Mustangs Walked Off by LMU 8-7, Road Win Streak Snapped

Wednesday, March 25

Los Angeles, Calif.

6:00 PM

14-9

LMU

8-20

Cal Poly

Loyola Marymount

Photo by: Alan Ko

Mustangs Walked Off by LMU 8-7, Road Win Streak Snapped

3/25/2026 11:15:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Third baseman DJ Ghiorso singled off the scoreboard in left field to drive in the winning run as Loyola Marymount, which trailed 7-4 in the eighth inning, earned a walk-off 8-7 victory over Cal Poly on Wednesday night at Page Stadium.

Three Mustang pitchers could not keep Ghiorso off the basepaths as he singled three times, walked twice and knocked in the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning.

Loyola Marymount improved to 8-20 with the non-conference win while Cal Poly slipped to 14-9.

The Mustangs scored single runs in the first two frames before Loyola Marymount scored four times in the fourth inning for a 4-2 lead. Cal Poly responded with a run in the sixth and four in the eighth for a 7-4 advantage.

Closer Nick Bonn, the NCAA and Big West leader in saves with seven, could not keep the Lion bats quiet in the final two innings as LMU tied the game with three runs in the eighth on a single, double, triple, walk and sacrifice fly and produced the winning run in the ninth. Bonn secured the first two outs before allowing three consecutive singles.

Jacob Fried (1-0) secured four outs for the victory while Bonn (0-2) suffered the loss.

Cal Poly produced double-digit hits for the 10th time in its last 13 games. The 11-hit offensive attack was paced by left fielder Dante Vachini with three singles, including a comebacker off the pitcher's glove for an RBI single in the first inning and a two-run single up the middle in the eighth.

Second baseman Alejandro Garza added two singles and one RBI while center fielder Casey Murray Jr. and right fielder Cam Hoiland both extended their double-digit hitting streaks. Hoiland advanced his streak to 11 games with a single to left in the eighth and Murray's streak is now 13 games following his RBI single to right, also in the eighth.

Ghiorso's three hits led LMU's 12-hit outburst.

Before breaking through for four runs in the eighth to erase a 4-3 deficit, Cal Poly's offense struggled. In the first seven frames, the Mustangs had 15 baserunners, 12 in scoring position, but scored just three times. For the game, Cal Poly left 11 runners on base and couldn't take advantage of three LMU errors.

Vachini's first single gave Cal Poly a 1-0 lead and Hoiland's grounder to first base bumped the lead up to 2-0. Richie Klosek blasted a three-run home run and Travis Friend followed with a solo blast to give LMU a 4-2 advantage in the fourth.

Gavin Spiridonoff and Ryan Tayman both singled to open the sixth and Garza's grounder to second base closed the Mustang deficit to 4-3. Cal Poly surged ahead 7-4 with its four-run eighth-inning uprising. Murray singled with the bases loaded for the first run, a wild pitch allowed the second run to score and Vachini capped the rally with his two-run single up the middle.

LMU, a 6-2 loser to top-ranked UCLA the night before, tied the game in the bottom of the eighth and won it in the ninth, thus avenging a 9-1 loss to Cal Poly early in the 2025 season.

Cal Poly will regroup this weekend with a three-game Big West Conference series at UC Riverside. Game times are 2 p.m. Friday and 1 o'clock both Saturday and Sunday.