Mustangs Fall in Series Opener to 6th and 7th Inning Anteater Surges

Friday, May 1

Irvine, CA

6:00 PM

25-19, 15-7

UC Irvine

20-23, 10-12

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

Photo by: Chloe Briote-Johnson

Mustangs Fall in Series Opener to 6th and 7th Inning Anteater Surges

5/2/2026 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

IRVINE, Calif. — UC Irvine shattered a 4-4 tie with seven runs in the sixth and seventh innings en route to an 11-4 victory over Cal Poly in the opener of a Big West Conference baseball series Friday night on Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark.

Despite the loss, Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs still own first place by themselves as UC San Diego fell 3-1 at Long Beach State. UC Santa Barbara moved into a tie for second place with the Tritons thanks to an 18-1 win at Cal State Bakersfield while Cal State Fullerton slipped to fourth, squandering a 5-1 lead in a 7-6 loss to UC Davis.

Cal Poly scored first with Dylan Kordic's two-run double in the second inning and rallied from a 4-2 deficit with single runs in the fourth and fifth frames. Ryan Tayman smashed his 14th home run of the season leading off the fourth and Alejandro Garza's grounder to third after singles by Cam Hoiland and Nate Castellon tied the game up in the fifth.

The host Anteaters grabbed control of the contest in the sixth and seventh frames. A wild pitch snapped the 4-4 deadlock and Daniel Polasek drove in two runs with a single to left field in the sixth. An inning later, Zach Fjelstad tripled to deep center field to drive in three and came home on Zach Doyle's double to left.

Trevor Hansen (5-4) earned the victory though he gave up four runs and six hits over his six innings of work, striking out four. Ricky Ojeda tossed two scoreless innings of one-hit baseball and Peyton Rodgers retired the side in order in the ninth, two via strikeout.

The loss went to Mustang junior right-hander Griffin Naess (5-3) as he was touched for five runs and seven hits over 5 1/3 innings with one walk and five strikeouts.

UC Irvine's 11 hits included two singles each by Lucas Schermer and Efren Ortega. Rowan Felsch, a .148 hitter entering the game, added his second home run of the season, a three-run shot in the second inning to wipe out the Mustangs' early 2-0 lead.

Castellon and Tayman led Cal Poly's seven-hit attack with two hits each.

Cal Poly, 25-19 overall, is 15-7 in Big West games while UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara both sport 14-8 conference marks. Cal State Fullerton is fourth at 13-9.

Second game of the series will be played Saturday at 1:05 p.m. with redshirt junior right-hander Carson Turnquist (4-2, 3.88 ERA) of Cal Poly to face UC Irvine redshirt senior right-hander Finnegan Wall (3-3, 3.80 ERA).

Sunday's series finale also begins at 1:05 p.m.