Mustangs Earn Second Seed and Share of Second Big West Regular Season Title

Saturday, May 16

San Luis Obispo, CA

1:05 PM

33-21, 22-8

Long Beach State

17-35, 11-19

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Long Beach State	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	11	2
Cal Poly	1	0	0	4	2	0	0	1	X	8	14	0

Mustangs Earn Second Seed and Share of Second Big West Regular Season Title

5/16/2026 8:15:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — For the first time in a dozen years, the Cal Poly baseball team can call itself the Big West Conference regular-season champion. The Mustangs, however, will have to share the title.

Cal Poly rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat Long Beach State 8-3 on Saturday inside Baggett Stadium. About five minutes earlier, UC Santa Barbara completed its turnaround from a 3-0 deficit to a 5-3 victory over UC Riverside at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.

Thus, the Mustangs and Gauchos finished the regular season with identical 22-8 Big West marks. It is Cal Poly's first regular-season conference title since 2014 when the Mustangs edged CSUN 3-2 in Northridge on the final day of the regular season to wrap up a 19-5 Big West campaign and went on to host the NCAA San Luis Obispo Regional.

UC Santa Barbara (37-16) will be the No. 1 seed in the Big West tournament at UC Irvine while Cal Poly (33-21) is the second seed by virtue of the Gauchos' series win over the Mustangs in early April.

The tournament opens Wednesday with the play-in game between No. 4 Hawai'i (27-22) and No. 5 Cal State Fullerton (23-30) at 6 p.m. The loser is eliminated while the winner advances to the double-elimination portion of the tournament and takes on UC Santa Barbara on Thursday at 1 p.m. Cal Poly faces third-seeded UC San Diego (24-26) at 6 p.m.

The regular-season co-championship wasn't really on the minds of the Cal Poly players Saturday. There are other goals to be met in the postseason.

"The entire weekend, we didn't mention anything," said 24th-year Mustang head coach Larry Lee. "Our message was, play to our standards, take care of what you can control. We never really thought about it (a co-championship). It was never a topic of conversation. I'm glad we finished in first place, but the players understand that there's more work that lies ahead.

"I always talk about creating opportunities," Lee added. "This is just another opportunity that we have moving forward. We never once mentioned winning the Big West. I think the last two years, our team does not respond well to outcomes. The message has always been to play the game hard, play the game the right way and play to win.

"If you do that and you're focused and intent on the job at hand, that's what you can control. Baseball is a very difficult game, so there's no use putting added pressure on your players. It's about being in the moment, not thinking about the future or the past."

To claim a share of the Big West regular-season title, Cal Poly was forced to come from behind for the 20th time this season.

Both teams scored a run in the first inning -- Dylan Lina slamming his 12th home run of the season with two outs for Long Beach State and Casey Murray Jr. driving a single up the middle, also with two outs, for Cal Poly.

The visiting Dirtbags tallied a pair of runs in the third on RBI singles by Murchael Turner and Kaiden Smaka for a 3-1 lead.

Cal Poly gained control of the game with four runs in the fourth. Jake Downing doubled and Gavin Spiridonoff singled before Cam Hoiland's single to right knocked in the first run. Nate Castellon singled to left to tie the game at 3-3, then Alejandro Garza's safety squeeze bunt gave the Mustangs a 4-3 advantage. Ryan Tayman capped the rally with an RBI single to right and a 5-3 cushion.

The Mustangs stretched the lead to 7-3 in the fifth. With runners at first and second, Dante Vachini singled to right field for a run and the ball skipped past Smaka for an error and an additional run.

Cal Poly added its final run in the eighth as Tayman doubled and trotted home on Downing's single to right.

Cal Poly outhit Long Beach State 14-11, led by Castellon, Kordic, Tayman, Downing and Hoiland, all with a pair of hits. Smaka singled three times for Long Beach State.

Troy Cooper (2-0), the second of four Mustang pitchers used in the game, earned the victory with two scoreless innings in relief of starter Josh Volmerding, who struck out five over three frames but gave up three runs and six hits. Brady Estes and Nick Bonn both tossed two scoreless innings to close the door.

The loss was charged to Dirtbag starter Jason Gerfers (3-8) as the freshman right-hander surrendered seven runs and 10 hits over 4 1/3 innings.

The Mustangs played errorless defense, highlighted by three plays from the left side of the infield. Castellon made a leaping catch at shortstop for the second out with a runner at third in the fourth inning and also sprinted to his right to snag a grounder and make an accurate throw to second base for the second out in the sixth frame.

Garza sprinted all the way to and into the Cal Poly dugout to make a difficult catch for the final out of the seventh inning.

Cal Poly closed the regular season with a six-game winning streak and 15 victories in its last 20 contests. The Mustangs won nine of 10 Big West series for the second straight year and have claimed 26 of 30 conference series over the last three seasons.

Cal Poly's key to success in 2026?

"A little bit of everything," said Lee. "I think for the majority of the year, our offense carried us and that allowed us to figure out how to work the pitching and allowed certain pitchers to progress as the season went on.

"Losing two of our weekend starters, that was a tough loss for us," Lee added. "But other pitchers stepped up and pieced together weekends."

A year ago, Cal Poly won 43 games, captured the Big West tournament title and earned a berth in the NCAA Eugene Regional, splitting four games. That squad hit .317 and led the nation with 701 hits.

"It was similar to last year where our offense carried the load and took a lot of the weight off of our pitching staff," Lee said. "It's been a good year. We won nine of the 10 conference series against some very good competition, including winning series on the road against UC San Diego, Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine. That's a sign of a good team.

"To be able to be co-champs is great," Lee added. "I'm happy for our players. Now we have created an opportunity to play in the postseason."