Long Beach State
Mustangs Host LBSU with Regular Season Title and Top Seed on the Line
5/13/2026 10:00:00 PM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The Cal Poly baseball team has played 15 of its last 20 games on the road and, just as it was last month, remains atop the Big West Conference standings.
This weekend, the Mustangs play their final three home games of the 2026 season, hosting Long Beach State seeking their ninth win in 10 conference series. Cal Poly owns a share of first place with UC Santa Barbara, both 19-8, while the Dirtbags are tied for eighth with CSUN at 11-16.
First pitches inside Baggett Stadium are set for 6:05 pm. both Thursday and Friday and 1:05 p.m. on Saturday. The series will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Chris Sylvester calling the play-by-play. Links for the video stream as well as live stats are available on the Cal Poly baseball schedule page at GoPoly.com.
UC Santa Barbara hosts UC Riverside this weekend while third-place UC San Diego (16-11) entertains Cal State Fullerton. The Titans are tied for fourth place with Hawai'i, both 14-13. Top five teams in the final standings qualify for the Big West tournament next week at UC Irvine.
Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego have already clinched spots in the tournament. The Gauchos own the tiebreaker against the Mustangs. Cal Poly needs to win one more game than UC Santa Barbara this weekend to claim the regular-season title. UC San Diego can move into a tie for the top spot as well, but only if the Tritons sweep Cal State Fullerton while both the Mustangs and Gauchos are swept. If such a three-way tie happens, the Gauchos would be the top seed by virtue of winning series against both the Mustangs and Tritons.
Hawai'i hosts CSUN this weekend. Should Cal State Fullerton and Hawai'i both lose all of their three games over the weekend, UC Davis, UC Irvine, CSUN and Long Beach State have outside chances of sneaking into the conference tournament.
Cal Poly (30-21) won its final three games of a season-high eight-game road trip, earning a series win at Cal State Fullerton with 7-6 and 6-2 victories and scoring eight times in the final two innings to erase a 10-7 deficit and beat Fresno State 15-10 on Tuesday. Long Beach State is 17-32 after being swept by Oregon State at Blair Field last weekend.
Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs lead the conference in hitting (.306 batting average), runs scored (343), hits (564) and doubles (139). Nationally, Cal Poly is 25th in batting average, 15th in hits and second in doubles.
Back to the conference statistics, Long Beach State is sixth in batting (.256), eighth in pitching (5.77 ERA) and ninth in fielding (.968, 54 errors in 49 games).
Junior catcher Ryan Tayman currently leads the Mustangs in batting with a .340 average and also is the team leader with 15 home runs and 49 RBIs. In addition, Tayman has thrown out 16 would-be base stealers while picking off three other baserunners. He is tied for fifth in home runs for a single season and needs one more to move into a four-way for second place. Monty Waltz holds the record of 18 set in 1985.
Junior third baseman Alejandro Garza is next with a .339 average with 44 RBIs and five home runs. He leads the squad with 20 doubles and 24 multiple-hit games. Sophomore shortstop Nate Castellon is one point behind Garza at .338, including 14 doubles, five home runs and 24 RBIs.
Also above the .300 mark are fifth-year senior center fielder Casey Murray Jr. with a .322 average, 10 doubles, four triples, five home runs and 22 RBIs; freshman first baseman Gavin Spiridonoff with a .317 average and 19 RBIs; and fifth-year right fielder Dylan Kordic with a .305 average (12 doubles, eight home runs, 33 RBIs). Murray's two-run home run in the eighth inning gave Cal Poly the lead for good at Fresno State.
Long Beach State's top hitters are center fielder Trevor Goldenetz (.369, 12 RBIs) and second baseman Jake Evans (.364, 12 doubles, three home runs, 16 RBIs). Goldenetz has not played since a game versus California Baptist on April 6 while Evans has not played since April 18.
Lee said his pitching rotation this weekend will be junior right-hander Griffin Naess (5-4, 4.70 ERA) on Thursday, redshirt junior righty Carson Turnquist (6-2, 3.77 ERA) on Friday and junior southpaw Josh Volmerding (0-0, 6.92 ERA) on Saturday.
Long Beach State second-year head coach TJ Bruce announced that he would start three right-handers: sophomore Ka'imi Kahalekai (0-4, 6.35 ERA) on Thursday, freshman Luke Howe (5-3, 4.57 ERA) on Friday and freshman Jason Gerfers (3-7, 5.35 ERA) on Saturday.
Bruce (second season at Long Beach State (39-63), ninth season overall (210-231), Long Beach State '05) was head coach at Nevada for seven seasons (2016-22) and an assistant coach at TCU (2023-24) before he was hired at Long Beach State on June 21, 2024.
A standout on the 2004 Dirtbags squad, Bruce helped lead the team to a 40-win season, a Super Regional appearance, and a No. 12 national ranking. He immediately transitioned into coaching, spending six seasons on the Long Beach State staff and contributing to three NCAA postseason appearances, including a 2005 Super Regional run.
Bruce continued his coaching ascent at UCLA, serving as recruiting coordinator under John Savage from 2011-15. His efforts helped build the foundation for the Bruins’ College World Series run in 2012 and their National Championship in 2013.
The Dirtbags have claimed nine Big West titles (ending a nine-year drought in 2017), and have made 22 NCAA regional appearances and four trips to the College World Series, the last in 1998. Former Dirtbags in the Major Leagues include Jason Giambi, Evan Longoria, Troy Tulowitzki, Jason Vargas and Jered Weaver.
Cal Poly and Long Beach State have met 171 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1957. The Dirtbags hold a 101-67 advantage although Cal Poly swept Long Beach State by scores of 3-1, 9-1 and 9-0 at Blair Field in 2025 and claimed two of three games in 2024 at Baggett Stadium. Long Beach State hosted six of the eight series against Cal Poly from 2013-21 (they did not meet in 2020 due to the pandemic) due to scheduling adjustments forced by realignment.
Long Beach State was 16-2 in a six-year stretch against the Mustangs until Cal Poly won two of three in 2009, its first series win at Blair Field since 1997. The Mustangs swept the 2019 series in Long Beach and also won all three games in Baggett Stadium in 2018. Cal Poly is 34-59 against Long Beach State since the Mustangs moved to Division I prior to the 1995 season.
Larry Lee is 28-39 against Long Beach State while TJ Bruce is 3-4 against Cal Poly, including a 3-1 mark as head coach of Nevada when the Wolfpack opened its 2021 season with a four-game series at Baggett Stadium.
Lee earned his 1,200th career victory in 40 seasons at Cal Poly and Cuesta College with an 8-6 triumph at UC Irvine on May 3. He is 743-573-2 in 23-plus seasons with the Mustangs and, combined with his 16 seasons at Cuesta College (460-241-3), is 1,203-814-5 overall as a head coach. Lee 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.
The Big West Championship opens next Wednesday with a play-in game between the fourth and fifth seeds. The winner plays the top seed Thursday while the second and third seeds face each other, also on Thursday. Pairings and times will be announced Sunday.
