Mustangs Fall Short of Comeback, Drop Series Opener in Fullerton

Friday, May 8

Fullerton, CA

6:30 PM

27-21, 0

Cal State Fullerton

22-26, 0

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

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Mustangs Fall Short of Comeback, Drop Series Opener in Fullerton

5/8/2026 11:15:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

FULLERTON, Calif. — A pair of early two-run rallies, a quality start from southpaw Mikiah Negrete and five strikeouts over 2 1/3 innings in relief by Andrew Wright, another lefty, propelled Cal State Fullerton to a 4-3 victory over Cal Poly in the opener of a Big West baseball series Friday night at Goodwin Field.

Negrete (8-3), who surrendered eight runs and nine hits in last year's start against the Mustangs inside Baggett Stadium, reverted to his true form Friday by allowing three runs and six hits over 6 2/3 innings with two walks and five strikeouts.

Negrete turned things over to Wright after giving up a towering solo home run to Cam Hoiland and Gavin Spiridonoff's second of three doubles in the seventh. Wright earned his fifth save of the year by striking out five of six Mustangs during one stretch in the eighth and ninth frames.

The loss dropped Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs back into a tie for first place in the conference standings with UC Santa Barbara, both 17-8. The Gauchos overcame an early 3-0 deficit to beat CSUN 8-4 in Northridge.

UC San Diego snapped a skid of eight losses in its last 11 Big West games and held onto third place at 15-10 with a 4-2 triumph at Cal State Bakersfield. Cal State Fullerton, which snapped a five-game losing streak overall, and Hawai'i share fourth place with 14-11 marks, the Rainbow Warriors winning at UC Davis 4-1.

The Titans jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a grounder to third by Cameron Kim and Esteban Olazaba's RBI single up the middle. Cal Poly evened things in the second on a run-scoring double by Spiridonoff down the left-field line and Jake Downing's RBI single up the middle.

Cal State Fullerton quickly gained the upper hand in the bottom of the second as Paul Contreras singled down the right-field line for two RBIs and a 4-2 Titan lead.

It remained that way until the seventh when Hoiland smashed his fourth home run of the year well over the right-field fence, trimming the Mustang deficit to one. Spiridinoff followed with the second of his three doubles and Downing walked before Wright induced Nate Castellon, hitting .358 on the year, to fly out to left field, ending the two-out rally.

Alejandro Garza reached first on a dropped third strike leading off the eighth inning and Spiridonoff doubled with two outs in the ninth, but Wright closed the door both times on Cal Poly to win the opener of the three-game series.

At one time, Negrete retired 11 Mustang batters in a row before Dylan Kordic drew a one-out walk in the sixth inning.

Now hitting .367 against left-handers this season, Spiridonoff was the lone Mustang with multiple hits, lifting his overall average to .322 with his three-for-four performance at the plate. Cal State Fullerton's nine hits included two singles, a double and a triple by Contreras, now batting .365 for the year, and three singles by Nick Miller.

Now 5-6 in one-run games this season, Cal Poly stifled a pair of Cal State Fullerton rallies with outfield assists. Kordic caught a fly ball in right field and turned it into a double play at second base ending the second inning while center fielder Casey Murray Jr. gunned down Miller at the plate as he was trying to score from second base in the seventh.

Kordic now has 12 outfield assists in three Cal Poly seasons while Murray notched his first of 2026 and fourth of his Mustang career.

Second game of the series will be played Saturday at 5:05 p.m. with Cal Poly redshirt junior right-hander Carson Turnquist (5-2, 3.51 ERA) to face Cal State Fullerton freshman right-hander Bobby Mahoney (2-2, 3.73 ERA).

First pitch for Sunday's series finale will be at 1:05 p.m.