Virginia Tech Drops Regional Opener to Cal Poly, 6-2

LOS ANGELES — Cal Poly steadily chipped away at Virginia Tech's pitching staff, scoring in five straight innings to build a five-run cushion before surviving a late Hokie rally in the opening round of the Los Angeles Regional.

𝙎𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙧𝙪𝙞𝙣𝙨#RoadToOmaha #Hokies 🦃⚾️ pic.twitter.com/rkEdAOmSf7
— Virginia Tech Baseball (@HokiesBaseball) May 30, 2026

"Yeah, just a tough night for our guys," Virginia Tech head coach John Szefc said after the game. "I mean, we just didn't play... we hadn't played in a week. It kind of looked that way, or kind of pretty rusty in a lot of different ways. We did a lot of OK stuff, nothing really tremendous. Give [Cal Poly] credit. Their starter, Griffin Naess, was very good.

After a scoreless opening frame, the Mustangs (37-22, 1-0 L.A. Regional) struck in the second with a pair of base knocks — including a soft infield single to short — to start the inning. A groundout and another single from Gavin Spiridonoff and Dante Vachini, respectively, plated both runs and gave Cal Poly an early 2-0 cushion.

The Hokies (30-25, 0-1 L.A. Regional) responded quickly and in a promising way in the second.

A hit-by-pitch and a double led off the inning before Nick Locurto poked an RBI single into right field, scoring Ethan Ball and putting runners on the corners with no outs. Pete Daniel then walked, loading the bases with nobody out and just a one-run lead.

With ample opportunity to tie or take the lead, the Hokies squandered it away with a pop-up to second base and an inning-ending double play, remaining in a 2-1 hole.

Cal Poly responded, quickly regaining their two-run lead when Cam Hoiland hit a leadoff homer just over the left field wall, extending the Mustang lead to 3-1.

Sophomore Logan Eisenreich continued his start into the fourth inning, where he got the first two outs before walking a pair of batters and hitting a third to load the bases. The Hokies then opted to bring in Ethan Grim, who got soft contact from Casey Murray Jr. But Murray narrowly beat out the throw to first, bringing in another run and giving Cal Poly a 4-1 lead.

Eisenreich finished his day with 3.2 innings pitched, where he allowed four earned runs and struck out five batters.

"He was alright," Szefc said about Eisenreich's start. "Could have been better, could have been worse. It's going to sound weird, but I don't think the [game] result was a result of his start."

A leadoff double from Dante Vachini was very quickly followed by a fly out and a groundout that scored the left fielder. Just three pitches were thrown between Vanchini's leadoff double and him crossing the plate.

The sixth was no different, a leadoff single and a walk put a pair of runners on for Murray, who singled through the left side to plate Hoiland. Grim was given one more out before the Hokies gave the nod to Brody Roe out of the pen.

Roe gave up a single in the frame, but kept Cal Poly from adding on.

Meanwhile, Naess was cruising on the mound for Cal Poly.

He finished his outing with nine strikeouts, allowing just one run over seven innings.

Roe got the first out in the seventh before Luke Craytor took the mound, getting the next two outs and ending Cal Poly's scoring streak.

For those keeping track, that ended a five-inning streak where Cal Poly scored at least one run. They scored more than one in just the second inning, plating a single run in each of innings three through six.

The Hokies started to chip away in the bottom of the seventh. A bloop double — turned triple on a fielding error — and a walk put runners on the corners with no outs. Owen Petrich then grounded into a double play, but Pete Daniel was able to get to the plate and cut the Cal Poly lead to 6-2.

That was the last run the Hokies would score, though.

In the eighth and ninth, Craytor and Brendan Yagesh set both sides down scoreless, not allowing the Mustangs to extend their lead.

A single and a few hard-hit outs in the ninth were all the Hokies totaled in their search for late-inning heroics, as the game halted there and the Hokies dropped 6-2, moving to the losers bracket tomorrow.

In that side of the bracket, the Hokies will face UCLA — the No. 1 national seed — at 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. local time) as they look to keep their season alive.

"There's no different approach," Szefc said. "You go out there, go back, you get some rest, get some food, try to get some sleep, come back and play tomorrow."

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