UC Davis
Cal Poly Baseball Hosts UC Davis for Final Time as Big West Foes
3/19/2026 1:30:00 PM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — UC Davis, off to its best start in Big West play since its first season in the conference 18 years ago, pays a visit to Baggett Stadium for a three-game series against a streaking Cal Poly baseball club.
Due to Winter Quarter finals on both campuses this week, the series will start Saturday and conclude Monday. Game times are 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. both Sunday and Monday. All three games will be video streamed live on ESPN+, with Chris Sylvester providing the play-by-play. Links for the video streams and live stats are available on the baseball schedule page.
The visiting Aggies bring a 9-9 overall mark to San Luis Obispo and have won four of their first six Big West games for the first time since officially joining the conference in 2008 and winning six of their first seven contests.
The last win in that run was a 3-2 decision against Cal Poly thanks to a walk-off single by Jake Jefferies. The Aggies then lost the last two games of the series to the Mustangs 10-5 and 4-2.
UC Davis has split its first 18 games this season, bouncing back from a Texas sweep of the Aggies on the opening weekend of play by taking two of three games versus Santa Clara, Nevada, UC Riverside and, last weekend, UC Santa Barbara at home, rallying from a 4-0 loss in the opener with 5-4 and 10-6 victories.
The Aggies are hitting .233 as a team, led by right fielder Tyler Howard at .318 with nine RBIs. Designated hitter Zach Story is next with a .292 mark, four doubles and eight RBIs, followed by shortstop Elijah McNeal at .262 with six RBIs and catcher Evan Gentil at .259 with five doubles, three home runs and a team-leading 15 RBIs.
The UC Davis pitching staff sports a 4.99 ERA. Sophomore right-hander Keenan Anzai (2-0, 4.71 ERA) will start Saturday's game on the mound for the Aggies, followed by senior right-hander Noel Valdez (1-2, 3.90 ERA) on Sunday and freshman southpaw Jack Pezzolo (0-0, 0.00 ERA) on Monday,
Cal Poly has won eight straight games, starting with Pepperdine on March 3 followed by a Big West sweep at Hawai'i and, after a midweek triumph versus Fresno State, three consecutive wins against Cal State Bakersfield by scores of 8-4, 6-2 and 6-3.
The last four wins were at home and the UC Davis series this weekend caps a seven-game Mustang home stand. Cal Poly was 3-6 at Baggett Stadium prior to last week's 4-0 mark.
The Mustangs produced nine-game and eight-game winning streaks en route to a 43-win campaign a year ago. The Cal Poly record for longest winning streak within one season is 13, established by the 2022 club, while the lengthiest Mustang winning streak over two seasons is 14, covering the final seven games of 2012 and the first seven contests of 2013.
The Mustangs were 12-0 to start Big West play a year ago en route to their second-ever conference crown in Division I and a berth in the NCAA Eugene Regional, Cal Poly's fourth trip to the Division I postseason.
During the eight-game run, Cal Poly hit at a .334 clip, led by center fielder Casey Murray Jr. at a .457 clip with 10 extra-base hits and seven RBIs. Caatcher Ryan Tayman is next with a .400 mark and a team-leading 15 RBIs followed by third baseman Gavin Spiridonoff (.385) and designated hitter/outfielder Cam Hoiland (.379).
Murray was 9-for-12 in the Cal State Bakersfield series, lifting his average for the season to .370 while left fielder Dante Vachini hiked his average 65 points to .279 after going 7-for-12 in the series. Shortstop Nate Castellon was 6-for-12 against the Roadrunners, his average climbing to .346 for the year.
On the mound, Carson Turnquist (2-0, 1.40 ERA) notched five scoreless innings of one-hit baseball in relief for the win Sunday while starters Griffin Naess (3-1, 2.40 ERA) and Corden Pettey (2-1, 4.15 ERA) each went five innings for victories Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Cal Poly's rotation this weekend as announced by head coach Larry Lee will be Naess on Saturday, Pettey on Sunday and Turnquist on Monday. Naess was named to the College Baseball Foundation's National Pitcher of the Year Watch List last week,
Seven of Cal Poly's 12 wins so far this season have featured come-from-behind rallies, including two in the Cal State Bakersfield series, turning around a 4-0 deficit Friday and 3-0 on Sunday. The Mustangs have hit at a .333 clip in their six Big West games so far
Tommy Nicholson (fifth season, 61-108, Texas '06) was named the 11th head coach in UC Davis program history on Dec. 16, 2021 following four years as an assistant at Stanford, where he served as the Cardinal's hitting, infield, and third base coach. Under Nicholson, Stanford led the Pac-12 in home runs in 2019 with 48 and finished Nicholson's first season in 2018 with a .978 fielding percentage, the third-highest in program history.
Prior to his time in Palo Alto, Nicholson spent the 2017 season as an assistant at Sacramento State, where he helped lead the Hornets to the NCAA Stanford Regional. He also served as Sacramento State's infield coach in 2011 and 2012. Nicholson began his coaching career at his alma mater, Texas, working as a volunteer assistant from 2009-10 and then as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from 2013-16.
Nicholson was selected in the 11th round of the 2000 MLB Draft by the Chicago White Sox. He spent 2000-05 with the White Sox and Rockies, reaching Triple-A. Nicholson hit .327 over his collegiate career at Texas with 147 runs scored, 223 hits, 37 doubles, four triples, nine home runs, 114 RBIs and 20 stolen bases and was the team's most valuable player in 1999 and 2000. He returned to graduate from Texas with his bachelor's degree in 2006.
Cal Poly and UC Davis have met 67 times on the baseball field since the series began in 1951. All but six of those meetings are over the last 20 seasons after the Aggies announced their intention to move to Division I, a transfer that was completed in time for the 2008 season.
The Mustangs hold a 52-15 advantage in the series after sweeping the Aggies in 2022, 2024 and 2025 and winning three of four games in Davis in 2021. UC Davis won two of three games in 2023 at Davis.
Cal Poly had won eight consecutive series against UC Davis before the Aggies took two of three games in 2012 in Davis. Cal Poly is 47-14 against UC Davis, including a 27-3 mark in Baggett Stadium, since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season. Lee is 47-14 against UC Davis while Nicholson is 2-10 versus Cal Poly.
In his 24th season at Cal Poly, Lee has compiled a 725-559-2 record with the Mustangs and, combined with his 16 seasons at Cuesta College, is 1,185-800-5 overall as a head coach. He guided Cal Poly to the Big West tournament crown in 2025 with a 4-1 mark and his program's fourth trip to the NCAA postseason, going 2-2 in the NCAA Eugene Regional.
