Mustang Summer Collegiate League Wrapup
8/15/2025 4:16:00 PM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The 2026 Cal Poly baseball roster is taking shape with four newcomers from the transfer portal, three Mustangs who are returning for a fifth season of baseball, a bevy of returnees producing strong statistics in summer league play and a number of incoming freshmen who could quickly fill whatever gaps remain from last year’s Big West Conference championship team.
The transfers include Arroyo Grande High School graduate Ryan Tayman from Cal behind the plate, infielder Cade Falsken from Oregon State and pitchers Laif Palmer, also from Oregon State, and Nick Bonn from Pepperdine and Dallas Baptist.
Head coach Larry Lee and the rest of the Mustang coaching staff also received some good news when Casey Murray Jr., Dylan Kordic and Cam Hoiland, all outfielders, decided to return to Baggett Stadium for one more year, thanks to a post-COVID NCAA rule granting players who played two years at a community college followed by two seasons at one college or university an extra year of eligibility.
All three are 2021 high school graduates who played the 2022 and 2023 seasons at a junior college before coming to Cal Poly for the 2024 and 2025 campaigns and never redshirted. Murray hit .310 with nine home runs and 46 RBIs last spring, Kordic was a .262 hitter with seven home runs and 42 RBIs and Hoiland finished with a .333 average, six home runs and 24 RBIs.
In summer league play, first baseman Braxton Thomas and infielder Jake Downing hit well above the .300 mark while third baseman Alejandro Garza was two points shy of the mark and outfielder Dante Vachini was off by four points. On the mound, Chris Downs sported a 1.83 ERA while Luke Kalfsbeek was 3-0 with a save.
A few of the incoming freshmen are producing strong summer league numbers as well. Arlo Pendleton of Petaluma High School was 2-0 with a save at Kelowna, outfielder Owen Meli of Newbury Park High School hit .380 and had a blistering 12-game hitting streak for the Alaska Goldpanners, and infielder Antonio Castro of De La Salle High School posted a .264 batting average with 25 RBIs in the regular season for the Corvallis Knights.
A closer look at the transfers …
• Expected to take over for Jack Collins as Cal Poly’s catcher (Collins signed an undrafted free agent contract with the Texas Rangers last month), Tayman hit 324 for the Willmar Stingers in the Northwoods League this summer. His 34 hits included seven doubles and five home runs and Tayman knocked in 23 runs in 28 games en route to a spot in the Northwoods All-Star Game.
Tayman played in 39 games with 33 starts as a sophomore at Cal this spring, hitting .274 with five home runs and 16 RBIs. He started 17 games as catcher, 14 as designated hitter and two in left field. Tayman allowed just one passed ball He hit ,254 with six home runs and 11 RBIs as a Bear freshman, playing 21 games (16 starts), primarily as a backup catcher and designated hitter.
A three-year varsity letter winner at Arroyo Grande High, Tayman was San Luis Obispo County’s player of the Year as a senior in 2023 after hitting .453 with eight doubles and six home runs with 20 RBIs in 28 games. He hit .300 with seven home runs as a junior in 2022 and .328 as a sophomore in 2021 with eight doubles and 13 RBIs in 21 games.
• Falsken was a redshirt at Oregon State in the 2025 season after graduating a year earlier from Newbury Park High, where he set the school record for steals in a single season with 31 and in a career with 61. His 63 career walks and four career triples are in the top five at Newbury Park as well.
The four-year varsity letterman hit .297 in 90 career prep games with eight doubles, four triples, one home run and 34 RBIs. Falsken hit .346 as a senior in 2024 and .333 as a junior in 2023.
• Palmer pitched two seasons at Oregon State after graduating from Golden (Colorado) High School in 2023. With the Beavers, Palmer was 2-0 with a 2.03 ERA as a sophomore with 19 strikeouts over 31 innings and a .168 opponents’ batting average. In his freshman season, Palmer pitched in six games with one start, going 1-2 with a 14.29 ERA and five strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.
At Golden High, Palmer was ranked as the No. 2 pitcher in the state of Colorado by Perfect Game and earned first-team all-state honors after posting a 9 -0 record and 1.86 ERA with 128 strikeouts over 71 innings. He finished the 2022 season with a 7-4 record and 2.33 ERA and 4-2 with a 2.40 ERA as a sophomore in 2021. Palmer fanned 243 batters over 169 innings in his prep career.
Palmer, who also played basketball at Golden, was honorable mention all-state in baseball as a junior and twice earned all-league honors. In addition, he was named first-team Academic All-State as a sophomore and junior.
• Bonn will pitch for his third college team next spring at Cal Poly, following two seasons at Pepperdine and one year at Dallas Baptist.
With the Waves in 2023, Bonn made 19 appearances on the mound with two starts, compiling a 5-1 record and 6.27 ERA over 33 innings. as a sophomore a year later, he made 13 starts on Fridays along with one relief appearance and was 1-7 with a 6.54 ERA, striking out 48 batters over 75 2/3 innings for a Waves team that won just 15 of 53 games.
This spring at Dallas Baptist, Bonn appeared on the mound 15 times, all in relief, with a 1-3 record and 10.24 ERA. He struck out 22 batters over 19 1/3 innings.
Bonn is a 2022 graduate of Laguna Beach High, where he earned Sunset League Pitcher of the Year honors after posting a 5-4 record and 0.94 ERA with 80 strikeouts in 60 innings as a senior. He was a two-time all-league selection and garnered CIF-Southern Section Division 1 second-team honors as a senior, leading the Breakers to a 25-4 record and CIF-Southern Section Division 1 runner-up finish. Bonn collected four saves and posted a 0.95 ERA as a sophomore.
As for current Mustangs in summer league play …
• In 29 games at Kelowna in the West Coast League, Thomas hit .382 with seven doubles, five home runs and 31 RBIs. His 13 multiple-hit games included a 4-for-6 effort (all singles) with four RBIs against Kamloops on July 23 and Thomas also had back-to-back three-hit contests July 12-13 at Victoria and hit a home run in each game of the three-game series against the HarbourCats, driving in eight runs.
• Downing owned a .368 average in 37 games for the Duluth Huskies in the Northwoods League with 10 doubles, a triple, three home runs and 24 RBIs. He stole 17 of 20 bases and his numbers included a .451 on-base percentage, .536 slugging percentage and .987 OPS. Downing had 15 multiple-hit games, including going 4-for-4 with three doubles, a single and three RBIs on July 5 versus Eau Claire and six three-hit games. He produced five consecutive multiple-hit games July 22-26, going 12-for-22 (.545) with three doubles, a home run and seven RBIs.
• Garza played in the Cape Cod League with the Orleans Firebirds, hitting .298 with three doubles, a home run and 16 RBIs in 33 games. He stole a pair of bases in five attempts.
• Vachini was with the Eau Claire Express in the Northwoods League, hitting .296 with nine doubles, a triple, one home run and 13 RBIs in 31 games. He was 4-for-4 in stolen bases and has 22 multiple-hit games to his credit, including a pair of three-hit contests.
• Downs was on the Cape with Yarmouth-Dennis, compiling a 1-2 record and 1.83 ERA with a pair of saves in the regular season. He earned a victory against Chatham on July 8 with two scoreless innings in relief, striking out two, and also earned a win in the Cape Cod League playoffs versus Orleans on August 6, allowing no earned runs over four innings with a walk and three strikeouts. In the opening game of the best-of-three championship series on Monday, Downs pitched 4 1/3 innings in relief in a 5-3 loss to Bourne, allowing two runs and seven hits with three strikeouts in a no-decision. Bourne clinched the league title with a 19-2 win over Yarmouth-Dennis on Tuesday.
• At Corvallis, Kalfsbeek was a spotless 3-0 on the mound with a 4.43 ERA, one save and 25 strikeouts over 22 1/3 innings. He made 10 appearances on the mound for the Knights in the regular season, including two starts, and his longest mound stint was five innings at Springfield on August 1, allowing four runs and five hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
Kalfsbeek tossed two scoreless innings in a 6-5 loss to Portland in the semifinals of the WCL playoffs Tuesday, won by the Pickles 6-5, while Cooper gave up two runs in his two-inning stint. In the regular season, Cooper was 1-1 with a 2.86 ERA and one save for Corvallis, striking out 22 in 22 innings. He earned a victory against Ridgefield on July 9 with two strikeouts among the four outs he recorded.
• Erik Kvidahl was 2-2 with a 7.00 ERA for the San Luis Obispo Blues, striking out 26 over 27 innings. The Blues were 31-17 this summer.
• Vinnie Van Der Wel is hitting .235 for the West Coast Kings in the Pacific Empire League, producing a three-hit game (three singles, one RBI) against the Solano Mudcats on July 19 while Henry Souza, also with the West Coast Kings, is 1-2 with an 8.66 ERA on the mound, striking out 22 in 17 2/3 innings. Souza, a redshirt a year ago, Souza earned his win July 23 against the Medford Rogues by allowing just one run and two hits over 3 1/3 innings with no walks and two strikeouts.
• Xander McLaurin hit .240 for the La Crosse Loggers in the Northwoods League with four doubles and 16 RBIs in 35 games. He was 11-for-14 in stolen bases and notched seven multiple-hit games, including a 3-for-5 day (three singles, one RBI) against Waterloo on July 9. Carson Turnquist had no decisions and a 4.91 ERA and one save with the Duluth Huskies and 20 strikeouts over 11 innings.
Duluth and La Crosse played each other in the opening round of the Northwoods League playoffs, Duluth winning the best-of-three series with 6-2 and 8-0 victories on August 10-11. McLaurin went 0-for-3 for La Crosse while Downing was 2-for-7 with a solo home run for Duluth, which beat the Mankato Moondogs 4-1 in the semifinals Wednesday. Downing singled twice in that game with one RBI, one run scored and a stolen base.
In the championship game against Green Bay on Thursday night, Downing smashed a two-run triple in the fifth inning for an 8-4 Duluth lead, but the Rockers scored six times in the final three innings for a 10-8 triumph. Downing was 5-for-15 in four playoff games with a triple, home run and four RBIs. Turnquist did not pitch in the playoffs for Duluth.
Catching up on a few of the incoming freshmen …
• Pendleton hit .320 in three varsity seasons at Petaluma High, earning California All-State Second-Team honors from MaxPreps as a senior after hitting .391 with four home runs and 22 RBIs and posting a 9-1 record, 1.37 ERA and one save on the mound. He struck out 74 over 56 1/3 innings and, as a junior, was 6-3 with a 2.09 ERA.
• Meli also was a three-year varsity letter winner at Newbury Park High, hitting .319 as a junior with 20 RBIs in 29 games before he was limited to just nine games in his senior season, missing the final two months due to injury. At Fairbanks this summer, Meli went 24-for-48 (.500) during his late-season hitting streak (July 8-27) with a double, triple, home run and 11 RBIs, bumping his average up 174 points from .231 to .405. The Goldpanners were 34-6 overall and 3-1 in the NBC World Series at Wichita, Kansas.
• At De La Salle High, Castro hit .426 as a senior with 10 doubles, two triples, seven home runs and 45 RBIs in 32 games, leading the Spartans to a 29-4 record and CIF-NorCal Division I Regional title. At Corvallis this summer, Castro stole eight of 10 bases with five multiple-hit games, four of them three-hit contests. He was 2-for-12 in three playoff games for the Knights, who finished the regular season with a 39-15 record and have claimed 10 WCL championships and are in the playoffs for the 18th consecutive year. Castro went 0-for-3 for the Knights in a loss to the Portland Pickles on Tuesday. Portland went on to fall to the Bellingham Bells 2-1 in the championship final Thursday night.
• Other incoming freshmen include outfielder Devin Porch of Los Alamitos High, where he hit .318 in 30 games as a senior with nine doubles and 17 RBIs, and played for Kelowna in the West Coast League this summer with 15 hits, including four triples, and had a three-hit game at Victoria on July 12; and infielder Gavin Spiridonoff of Santa Margarita Catholic High, who collected three hits in five games at Kelowna after earning All-Trinity League first-team and Gold Glove awards and compiling a .316 batting average, .922 OPS (on-base plus slugging) and .466 on-base percentage.
Several returning Mustangs were shut down for the summer, including pitchers Griffin Naess, Ethan Marmie, Josh Volmerding, Josh Morano and Caden Pearlman along with shortstop Nate Castellon.
