Sienna Erskine accomplished the feat for the first time in her career during Cal Poly’s 4-3 win against Loyola Marymount (March 2). With just one hit in her first seven collegiate games, Erskine now has six multi-hit efforts this year. Batting .333 in Cal Poly’s last seven games, Erskine has raised her season mark to a .289 (24-for-83) clip.
CONDON ON THE VERGE OF MORE HISTORY: The winningest female head coach in university history, Jenny Condon requires just 16 more Mustang victories to become only the fifth head coach in Big West history to reach 500 career wins. The second game of Cal Poly’s April 12 doubleheader at UC Riverside marks Condon’s 1,000th career game – a figure reached by just two previous Big West head coaches. A four-time Big West Coach of the Year honoree, Condon ranks sixth in conference history with both 484 total victories and 208 Big West wins.
CAL POLY SELECTED FIFTH IN BIG WEST PRESEASON POLL: A year after finishing third in the Big West standings with an 18-8 mark, Cal Poly was selected for a fifth-place finish during the 2025 season following the Jan. 30 release of the conference preseason coaches’ poll. The Mustangs earned 45 points to finish seven votes shy of Hawai’i. Long Beach State, last season’s Big West runner-up, took top spot in the poll with 81 total points and nine of 10 first-place votes. Defending champion Cal State Fullerton earned 63 points and the remaining first-place vote. UC Santa Barbara was third on 59 points.
