Two days after scoring 16 times in 21 hits, Cal State Fullerton produced 16 more runs on 19 hits Sunday, clinching its Big West Conference baseball series against Cal Poly with a 16-6 victory inside Baggett Stadium.
Mitchell Berryhill, Sahid Valenzuela, Jairus Richards and Jacob Pavletich all collected three hits as the defending Big West champion Titans evened their overall mark at 14-14 and conference record at 3-3.
Cal Poly, which fell into second place with the loss, dropped to 13-16 and 4-2, one game behind UC Irvine (5-1), which swept Long Beach State over the weekend.
The game was tied at 1-1 before Cal State Fullerton erupted for four runs in the third inning and added three in the fifth, six in the sixth and two more in the seventh for a 2-1 advantage in the series. The Titans had lost three consecutive series to the Mustangs in San Luis Obispo before this weekend.
Valenzuela and Pavletich both knocked in three runs for the Titans, Pavletich hitting a solo home run, and Brett Borgogno homered twice, his first two home runs of the season, also driving in three runs.
Each team used 20 players in the lopsided contest, including six pitchers.
Dillon Brown (2-0), the second Titan pitcher of the game, secured two outs for the win. The loss went to Mustang sophomore right-hander Darren Nelson (2-5) as he allowed four runs (two earned) and four hits over 2 1/3 innings.
Cal Poly collected 11 hits, including a single and double by Elijah Greene and a pair of singles each by Myles Emmerson and Conagher Sands. Noah Taylor and Bradlee Beesley also doubled for the Mustangs.
Cal Poly scored a run in the second inning on an RBI single up the middle by Emmerson, tying the game at 1-1.
The Mustangs added two runs in the fourth on another single up the middle by Emmerson and a wild pitch. Cal Poly also scored a run in the fifth on Jack Kuzma’s single to left field and two more in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Beesley and Tate Samuelson’s RBI single.
Cal Poly closes out a 12-game home stand Tuesday by hosting Fresno State, 15-11 after splitting four games at Oregon over the weekend, with first pitch set for 6 p.m.
–Provided by Cal Poly
