Griffin Naess Earns Second Career Big West Pitcher of the Week
2/23/2026 12:30:00 PM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — For the second time in his accomplished career, right-handed starting pitcher Griffin Naess has been named Big West Pitcher of the Week.
The junior from Laguna Beach delivered a dominant performance in Cal Poly's home opener, striking out a career-high 14 batters over seven innings to lead the Mustangs to a 9-0 victory over Washington State on Friday night. His previous career high for strikeouts in a game was seven.
Naess struck out the side in the second, fifth and sixth innings, allowing just one hit and issuing no walks. Brady Estes and Troy Cooper each tossed a scoreless frame in relief as the trio combined for Cal Poly's first shutout of the season.
Naess previously earned weekly honors as a freshman after throwing eight shutout innings against Cal State Fullerton in an eventual 6-0 team victory. In that outing, he limited the Titans to just one hit and one walk while recording seven strikeouts.
Naess is 1-1 this season with a 1.50 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 14.0 innings of work. His strikeout total currently ranks second in the Big West.
