Cal Poly defeated Saint Mary’s 14-1 in the winner’s bracket final of the NCAA Los Angeles Regional on May 31 at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Catcher Ryan Tayman and designated hitter Cam Hoiland hit home runs, while Carson Turnquist pitched six innings with seven strikeouts for his ninth win of the season.
Coach Larry Lee’s Mustangs improved their record to 38-22, marking their eleventh win in twelve games and advancing to Sunday’s championship game against either Saint Mary’s or UCLA. The Bruins eliminated Virginia Tech earlier Saturday and remain alive as the No. 1 overall national seed.
UCLA will face Saint Mary’s in an elimination game Sunday afternoon, with the winner needing two victories over Cal Poly to advance to next weekend’s Super Regionals. If necessary, a deciding game would be played Monday.
Tayman hit his seventeenth home run of the year in the second inning, tying the score at one. Hoiland broke the tie in the fourth with a two-run homer as part of a six-run inning for Cal Poly. The Mustangs added five more runs in the sixth and finished with fourteen runs on thirteen hits.
“Well-played game from us,” said Lee. “I think it’s the first time our offense got rolling in about two or three weeks. Ryan started it off. We’re down 1-0, he hits the solo home run and then things kind of rolled from there. So overall, a well-played game.” Turnquist allowed only one run over six innings before relievers Chris Downs, Josh Morano, and Troy Cooper each threw scoreless frames.
Tayman had three hits including his home run and extended his hitting streak to twelve games while setting a new school record for single-season putouts at 527. Garza added two hits and now has 251 career hits as a Mustang—one shy of Jimmy Allen’s school record set between 2011-14.
“Tonight was the first time in a while where we just played the full nine,” said Lee about his team’s performance.