Mustangs Win Second Consecutive Big West Championship and NCAA Automatic Qualifier

Sunday, May 24

Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark / Irvine, CA

12:00 PM

36-22

UC San Diego

27-28

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
UC San Diego	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	3	8	0
Cal Poly	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	X	4	10	1

Mustangs Win Second Consecutive Big West Championship and NCAA Automatic Qualifier

5/24/2026 7:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

IRVINE, Calif. — Cal Poly has captured back-to-back conference championships in baseball for the first time in 32 years.

The ninth conference title in program history came courtesy of Dylan Kordic, Corden Pettey, Nick Bonn, Chris Downs and Casey Murray as well as the rest of the 34-member travel party and coaching staff as the Mustangs bounced back from Saturday's 12-2 setback with a 4-3 triumph over UC San Diego on Sunday on Cicerone Field at Anteater Park.

The win gave head coach Larry Lee's Mustangs The Big West Baseball Championship for the second straight year. Cal Poly claimed the 2025 Big West tournament crown at Goodwin Field and also claimed a share of the 2026 regular season title.

"It's a relief to get it done," said Lee. "It was a long, long, long week for us. We came out the way we wanted to and had our ups and downs, but were very resilient. We had a lot of special accomplishments by our players, both from a position player standpoint and pitching standpoint. "It takes all of us to get through this."

Kordic smashed his ninth home run of the season, a three-run shot, in the fifth inning for a 4-0 Cal Poly lead. After missing his last two starts due to arm fatigue, Pettey pitched five shutout innings, scattering three hits and striking out seven.

Downs retired the first eight batters he faced and nine of 10 in relief before Bonn was summoned from the bullpen to secure the final out for his third save of the tournament and school-record 15th of the season.

Murray, 0-for-11 in Cal Poly's first three games of the tournament, singled twice and doubled once, driving in the first run of the game in the second inning. He also made a sliding catch of a sinking line drive for the final out of the fifth inning.

The win was Cal Poly's fourth in six meetings with UC San Diego this season.

"San Diego has a great coaching staff and a really, really good team," said Lee. "I don't think we match up great against them. Everybody knew each other and they just make things very difficult for us. Having to play an 'if' game will make us better for what lies ahead."

What is in front of Cal Poly is a berth in the NCAA regionals as the Big West's automatic qualifier for the second straight year. The bracket will be revealed on ESPN2 on Monday at 9 a.m. The Mustangs went 2-2 in the Eugene Regional a year ago and also played in back-to-back regionals in 2013 (UCLA) and 2014 (Cal Poly).

Pettey (4-2) last pitched in a Mustang game May 3 on the same field as his Sunday start and tossed 3 2/3 innings against UC Irvine before he was removed after giving up five runs and six hits. On Sunday, he struck out six of the first eight Triton batters and added another strikeout in the fifth inning before turning things over to the bullpen.

"Corden was excellent today. He was same guy we've counted on all year," Cal Poly pitching coach Seth Moir said. "Corden pitched like an older guy. His demeanor was excellent, he wanted the ball and he stayed composed for all five innings of work.

"He had three pitches working -- fastball, curve ball and changeup -- and he was able to command all three, working good counts and keeping their hitters off-balance." Moir added of the freshman right-hander from Whitney High School in Rocklin, Calif.

"We got together (Ssturday) night and we were trying to figure out who was going to start and who was first out of the pen and we came up with Corden," said Lee. "When Coach Moir told him he was going to get the start, he was, you could see it in his body language and his emotions, that he wanted it.

"He gave us exactly what we needed," Lee added. "We didn't know if we were going to get three or four innings. We got five."

Brady Estes, also a Whitney High School graduate, secured the first two outs of the sixth inning, giving up two runs on three hits, a walk and a hit batter, as the Tritons cut Cal Poly's 4-2 lead in half before Lee and Moir turned things over to Downs and Bonn down the stretch.

Bonn pitched two seasons at Pepperdine and one at Dallas Baptist before entering the transfer portal, having no idea where he would end up. Mustang junior right-hander Griffin Naess, a teammate of Bonn at Laguna Beach High School in Orange County, played a role in Bonn's decision.

"We played travel ball together growing up and high school ball," said Bonn. "And Griffin gave me a call when I was in the portal. He's like, 'Do you have any interest in Poly?' I said, if I get a call from them, I'm in immediately.

"I came in kind of expecting to just be a role player guy, maybe get a few innings here and there," Bonn added. "The save season record? Unbelievable. I can't believe it. Super grateful to be here. Honestly. it's a total shock for me. Yeah, super happy with the way everything worked out."

UC San Diego pared the deficit to one in the ninth on Addison Klepsch's RBI double off the center field wall before Bonn induced J.C. Allen to line out to Mustang left fielder Dante Vachini for the final out, touching off a wild Mustang celebration on the field.

"We'll be back. We'll be back," said UC San Diego head coach Eric Newman, whose club lost a pair of one-run decisions to Cal Poly in the tournament and finished the year 27-28. "And we will expect to keep getting better and play in the postseason and advance further. I'm very happy with where we're at."

Kordic came to the plate in the fifth inning with one out and Cal Poly clinging to a 1-0 lead. Nate Castellon was at second base after a walk and Alejandro Garza was on first base after his single to center field. The hit by Garza prompted UCSD pitching coach Matt Harvey to pay a visit to the mound.

Harvey elected to leave Jake Villar in the game and Kordic belted Villar's first pitch 398 feet at 99 miles per hour over the wall in right field for a three-run home run and a 4-0 Mustang lead.

"I knew I was going to get something up and I was trying to elevate it," said the fifth-year senior. "I knew at some point in the at-bat, whether it was the first pitch or the third or fourth or fifth pitch, I was going to get it, and I wasn't going to miss it."

The loss was charged to UC San Diego starter Trevor Rector (0-4) as he allowed Cal Poly's first run and the Mustangs never surrendered the lead. Making his seventh start of the season, Rector matched his longest outing of the season -- three innings -- and scattered four hits.

In addition to Murray's three hits, Kordic had a pair of hits and Tayman contributed a double. Garza's single lifted his career hits total to 249, three shy of the school record set by Jimmy Allen from 2011-14.

UC San Diego's eight hits included two singles by Thomas Maher from the ninth spot in the batting order.

Besides Murray's catch of a sinking line drive, Cal Poly turned in two other web gems. Castellon spun 360 degrees after fielding a grounder and made the throw on a hop to first base to retire a UCSD runner in the fifth inning. And Gavin Spiridonoff fielded a grounder wide of first base and dove to the bag just in time for the first out of the seventh frame, an inning in which he also caught an infield popup and earned an assist with a throw to his pitcher covering first base.

For the tournament, Cam Hoiland went 6-for-11 (.545) at the plate while Tayman was 6-for-15 (.400) with two doubles. Kordic and Castellon each collected four hits.

Hoiland, Naess, Bonn and Carson Turnquist, who pitched six innings with seven strikeouts in Cal Poly's 1-0 win over UC San Diego on Friday, were named to the all-tournament team.