GAME RECAP: Cal Poly Explodes for 14 Runs, Cruise Past Saint Mary’s 14-1 in LA Regional behind Turnquist 7 K Night

WESTWOOD, CA — The Cal Poly Mustangs didn’t just win Saturday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium. They poured it on.

Behind a breakout offensive night and a steady start from Carson Turnquist, the Mustangs hammered Saint Mary’s 14-1 in an NCAA Los Angeles Regional elimination-style game, moving within one victory of the Super Regionals.

What started as a tight, low-scoring affair in the early innings turned into a one-sided affair once Cal Poly’s bats found their rhythm. The Mustangs finished with 13 hits, two home runs and zero errors while stranding nine runners — but the ones they brought home did plenty of damage.

Saint Mary’s grabbed a brief 1-0 lead in the second when Ian Armstrong scored on Jacob Johnson’s RBI single to right. Johnson was thrown out trying to advance on the play, but the Gaels had the early edge after their earlier upset of top-seeded UCLA.

Cal Poly answered right back in the bottom half. Ryan Tayman launched a solo homer to left-center to tie it at 1-1, and the floodgates were about to open.

The fourth inning is where the game got away from the Gaels in a hurry. Cam Hoiland crushed a two-run shot to right that scored Tayman and made it 3-1. Nate Castellon followed with an RBI single, and then Saint Mary’s reliever Talin Gardini couldn’t find the strike zone. Walks and a pair of wild pitches plated three more runs without the benefit of a hit in some cases. By the time the inning ended, Cal Poly led 7-1 and the Gaels’ starter, Lukas Sarantos, was already out of the game after 3.2 rough innings.

Turnquist, the redshirt junior right-hander from Paso Robles, was dealing from the first pitch. He struck out seven over six innings, keeping Saint Mary’s hitters off balance and preventing any real rallies after that early run. The Mustangs played clean defense behind him, and the Gaels stranded six runners on the night despite collecting eight hits.

Cal Poly wasn’t finished. The sixth inning brought another five-run outburst. Castellon scored on a Tayman single, Jake Downing lifted a sacrifice fly, and Casey Murray Jr. delivered the loudest blow of the night — a two-run double to right-center that scored Tayman and Hoiland. Gavin Spiridonoff added an RBI single later in the frame, pushing the lead to 12-1.

Two more runs crossed in the seventh on walks and productive at-bats, and the Mustangs led 14-1. The game was called after eight innings.

For Cal Poly, it was the kind of complete performance that puts a team in control of its own destiny. Tayman and Hoiland provided the power, Murray Jr. and Castellon kept the line moving, and Turnquist gave the pitching staff exactly what it needed on a night the offense was ready to carry the load.

With the win, the Mustangs sit in the driver’s seat. They need just one more victory to advance to the Super Regionals. Saint Mary’s and the UCLA Bruins will face off in a rematch tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m., with the winner of that game turning around to face Cal Poly at 6 p.m. tomorrow night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.