Five Mustangs Tally Multiple Hits as Cal Poly Forces UC Irvine into Rubber Match

Saturday, May 2

Irvine, CA

1:00 PM

26-19, 16-7

UC Irvine

20-24, 10-13

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Cal Poly	1	0	3	0	3	0	2	2	0	11	15	1
UC Irvine	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	5	1

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Five Mustangs Tally Multiple Hits as Cal Poly Forces UC Irvine into Rubber Match

5/2/2026 7:25:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

IRVINE, Calif. — Five shutout innings by Carson Turnquist and a 15-hit offensive attack led by five Mustangs with multiple hits powered Cal Poly to an 11-2 victory over UC Irvine on Saturday, evening the best-of-three Big West baseball series at a game apiece.

On Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark, shortstop Nate Castellon and center fielder Casey Murray Jr. each produced three hits while right fielder Dylan Kordic and second baseman Jake Downing both drove in three runs for the Mustangs, who remain alone atop the conference standings with a 16-7 record.

Cal Poly is 26-19 for the season while UC Irvine slipped to 20-24 overall and 10-13 in the Big West.

The three closest teams to the Mustangs in the Big West all play tonight — UC San Diego at Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara at Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Fullerton hosting UC Davis.

Turnquist allowed just one hit, a first-inning double by Frankie Carney, while walking four and striking out five. The redshirt junior right-hander, who struck out 11 in each of his previous two outings, improved to 5-2 for the season, threw 104 pitches and topped out at 97 miles per hour with his fastball.

Josh Volmerding, making his first appearance on the mound since March 15 due to a lower body injury, retired all three batters he faced in the sixth inning, including one strikeout, while lefty Chris Downs earned a three-inning save, his first of the year, with four hits, two runs, no walks and three strikeouts to his credit.

UC Irvine starter Finnegan Wall (3-4) was removed from the game after giving up one run and two hits in 1 2/3 innings and suffered the loss.

Castellon singled three times for his 10th three-hit game of the year and 20th multiple-hit effort. Murray also notched three singles for his 13th multiple-hit game of 2026 and sixth three-hit contest. Both drove in one run — Castellon with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and Murray with a bases-loaded walk in the first frame.

Kordic smashed a three-run home run in the third inning for a 4-0 Cal Poly lead and added a double leading off the seventh inning. He has 10 multiple-hit games this season, all two hits. Downing knocked in three runs with a bases-loaded walk in the fifth inning, a sacrifice fly in the seventh and a double in the eighth.

Kordic has six home runs this season, all in the last 19 games, and has gone 23-for-58 at the plate (.397) in those 19 contests with eight doubles and 25 RBIs, lifting his batting average 141 points to .308.

Third baseman Alejandro Garza is the team leader with 22 multiple-hit games after collecting a single and double Saturday and he drove in one run while catcher Ryan Tayman singled twice for his 19th multiple-hit contest of 2026. First baseman Gavin Spiridonoff notched a pair of RBIs by getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth inning and doubling in a run in the eighth.

UC Irvine averted a shutout when center fielder Tommy Farmer, a transfer from Texas, homered down the left-field line in the seventh inning. The Anteaters, held to just one hit in the first six innings, also bunched together a double and two singles for a run in the ninth.

With 15 hits, Cal Poly reached double figures for the 12th time in its last 15 games.

Rubber game of the series will be played Sunday at 1:05 p.m. with Cal Poly to send Corden Pettey (3-2, 4.86 ERA) to the mound against UC Irvine's Hunter Manning (0-1, 5.00 ERA) in a matchup of freshman right-handers.

Pettey is coming off his third quality start of the season last Sunday against CSUN at Baggett Stadium, allowing just two earned runs and scattering six hits over six innings with a pair of walks and six strikeouts in the 5-2 triumph.

Manning, a 2025 graduate of West Ranch High School in Stevenson Ranch, Calif., will be making just his second start of the season Sunday. He drew his other start last Tuesday against No. 21 USC and pitched two scoreless innings with one walk and five strikeouts.

Manning also has appeared in relief 13 times and has one save and 25 strikeouts over 18 innings this season.