Former Bearcat Carson Turnquist headed to UCLA Regional with Cal Poly
Mustangs will face Virginia Tech in Friday’s NCAA Regional opener
– Former Bearcat Carson Turnquist won his sixth game in as many starts as the Cal Poly Mustangs won the Big West Tournament over the weekend in Irvine.
With the tournament victory, the Mustangs receive an automatic berth in the NCAA Regionals. The Mustangs learned Monday they are going to the UCLA regional to face Virginia Tech. The winner of that game faces the winner of the other regional game between UCLA and St. Mary’s. UCLA is ranked the #1 college baseball team in the nation.
To win the Big West Conference Tournament, the Mustangs beat UC San Diego on Thursday. The score was 1-0. Griffin Naess shut out the Tritons for nearly 8 innings, when closer Nick Bonn came in and sealed the win with two outs in the seventh.
In the second game, Carson Turnquist stifled the top seed in the tournament, UC Santa Barbara. Carson held the Gauchos to three hits and two earned runs over six innings. He struck out seven. That’s Turnquist’s sixth win in his past six starts.
On Saturday, UC San Diego beat Cal Poly 12-2, which forced a decisive game between the two teams on Sunday. In the final game, Cal Poly beat the Tritons 4-3 on a three-run home run by Dylan Kordic, who plays right field for the Mustangs. Kordic was an outstanding quarterback in San Pedro, but chose to focus on baseball at Cal Poly. His home run made the difference for the Mustangs on Sunday.
With the win, Cal Poly advances to the regionals for the second year in a row. Last year, they played at the Oregon Regional in Eugene. The Mustangs eliminated host Oregon, but lost to Arizona in the championship game.
This year, the Mustangs will play Virginia Tech at 5 p.m. Friday afternoon. If the Mustangs win that game, they will face the winner between UCLA and St. Mary’s on Saturday. Carson Turnquist will be the likely starter in that game on Saturday.
All of the Mustang’s baseball games can be heard live on The Ticket, 101.7 FM and 1280 AM.
Chris Sylvester will call the regional games live from Westwood.
