Cal State Bakersfield
Mustangs Return Home to Host Cal State Bakersfield April 5-6 on ESPN+
4/2/2025 1:49:00 PM | Softball
Cal Poly Softball
Upcoming Games
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Returning home to Bob Janssen Field following a six-game road trip, the Cal Poly softball program seeks its first Big West victory of the season when hosting Cal State Bakersfield for a three-game, April 5-6 series. First pitch on ESPN+ both afternoons is 1 p.m. for Cal Poly, which looks to snap a three-game slide after being swept at Big West leader UC Santa Barbara (March 29-30). Meanwhile, seventh-place Cal State Bakersfield – five games ahead of Cal Poly in the Big West standings – ranks last among conference programs with a 5.37 team ERA.
FOLLOW CAL POLY THIS WEEK: ESPN+ coverage and live stats for all three of Cal Poly’s April 5-6 series matchups with Cal state Bakersfield will be available via GoPoly.com HERE.
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 .299 (26-for-97) batting average, 29 hits and 15 RBI. Having hit safely a team best 20 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 119 games since the start of the 2023 season, Barnett is a .986 career fielder with just 10 errors in 710 total chances. After finishing second among NCAA Division I catchers last season by throwing out 19 baserunners, Barnett currently ranks 13th nationally with 11 thrown out.
BLANCHARD HEATS UP: Having reached base in 20 of her last 24 appearances, junior center fielder Kiara Blanchard – the Big West’s leader with 11 doubles and first in Cal Poly’s lineup with 41 total bases – enters the April 5-6 series with Cal State Bakersfield batting .375 (18-for-48) in the program’s last 18 outings. Seven of Blanchard’s team leading nine multi-hit games have occurred since March 1.
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 five multi-hit efforts this year while batting .368 (7-for-19) in Cal Poly’s last eight outings.
CONDON ON THE VERGE OF MORE HISTORY: The winningest female head coach in university history, Jenny Condon requires just 18 more Mustang victories to become only the fifth head coach in Big West history to reach 500 career wins. Cal Poly’s April 12 doubleheader opening matchup at UC Riverside will also mark 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 482 total victories and 206 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.
Mustangs back home this weekend to host Cal State Bakersfield for a three-game, April 5-6 series on ESPN+. Action gets underway with a 1 p.m. Saturday doubleheader!#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/yXJnqU1LO0
— Cal Poly Softball (@CalPolySoftball) March 31, 2025
