UC San Diego
Mustangs Welcome UC San Diego for April 18-19 Series on ESPN+
4/15/2025 3:31:00 PM | Softball
Cal Poly Softball
Upcoming Games
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Playing six of its final nine regular season matchups at home, the Cal Poly softball program welcomes UC San Diego to Bob Janssen Field for a three-game, April 18-19 series. Action on ESPN+ opens with a 3 p.m. doubleheader on Friday, April 18 and closes with a 12 noon single matchup on Saturday, April 19. With nine regular season contests remaining, Cal Poly (8-30, 3-15) trails sixth-place UC Riverside (18-23, 9-9) by six games in the Big West standings with the top six programs qualifying for the inaugural May 7-10 Big West Championship. Seventh-place UC San Diego (10-25, 8-10), which took two of three series games at UC Davis last weekend, resides just one game behind UC Riverside in the standings.
FOLLOW CAL POLY THIS WEEK: ESPN+ coverage and live stats for all three of Cal Poly’s April 18-19 series matchups versus UC San Diego will be available via GoPoly.com HERE.
CAL POLY VERSUS UC SAN DIEGO: Cal Poly and UC San Diego met on 18 occasions between 1987 and 1994 as Division II opponents and then not again until the Tritons joined the Big West ahead of the 2021 season. UC San Diego captured the first two Big West series against the Mustangs – prevailing twice in 2021 and 2022 – before Cal Poly won two of three home matchups in 2023 and swept the Tritons in La Jolla to end the 2024 season. The Mustangs lead the all-time series, 25-5.
BERMUDEZ TAKES OVER BATTING LEAD: Hitting .400 (8-for-20) over Cal Poly’s last six games, freshman outfielder Maddy Bermudez has emerged as Cal Poly’s top batter with a .289 (33-for-114) mark. One of only three Mustangs to start all 38 games and the only freshman to do so, Bermudez also tops Cal Poly with 33 hits and co-leads with eight multi-hit games and 13 runs. Having hit safely a team best 25 times, Bermudez is batting .321 (18-for-56) in Big West matchups.
BARNETT ADDS OFFENSE TO THE RESUME: The reigning Big West Defensive Player of the Year honoree, senior catch Julia Barnett continues to lead Cal Poly with eight multi-hit games and 17 RBI. A starter in all 125 games since the start of the 2023 season, Barnett is a .986 career fielder with just 10 errors in 733 total chances. After finishing second among NCAA Division I catchers last season by throwing out 19 baserunners, Barnett currently ranks seventh nationally with 15 thrown out.
BLANCHARD KEEPS THE PACE: Having reached base in 26 of her last 30 appearances, junior center fielder Kiara Blanchard – the Big West’s leader with 12 doubles and first in Cal Poly’s lineup with 46 total bases and 13 runs – enters the April 18-19 series versus UC San Diego leading Cal Poly with a .333 (14-for-42) batting average in conference play. Also Cal Poly’s co-leader with eight multi-hit games, seven of those efforts have occurred since March 1.
Mustangs with six of their final nine regular season matchups at home, beginning this week against UC San Diego on ESPN+!#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/hwAXihpP5I
— Cal Poly Softball (@CalPolySoftball) April 14, 2025
ERSKINE ON THE RISE: After starting her collegiate career with just one hit in the first seven games, freshman shortstop Sienna Erskine has emerged as Cal Poly’s second leading hitter with a .272 (25-for-92) mark. Erskine, who collected a career best three hits during a 4-3 victory versus Loyola Marymount (March 2), ranks second in the lineup with six multi-hit efforts.
CONDON MAKES BIG WEST HISTORY: During the second matchup of Cal Poly’s April 12 doubleheader at UC Riverside, 21st-year head coach Jenny Condon became just the third coach in Big West softball history – and first female – to manage 1,000 games at a member program. The winningest female head coach in university history, Jenny Condon ranks sixth in Big West history with both 485 total victories and 209 conference wins. A four-time Big West Coach of the Year honoree, Condon has accounted for 41 percent of the program’s 1,195 all-time victories.
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.
