Cal Poly Dispatches CSUB 6-3 in Series Finale for Second Big West Sweep

Sunday, March 15

San Luis Obispo, CA

1:05 PM

12-7, 6-0

Cal State Bakersfield

7-13, 1-5

Cal State Bakersfield

Cal Poly

Photo by: Chloe Briote-Johnson

Cal Poly Dispatches CSUB 6-3 in Series Finale for Second Big West Sweep

3/15/2026 5:45:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — For the second straight Sunday, Carson Turnquist turned in a successful long relief stint for a victory and the Nos. 5-7 batters in Cal Poly's lineup combined for eight hits and four RBIs as the Mustangs defeated Cal State Bakersfield 6-3 at Baggett Stadium.

With their eighth straight victory, head coach Larry Lee's Mustangs completed a sweep of their three-game Big West baseball series, are off to a 6-0 start to their conference schedule and improved their overall record to 12-7.

Swept by Cal Poly for the second consecutive year, Cal State Bakersfield fell to 7-13 (1-5 Big West).

Turnquist (2-0), who tossed 5 1/3 scoreless frames in relief last Sunday at Hawai'i, went five scoreless innings in relief of starter Josh Volmerding one week later and allowed just one hit with four walks and seven strikeouts. The Paso Robles High School graduate threw 98 pitches.

Junior lefty Josh Morano secured five outs and closer Nick Bonn notched his fifth save with one inning of work in the ninth. For Bonn, it was the second straight week that he earned two saves in a weekend series.

Meanwhile, Cal Poly had to come from behind for the seventh time this season to earn the victory. Cal State Bakersfield scored three times in the second frame for an early 3-0 lead, but the Mustangs bounced back with two runs in the bottom of the second and four more in the third.

Center fielder Casey Murray Jr. and left fielder Dante Vachini led the way with three hits each and designated hitter Xander McLaurin added a pair of run-scoring hits as Cal Poly put together its third straight game with double-digit hits in the series.

Vachini went 3-for-4 Sunday and was 7-for-12 in the series to lift his average 65 points to .279. Murray also was 3-for-4 in the game and 9-for-12 in the series, boosting his average to a team-leading .370.

Shortstop Nate Castellon went 6-for-12 in the series and is hitting .346 for the season. Cal Poly hit .380 in the three-game set with 13 extra-base hits, including 10 doubles.

Cal State Bakersfield was held to seven hits Sunday by four Mustang pitchers. Outfielder Jacob May and catcher Kanoa Morisaki each contributed a pair of hits for the Roadrunners.

Cal State Bakersfield parlayed three doubles and a wild pitch into three runs in the second inning before the trio of Mustang relievers held the Roadrunners off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

Cal Poly clawed back with two runs in its half of the second. Vachini and McLaurin hit back-to-back doubles for the first run and first baseman Jake Downing singled to right field, pushing across the second tally.

The Mustangs grabbed the lead with four runs in the third frame. Murray tied the game with an RBI double to left-center, Vachini blooped a run-scoring single to right field for a 4-3 Cal Poly lead, McLaurin singled to center field for a 5-3 advantage and Downing's sacrifice fly to center field cashed in the final run.

Neither team scored the rest of the way.

The loss was charged to southpaw Joe O'Regan (0-1) as he gave up all four runs after relieving Roadrunner starter Roman Bracamonte at the start of the third inning.

UC Santa Barbara fell to UC Davis 10-6 while UC San Diego completed its series sweep at CSUN with a 12-4 triumph and Cal State Fullerton swept defending Big West regular season champion UC Irvine, winning Sunday's finale 8-6. Thus, Cal Poly (6-0 Big West) leads Cal State Fullerton (5-1) by one game, UC San Diego (3-0) by a game-and-a-half and UC Santa Barbara (4-2) and UC Davis (4-2) by two games.

Cal Poly takes a break for Winter Quarter finals and returns to action next weekend with a Saturday-through-Monday Big West series versus UC Davis in Baggett Stadium. Game times are 3 p.m., 1 p.m. and 1 p.m. respectively.