Mustangs Guaranteed Top-Two Seed with Series Win Over Fullerton

Sunday, May 10

Fullerton, CA

1:00 PM

29-21, 0

Cal State Fullerton

22-28, 0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Cal Poly	0	0	0	3	0	0	3	0	0	6	13	3
Cal State Fullerton	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	9	1

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Mustangs Guaranteed Top-Two Seed with Series Win Over Fullerton

5/10/2026 7:35:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

FULLERTON, Calif. — Cal State Fullerton honored 11 seniors in a festive pregame ceremony. The Titans also recognized all the mothers of Titan players on Mother's Day. And it was Cal State Fullerton's final home game of the 2026 baseball season.

Cal Poly spoiled it all with a 6-2 victory Sunday afternoon at Goodwin Field as Chris Downs did not allow a run over six innings in relief and Ryan Tayman smashed a game-breaking two-run home run, his 15th of the year, in the seventh.

The win clinched the three-game Big West baseball series for the Mustangs, two games to one, and improved Cal Poly's overall mark to 29-21 and conference record to 19-8, tied for first place with UC Santa Barbara with one weekend to go in the regular season.

The Gauchos completed their series sweep at CSUN with a 4-2 triumph. Next weekend, Cal Poly hosts Long Beach State while UC Santa Barbara entertains UC Riverside for three-game series.

UC San Diego is third at 16-11 following its 15-2 victory at Cal State Bakersfield.

Cal State Fullerton dropped to 22-28 for the season and remains tied for fourth place in the Big West with Hawai'i, both 14-13. The Rainbow Warriors fell 3-1 at UC Davis. Everybody else in the conference is at least three games out of the tie for fourth and fifth place with three games remaining.

Southpaw Josh Volmerding, making his first start since March 15 due to injury, faced the minimum six batters over the first two innings before giving up two singles and a walk in the third. One of the baserunners was caught trying to steal second base.

Downs relieved Volmerding with one out and escaped the frame cheaply enough with a grounder to shortstop which allowed one run to score and picking off another Titan runner at first base to end the inning.

From there, Downs pitched into the ninth inning, giving up just one unearned run in the fifth. He threw 103 pitches and struck out seven, scattering six hits for his third victory in four decisions this season. He finished one out shy of his longest career outing on the mound.

Twice last season, Downs tossed 6 1/3 innings in relief, throwing 117 pitches against UC Irvine in the Big West Tournament, also at Goodwin Field, and 93 pitches versus Utah Valley in the NCAA Eugene Regional, both victories.

Freshman southpaw Brady Estes was summoned from the bullpen for the final two outs after two Titan batters reached base with one out in the ninth. Estes struck out both batters he faced to end the game and earn his second save.

Cal Poly was ahead 3-2 in the seventh inning when left fielder Dante Vachini led off with a single to right and, two outs later, right fielder Dylan Kordic singled up the middle to drive home Vachini.

Tayman worked the count to 3-2 before hammering his 15th home run of the year over the wall in left field and extending Cal Poly's lead to 6-2. The blast moved the catcher into a tie for fifth place with Brooks Lee (2022), Luke Yoder (2010) and Grant Desme (2007) in the Cal Poly record book for home runs in a single season. The record is 18 by Monty Waltz in 1985.

Kordic, Tayman, Vachini, Cam Hoiland and Jake Downing all produced a pair of hits -- Downing with two doubles -- as Cal Poly outhit Cal State Fullerton 13-9. Gavin Spiridonoff added a double of his own, his fourth of the series.

Nick Miller, Paul Contreras and Bren Wilkinson all had a pair of hits for the Titans. The loss was charged to starter Dylan Smith (3-6), who allowed three runs and nine hits over six innings.

Cal Poly overcame an early 1-0 deficit with three runs in the fourth inning. Hoiland singled to knock to tie the game, a Titan fielding error produced the tiebreaking run to come home and Vachini singled through the left side of the Cal State Fullerton infield for a 3-1 Mustang advantage.

Defensively, Tayman recorded his 15th and 16th caught steals of the season, throwing out Esteban Olazaba for the last out of the second inning and Wilkinson for the first out of the third frame.

In addition, Kordic recorded his 13th career outfield assist ending the fourth inning. Wilkinson singled to right with two outs and Kordic fired a strike to Tayman to get Olazaba, trying to score from second base, by 20 feet.

For the second straight weekend, both on the road, Cal Poly lost the opener of its conference series at UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton before battling back to clinch both series, two games to one.

The Mustangs have won 11 of their last 16 games, including six victories on the road. Cal Poly has played 14 of its last 19 contests on the road and has won eight of its nine Big West series with one more to be played at home next weekend.

For the series, Downing was 6-for-11 with two doubles, a home run and five RBIs. Spiridonoff went 6-for-12 with four doubles and Hoiland and Kordic both had four hits -- Hoiland driving in three runs.

Cal Poly hit .302 in the series, held the Titans to a .227 mark at the plate and has beaten Cal State Fullerton 15 times in the last 19 meetings between the two clubs. The Titans finished 11-13 at home this season.

The Mustangs will play their final midweek game Tuesday at Freno State and Cal Poly and Long Beach State will play at Baggett Stadium on Thursday and Friday nights at 6:05 p.m. and Saturday at 1:05 p.m.