25-18
Santa Clara
16-27
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Clara | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Cal Poly | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | X | 7 | 12 | 1 |
Mustang Hitting and Pitching In Sync During 7-0 Shutout Over Santa Clara
4/28/2026 9:15:00 PM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — A quartet of pitchers combined on Cal Poly's second shutout of the season and Nate Castellon smashed a solo home run as part of his ninth three-hit game as the Mustangs blanked Santa Clara 7-0 on Tuesday afternoon inside Baggett Stadium.
Sean McGrath pitched five scoreless innings and matched his season high with six strikeouts while Chris Downs, Arlo Pendleton and Luke Kalfsbeek finished the shutout, combining for six more strikeouts, for Cal Poly, which won its fourth straight game and improved its overall mark to 25-18.
Playing its final midweek home game of 2026, Cal Poly amassed 12 hits, reaching double figures for the 10th time in its last 11 contests, and broke open a 1-0 game with five runs on four doubles and a pair of run-scoring singles in the fifth inning.
Held to four singles and striking out a dozen times, Santa Clara fell to 16-27. The Broncos had beaten the Mustangs 10 times in the last 13 meetings between the two teams.
McGrath, who earlier this month earned victories against San Jose State and Pepperdine, both at home, lowered his ERA from 7.11 to 5.93, evened his win-loss record at 3-3 and struck out six for the third time this month. The freshman right-hander is 3-1 with a 1.96 ERA in the month of April.
Downs struck out four Broncos over two innings, Pendleton added a pair of strikeouts in his inning of work on the mound and Kalfsbeek allowed a leadoff walk but nothing else in the ninth inning for Cal Poly, which blanked Washington State 9-0 in its home opener Feb. 20.
Offensively, five Mustangs produced two or more hits, led by Castellon. The sophomore shortstop now has 17 multiple-hit games this season as he added two singles and his fourth home run of the season to his ledger, lifting his average for the year to .351.
Right fielder Dylan Kordic contributed a pair of RBI singles while third baseman Alejandro Garza and catcher Ryan Tayman both had two hits and one RBI. Left fielder Dante Vachini singled and doubled, scoring once.
Garza's single and double for his 21st multiple-hit game of the year raised his career hit total to 234, leaving him 18 shy of the school's career hits record. He has lifted his average 93 points to .360 since mid-March.
Hitting .167 in late March, Kordic has gone 20-for-51 (.392) in his last 17 games with five home runs and 20 RBIs, and currently sports a .290 mark at the plate.
A scoreless tie was broken up in the fourth inning as Tayman doubled and Kordic drove in the run with an RBI single to right-center field.
Cal Poly put up a five-spot on the scoreboard in the fifth. Vachini doubled to start the rally, coming home on Castellon's RBI single. Garza, Jake Downing and Tayman all doubled to drive in runs and Kordic capped the uprising with a run-scoring single to right field.
Final tally of the game was provided by Castellon with his two-out solo home run to left field, his fourth of the year and seventh of his Mustang career.
Santa Clara used five pitchers in the game. Andrew Habermann (0-2), the first reliever out of the bullpen for the Broncos, suffered the loss, allowing five runs and eight hits over 2 1/3 innings.
Santa Clara's four hits were singles by four different players.
Cal Poly plays its next eight games on the road, beginning with a Big West series at UC Irvine this weekend. The Mustangs also play the rematch at Santa Clara next Tuesday, a Big West series at Cal State Fullerton on May 8-10 and a midweek game at Fresno State on May 12 before closing out the regular season with three conference games against Long Beach State on May 14-16.
The Mustangs are first in the Big West standings with a 15-6 mark, one game ahead of UC San Diego (14-7) and two in front of UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton, both 13-8. This weekend, UC San Diego plays at Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton hosts UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara visits Cal State Bakersfield.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: McGrath, Sean (3-3)
L: Habermann, Andrew (0-2)
Base Running:
HBP: Ferroggiaro, Thomas 1 ; Garcia, Mateo 1
Batting:
2B: Downing, Jake 1 ; Garza, Alejandro 1 ; Vachini, Dante 1 ; Tayman, Ryan 2
HR: Castellon, Nate 1
RBI: Downing, Jake 1 ; Kordic, Dylan 2 ; Garza, Alejandro 1 ; Castellon, Nate 2 ; Tayman, Ryan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Murray Jr., Casey 1 ; Downing, Jake 1 ; Garza, Alejandro 1 ; Vachini, Dante 1 ; Castellon, Nate 2 ; Tayman, Ryan 1
SB: Castellon, Nate 1
HBP: Kordic, Dylan 1
