SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – One day after being held to five hits in a 6-2 victory, No. 16 Cal Poly exploded for 16 hits en route to a 15-3 triumph over Cal State Bakersfield in the second game of a four-game non-conference baseball series Saturday afternoon before 1,063 in Baggett Stadium.
The Mustangs’ fourth straight win improved their record to 13-4 while Cal State Bakersfield, fielding a baseball team for the first time this season, slipped to 4-12. The series shifts to Hardt Field in Bakersfield for games Sunday at 1 p.m. and Monday at 2 p.m.
Junior first baseman Wes Dorrell and sophomore third baseman J.J. Thompson each went 3-for-5 to lead Cal Poly offensively. Senior center fielder Ryan Lee, freshman second baseman Matt Jensen, junior catcher Ross Brayton and junior shortstop Kyle Smith all added a pair of hits as the Mustangs outhit the Roadrunners 16-8.
Jensen has reached base in all eight plate appearances in the series so far — four hits and four walks.
Junior southpaw Matt Leonard (3-0) threw 76 pitches in six innings for his third straight win. He allowed two runs and six hits with a pair of walks and three strikeouts. Freshman right-hander Mason Radeke, in his first appearance on the mound this season, tossed three innings in relief for a save, allowing an unearned run and two hits with no walks and one strikeout.
The loss went to junior right-hander Erik Draxton (1-2), who was touched for 10 runs and 11 hits in 3 1/3 innings. He was the first of six Roadrunner pitchers used in the game.
Cal State Bakersfield’s eight hits included a single and a double by both third baseman Brandon Boren and first baseman Martin Medina.
Cal Poly led all the way, scoring twice in the first inning and breaking the game open with a six-run third-inning rally.
In the first, Dorrell doubled down the right-field line to push across the first run and junior designated hitter Luke Yoder’s groundout to third base knocked in the second run.
Yoder doubled to drive in two in the third, Brayton’s single knocked in two more and Lee capped the rally with a two-run single through the left side of the Roadrunner infield.
Cal Poly added two unearned runs in the fourth, another run in the fifth on Dorrell’s RBI single and was ahead 13-2 after scoring twice in the sixth on a solo home run by Thompson, his first of the season and third of his Mustang career, and a run-scoring double by Smith.
Last two Mustang runs were scored in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by sophomore outfielder D.J. Gentile and Dorrell’s bases-loaded walk.
Cal State Bakersfield scored single runs in the fourth, fifth and eighth innings. Catcher Jeremy Rodriguez singled to knock in the fourth-inning tally, Boren doubled to drive home the fifth-inning run and left fielder Stuart Smith grounded out to score the final Roadrunner run in the eighth.
Prior to the game, the 1989 Cal Poly baseball team was introduced in a pregame ceremony celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Mustangs’ national Division II title. Pitcher Bobby Ryan and catcher Doug Noce, named to the all-tournament team following the College World Series in Montgomery, Alabama, formed the battery for the ceremonial first pitch.
Cal Poly junior right-hander DJ Mauldin (2-1, 3.45 ERA) will face Cal State Bakersfield freshman southpaw Jonathan Montoya (2-0, 6.64 ERA) on Sunday at 1 o’clock at Hardt Field in Bakersfield. Final game of the series will be Monday at 2 p.m., also at Hardt Park.
