Cal Poly produced 10 runs on 12 hits in the first three innings, and it wasn’t enough.
UC Davis, which scored eight times in the third inning, added seven more runs in the later innings and four Aggie relievers held the Mustangs scoreless over the final six frames en route to a 16-10 victory Sunday afternoon inside Baggett Stadium.
With the win, the Aggies salvaged a victory in the Big West series — Cal Poly won 8-7 and 7-4 in the opening two games — and improved to 10-20 on the year. Cal Poly slipped to 16-18 and both teams are 3-6 in Big West games, tied for eighth place.
Cal Poly lost despite tying a school record and having three players with three-hit games. Three errors did not help, the Mustangs stranded nine runners on the basepaths and one other was picked off first base with one out and the bases loaded in the sixth inning.
Sophomore second baseman Scott Ogrin doubled in each of his first three at-bats, joining a group of 13 former Mustangs who accomplished the same feat in Cal Poly’s first 24 years in Division I. He had two more chances to break the mark, but flied out to right and struck out.
Though Cal Poly committed three errors, lifting its season total to 54 miscues in 34 contests, all 16 UC Davis runs were earned.
Junior right-hander Austin Dondanville (1-1), who pitched six scoreless innings Tuesday at CSU Bakersfield and secured two outs Friday night, allowed the tying and go-ahead runs in the sixth inning Sunday in suffering the loss. He pitched 2 2/3 innings with no walks and four strikeouts.
Starter Darren Nelson was touched for seven runs and seven hits over 2 2/3 innings for Cal Poly, which used seven pitchers for the second time in the series.
UC Davis right-hander Blake Hannah (2-4) tossed 1 1/3 innings for the win and Brett Erwin earned his second save with three scoreless frames, striking out three.
The eight-run third-inning UC Davis rally, highlighted by Caleb Van Blake’s grand slam, gave the Aggies a 9-5 lead, but the Mustangs bounced back with five of their own in the bottom of the third for a 10-9 advantage.
Elijah Skipps, who hit a grand slam Saturday, hit a two-run home run Sunday, Nick DiCarlo doubled for another run, Kyle Marinconz’s fielder’s choice tied the game at 9-9 and Tate Samuelson doubled off the center field wall to give Cal Poly the lead.
UC Davis regained the upper hand with two in the sixth a solo home run by Ryan Anderson and an RBI single up the middle by Logan Denholm. The Aggies pulled away with two more in the seventh and three in the eighth.
Samuelson had a three-hit game for the fourth time this season, Ogrin produced his second with his three doubles and DiCarlo notched his first three-hit contest as a Mustang. Samuelson, DiCarlo and Skipps all knocked in a pair of runs.
UC Davis compiled a 19-16 advantage in hits, led by shortstop Tanner Murray with a 4-for-4 day at the plate, including two doubles. Brad Pluschkell, Ryan Anderson and Joseph Myers all had three hits for the Aggies.
Cal Poly hit .386 in the series, led by Meyer as the junior catcher went 7-for-14 with a double and three RBI. Samuelson was 6-for-13 with two doubles and four RBI while junior center fielder Alex McKenna had a 6-for-15 series with a triple and two RBI. Ogrin and Colby Barrick each had five hits.
Cal Poly visits Pepperdine for a single non-conference game Tuesday afternoon before returning home to host defending Big West champion Long Beach State for a three-game weekend series. Friday’s contest, to be televised by ESPNU, begins at 7 p.m., followed by a 6 p.m. game Saturday and a 1 o’clock finale Sunday.
-Provided by Cal Poly
