11/12/2026 3:45:00 PM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — A season-opening series against the No. 2-ranked team in the nation at the end of the regular season a year ago, three new Big West opponents and home series versus San Diego State, Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine highlight the 2027 Cal Poly baseball schedule announced Thursday by Director of Athletics Carter Henderson and Head Coach Larry Lee.
The two-time defending Big West champion Mustangs begin their quest for a third consecutive trip to the NCAA postseason and sixth overall with a three-game series at Georgia Tech on Feb. 19-21 in Atlanta.
Members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), the Yellow Jackets closed out a 50-11 campaign in 2026 on a sour note, falling twice to Oklahoma in the NCAA Atlanta Regional at Russ Chandler Stadium. Georgia Tech let a 7-3 lead slip away as the Sooners rallied for five runs in the final four frames of the 10-inning contest.
Georgia Tech claimed both the 2026 ACC regular season and tournament titles in James Ramsey's first season as head coach of the Yellow Jackets.
Georgia Tech returns third baseman Ryan Zuckerman (.345), who hit a school-record 23 home runs a year ago, along with first baseman Kent Schmidt (.305), designated hitter/outfielder Caleb Daniel (.298) and outfielder Will Baker (.332).
On the mound, the Yellow Jackets return weekend right-handed starters Jackson Blakely (8-1, 3.36 ERA) and Carson Ballard (6-0, 3.66 ERA) as well as standout bullpen arms Caden Gaudette (6-2, 4.83 ERA) and southpaw Dylan Loy (3-1, 4.20 ERA) among others. The returning group will be bolstered by the Top 10 Portal Class, according to Baseball America.
The Mustangs, who beat ACC member Virginia Tech in the NCAA Los Angeles Regional last year, last faced an ACC team in the regular season in 2011 when North Carolina earned a 2-1 victory in a tournament hosted by USC.
Cal Poly also will hit the road for its second series of the year, visiting USC for three games on Feb. 26-28. The Trojans were 48-18 in 2026, finished tied for third place with Oregon in the Big Ten Conference, went 1-1 in the Big Ten tournament, won the NCAA College Station Regional with a 4-1 record and lost two of three games in the NCAA Super Regional at North Carolina.
Georgia Tech was 32-4 at home last season while USC finished 32-1 inside Dedeaux Field.
"2027 will again have another challenging schedule, with the first two weekend series on the road against two of the top teams in the country," head coach Larry Lee said of his 25th Cal Poly team faced with the task of playing two teams with a combined 64-5 home record a year ago.
The Mustangs will play their first home series on March 5-7 with the first of three games against San Diego State inside Baggett Stadium. Cal Poly also will host Utah Tech for a four-game set March 12-14.
Cal Poly begins defense of its Big West regular season championship March 19-21 as Cal State Fullerton comes to town, led by interim head coach Cory Vanderhook, a nephew of former Titan head coach Rick Vanderhook. Cory Vanderhook was Cal State Fullerton's director of operations from 2015-17 and most recently was an assistant coach at UNLV for seven seasons (2020-26).
Other Big West series at home for the Mustangs are against UC Irvine on April 2-4, UC San Diego on April 23-25, UC Riverside on May 7-9 and Utah Valley on May 14-16.
Cal Poly will go on the road for a Big West series against California Baptist (March 25-27), UC Santa Barbara (April 9-11), Cal State Bakersfield (April 16-18), Sacramento State (April 30-May 2) and CSUN (May 20-22).
A dozen midweek games also are on Cal Poly's schedule for the 2027 season.
The Mustangs will host Saint Mary's in their home opener Feb. 24, Fresno State on March 23 and April 13, San Jose State on April 6, Santa Clara on May 5 and Pepperdine on May 11. The midweek games on the road include Saint Mary's on March 3, San Jose State on March 9, Pepperdine on March 16 and March 30, Fresno State on April 20 and Santa Clara on April 28.
In all, Cal Poly will play 28 games at home and 27 on the road. The schedule also includes 30 Big West games and 25 non-conference contests. The Mustangs do not play Long Beach State this spring.
The Big West, which had 11 teams for most sports a year ago, currently has 12 members for the 2026-27 academic year and will fall back to 10 the following year. The Big West welcomed California Baptist, Sacramento State and Utah Valley on July 1 while Hawai'i and UC Davis left for the Mountain West Conference. On July 1, 2027, UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego will leave for the West Coast Conference.
"This year we will have to navigate against three new teams entering the Big West," said Lee. "We will have to deal with an element of unfamiliarity with both the teams and their stadiums."
Cal Poly posted a 39-24 overall mark in 2026, the sixth-most victories in program history, and finished the year ranked in the national polls for the second time in the program's history.
Thanks to a Big West regular season title, second straight Big West tournament championship, fifth trip to an NCAA Regional, first regional title (at UCLA's Jackie Robinson Stadium) and first NCAA Super Regional appearance in program history (Morgantown, WV), the Mustangs finished 19th in both the D1Baseball.com and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association polls and 23rd in both the Baseball America and USA Today Coaches polls.
Winner of nine of 10 Big West series last spring and 25 of 30 conference series over the last three years, Cal Poly broke 11 all-time school team or individual records, tied two other marks, and several players moved into the top 10 in numerous statistical categories.
The school records that were broken include Alejandro Garza's 254 hits in his career and 282 at-bats for a single season, Nick Bonn with his 17 saves and Ryan Tayman with 546 putouts, also for a single season. Tayman also tied a record with his 18 home runs.
Team records that fell include most at-bats (2,251), doubles (157), strikeouts by pitchers (583), saves (23), most innings pitched (561 2/3) and most putouts (1,685).
The lone team record that was matched was for games played as the Mustangs equaled the mark of the 1989 NCAA Division II national championship team which also played 63 games. The club's 39 wins are tied for No. 6 all-time.
Cal Poly played seven of the last nine weekends of its 2026 schedule on the road and was victorious in 21 of its last 27 contests. From that team, 16 players return, including five position starters (35 or more starts) and eight pitchers, along with four redshirts.
The returning starters include first baseman/designated hitter Braxton Thomas, second baseman Jake Downing, shortstop Nate Castellon, outfielder Dante Vachini, first baseman/designated hitter Gavin Spiridonoff and pitcher Corden Pettey. Relief pitchers Brady Estes (27 appearances, two saves), Josh Morano (22 appearances, three wins) and Troy Cooper (21 appearances, two wins) also return.
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