CSUN
Mustangs Ready to Protect First Place Against Visiting Matadors
4/23/2026 5:45:00 PM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Seeking to earn a berth in the five-team Big West Conference championship tournament for the first time, CSUN pays a visit to Baggett Stadium this weekend to take on Cal Poly.
The three-game baseball series begins Friday at 6:05 p.m., followed by the second contest Saturday at 3:05 p.m. and the finale Sunday at 1:05 p.m. All three games will be video streamed on ESPN+ with Ryan Giacomini calling the action. Links for the video stream and live stats are available on the Cal Poly baseball schedule page at GoPoly.com.
CSUN is fifth in the Big West standings at 11-10 and, after this weekend's series in San Luis Obispo, will play UC Santa Barbara and Hawai'i to wrap up conference play. Top five teams qualify for the conference tournament May 20-24 at UC Irvine.
Cal Poly shares first place with UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara, all with 12-6 conference records. Cal State Fullerton is fourth with an 11-7 mark. This weekend, UC Santa Barbara hosts Cal State Fullerton while UC San Diego entertains UC Irvine.
First or second in the Big West all season long, Cal Poly (21-18) moved back into the top spot by taking two of three games at UC San Diego last weekend. CSUN (22-17) claimed two of three contests at home versus UC Davis.
Cal Poly jumped to a 4-1 start this spring, lost six straight to fall to 4-7, then won 10 straight games, including an 8-0 start in Big West play, to lift its overall mark to 14-7. Since then, the Mustangs have lost 11 of their last 18 games.
CSUN, meanwhile, was 10-6 overall after opening Big West play with a 2-1 series win at 2025 Big West regular season champion UC Irvine and a midweek win against Pepperdine on March 9. Since then, the Matadors were swept by UC San Diego, swept Cal State Fullerton, lost two of three against Cal State Bakersfield, went 2-1 versus Long Beach State, lost twice in three games at UC Riverside and won two of three versus UC Davis.
Cal Poly and CSUN are the top two teams in the conference in batting average, hits, runs scored, doubles, triples, RBIs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and sacrifice flies.
Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs sport a .303 team batting average and also lead the Big West in hits (427), doubles (104) and triples (12). The Matadors own a .297 team batting average and lead the conference in runs scored (264), home runs (57), slugging percentage (.507), on-base percentage (.381) and sacrifice flies (26).
Cal Poly is sixth in pitching (5.17 ERA) while CSUN is seventh (5.55). In fielding, the Matadors are fourth with a .975 fielding percentage and 37 errors while the Mustangs are eighth (.972) with 39 miscues.
Junior infielder Alejandro Garza is the reigning Big West Field Player of the Week after going 8-for-17 in the UC San Diego series with five doubles and six RBIs. Although his eight-game hitting streak was snapped Tuesday in a 6-3 loss at Pepperdine, Garza still leads the conference with his .369 batting average, 100 points higher than it was six weeks ago.
Along with that average, Garza also leads the Big West in hits (66) and was fifth nationally in total hits and hits per game at the beginning of the week. He has logged multiple hits in seven of his last nine games and in 13 of his last 19 outings, and tops the Mustangs with 20 multi-hit performances this season. During his eight-game hitting streak, Garza went 23-for-39 (.590) with seven doubles, a home run and nine RBIs.
Other Mustangs at or above the .300 mark include catcher Ryan Tayman (.329, 12 home runs, 40 RBIs), center fielder Casey Murray Jr. (.327, nine doubles, four home runs, 18 RBIs), shortstop Nate Castellon (.325, 13 doubles, 14 RBIs), designated hitter/outfielder Xander McLaurin (.309, eight doubles, 13 RBIs) and infielder Gavin Spiridonoff (.308, seven doubles, 11 RBIs).
Seven Matador regulars own batting averages at or above the .300 mark and an eighth, first baseman Matthew Pena, is one point shy of being a member of the group.
Designated hitter/outfielder Matthew Thomas sits atop the CSUN hitting chart with a .358 average, 14 doubles, 13 home runs and 35 RBIs while left fielder Andrew Becker is hitting .355 with nine doubles, 19 RBIs and eight steals in 10 attempts.
Other plus-.300 hitters in the Matador lineup are designated hitter/first baseman Mateo Rickman (.326, seven doubles, 17 RBIs), second baseman Colton Boardman (.321, seven doubles, 12 RBIs), third baseman Kyle Panganiban (.316, eight home runs, 29 RBIs), center fielder Vaughn Coleman (.303, 11 doubles, seven home runs, 31 RBIs) and right fielder Will Linberg (.302, 10 doubles, 13 RBIs).
The pitching matchups start with Cal Poly junior right-hander Griffin Naess (5-2, 4.29 ERA) versus CSUN redshirt sophomore righty Gabriel Hernandez (4-3, 5.08 ERA) on Friday and Mustang redshirt junior right-hander Carson Turnquist (3-2, 3.76 ERA) against Matador freshman righty Charles Rogers (0-1, 7.27 ERA) on Saturday. Freshman right-hander Corden Pettey (2-2, 5.32 ERA) will start Sunday's contest for Cal Poly while CSUN has not announced a Sunday starter.
CSUN claimed its lone Big West title in 2002, and captured the Western Athletic Conference crown in 1996, both under Mike Batesole, who went on to be head coach at Fresno State for 20 seasons before retiring in 2022. CSUN captured NCAA Division II national titles in 1970 and 1984 under Bob Hiegert.
Former Matadors who played in the Major Leagues include Jason Thompson, Adam Kennedy, Robert Fick, Lyman Bostock and Kameron Loe.
Cal Poly and CSUN have met 248 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1959. The Matadors hold a 129-119 advantage, though Cal Poly capped a 10-1 run against CSUN with a series sweep in 2022.
The Mustangs claimed two of three games against the Matadors last year at Matador Field. In 2014, Cal Poly swept the Matadors, also at Matador Field, to clinch the Big West title. Cal Poly is 54-38 against CSUN since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season.
Larry Lee is 47-25 against CSUN while CSUN head coach Eddie Cornejo is 4-5 against Cal Poly.
An assistant coach at CSUN for three seasons, Cornejo (fourth season, 101-92, Oklahoma '03) was announced as Dave Serrano's successor on April 27, 2022. A nationally recognized recruiter, Cornejo spent one season as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at San Jose State in 2019 and served as the recruiting coordinator at UC Santa Barbara from 2012-18, where he helped recruit five nationally ranked classes. Cornejo helped coach the Gauchos to the 2013 and 2015 NCAA Regionals and the team's first-ever College World Series berth in 2016.
Cornejo also worked as an assistant coach at UC Riverside in 2011 and was interim head coach at Riverside City College in 2010. He was an All-American shortstop at Riverside City College, where he helped the Tigers win two straight state titles in 2000 and 2001, and went on to play two seasons at Oklahoma, earning All-Midwest Region and All-Big 12 Conference honors as a second baseman in 2003. Cornejo was selected in the 13th round of the 2003 MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Oakland Athletics. He went on to play six professional seasons in the Oakland and Colorado Rockies organizations, eventually advancing to the Triple-A ranks in 2008.
Lee is 734-570-2 in 23-plus seasons with the Mustangs and, combined with his 16 seasons at Cuesta College, is 1,194-811-5 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.
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