Back-to-Back Big West Champion Mustangs Selected to Los Angeles Regional
5/25/2026 10:55:00 AM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly's fifth appearance in an NCAA Division I regional will be at a familiar site.
Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs, winners of The Big West Baseball Championship at UC Irvine over the weekend, will travel to Jackie Robinson Stadium, home of the No. 1-ranked UCLA Bruins, for the NCAA Los Angeles Regional later this week.
Cal Poly (36-22), which also played in the 2013 regional hosted by UCLA, will face Virginia Tech (30-24) in the opening round Friday, followed by the Bruins (51-6) against West Coast Conference tournament champion Saint Mary's (34-25). Times are to be announced.
"As you would expect with the number one team in the country, with only six losses, and the three other teams, this regional is loaded with solid teams," said the 24th-year Mustang head coach.
Virginia Tech split two games in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) tournament at Charlotte, N.C., defeating Notre Dame 17-10 before falling to No. 2-ranked North Carolina 10-4 in the quarterfinal round. The Hokies posted a 15-15 mark for seventh place in the 16-team ACC.
Virginia Tech was 12th in the ACC in hitting with a .280 batting average, last in pitching with a 6.95 ERA and third in fielding with a .978 fielding percentage and 42 errors in 54 games.
Despite being outscored 17-10 in four games, Cal Poly claimed its second consecutive Big West Baseball Championship crown with a 3-1 record, earning 1-0 and 4-3 wins against UC San Diego and 4-2 versus UC Santa Barbara while falling to the Tritons 12-2.
Sunday's one-run win over UC San Diego in the title game was highlighted by five scoreless innings from Corden Pettey, Nick Bonn's school-record 15th save, Casey Murray Jr.'s three hits and one RBI and Dylan Kordic's three-run fifth-inning home run that gave the Mustangs a 4-0 lead.
Cal Poly will take a Big West-leading .304 team batting average to the Los Angeles Regional. The Mustangs' 4.85 staff ERA is fifth in the conference while their .971 fielding percentage and 62 errors over 58 games are eighth.
Ten Mustang regulars are hitting .280 or better this season, led by catcher Ryan Tayman with a .355 mark, 18 doubles, 16 home runs and 53 RBIs en route to Big West Co-Field Player of the Year honors. Shortstop Nate Castellon owns a .329 average and third baseman Alejandro Garza is at .327.
Virginia Tech's top hitters are first baseman Ethan Gibson (.333, 13 doubles, seven home runs, 27 RBIs), shortstop Pete Daniel (.329, eight doubles, 22 RBIs) and second baseman Ethan Ball (.310, 17 doubles, 16 home runs, 51 RBIs). On the mound, right-hander Brett Renfrow is 5-4 with a 4.65 ERA in 14 starts while Griffin Stieg, also a righty, is 2-5 with a 7.62 ERA in 15 starts this season.
Renfrow earned a spot on the All-ACC second team while Ball is a member of the ACC's All-Freshman squad.
Cal Poly has never played Virginia Tech in baseball and is 13-32 versus UCLA and 33-14 against Saint Mary's.
Top eight seeds in the NCAA Tournament are UCLA, Georgia Tech, Georgia, Auburn, North Carolina, Texas, Alabama and Florida.
All 16 regionals will be played Friday through Monday, with the eight Super Regionals slated for June 5-8 and the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., scheduled for June 12-21/22. All events are double elimination.
Cal Poly's previous four regional appearances were in 2009 at Arizona State, 2013 at UCLA, 2014 at Cal Poly and 2025 at Oregon.
Big West regular season co-champion UC Santa Barbara will play in the Texas-hosted Austin Regional against Western Athletic Conference regular season and tournament champion Tarleton State on Friday.
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