Pepperdine
Cal Poly Welcomes Pepperdine in First Midweek Battle of 2026
3/2/2026 8:00:00 PM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly baseball plays its first midweek game of the 2026 season Tuesday afternoon seeking to snap a six-game losing streak against a pair of teams with Pac-12 ties.
Pepperdine pays a visit to Baggett Stadium for a 5 p.m. non-conference contest. Cal Poly has won four straight games against the Waves, who are 2-8 overall, losing all three games at USC and falling three games to one at Fresno State and, last weekend, two games to one at home versus Yale.
Head Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs jumped to a 4-1 start with a series win at Campbell and capturing the first two games of their home series versus Washington State. The Cougars bounced back with a pair of wins for a series split while then-No. 25 USC swept a four-game series over the weekend in San Luis Obispo.
Under second-year head coach Tyler LaTorre, Pepperdine sports a .211 team batting average, led by pitcher and designated hitter Joshua Woodworth with a .294 average and first baseman James Dell'Amico at .281.
The Waves' pitching staff has compiled a 6.67 ERA in 10 games and Pepperdine has committed 15 errors for a .960 fielding percentage.
Cal Poly's team batting average slipped more than 50 points to .236 as the USC pitching staff held the Mustangs to eight runs and 21 hits in the four-game series. Shortstop Nate Castellon (.353, 6-for-17) and right fielder Xander McLaurin (.333, 3-for-9) were the lone Mustangs above the .200 mark versus the Trojans.
For the season, Castellon and third baseman Alejandro Garza both own .319 batting averages, Garza knocking in a team-leading eight runs so far, while McLaurin is hitting .300.
Lee has tabbed freshman southpaw Brady Estes (0-0, 0.00 ERA) as his starter on the mound Tuesday. A graduate of Whitney High School in Rocklin, Calif., Estes pitched twice against USC, allowing no runs and no hits over 3 1/3 innings with five strikeouts. He also pitched one scoreless frame versus Washington State.
Despite 4-3 and 12-6 victories in 2024 and 10-2 and 12-5 wins last spring, Cal Poly trails in its series against Pepperdine, 41-35, since the first meeting between the two schools in 1947.
Cal Poly set an attendance record for a four-game series by drawing 7,933 fans over the weekend, which is No. 4 all-time for any series the Mustangs have hosted in 25-plus seasons in Baggett Stadium.
Cal Poly opens the defense of its 2025 Big West Championship this weekend at Hawai'i.
