Cal Poly baseball wins Big West Conference for second consecutive year

May 25, 2026

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

The Cal Poly baseball team defeated UC San Diego 4-3 in a winner-take-all game on Sunday in Irvine to claim its second consecutive Big West Conference championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament.

In 2025, the Big West Conference resumed playing its baseball tournament after not doing so for nearly three decades. Cal Poly won last year’s tournament and, in turn, received the conference’s automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament.

The Mustangs then repeated as tournament champions this year.

Mustang outfielder Dylan Kordic hit a three-run home run in Sunday’s victory over UC San Diego. Closer Nick Bonn retired the final batter of the game, picking up the save, his third of the tournament and 15th of the season, a school record. Bonn earned tournament MVP honors.

During the regular season, Cal Poly finished tied for first in the Big West with UC Santa Barbara. But, Santa Barbara beat Cal Poly all three times they played in the regular season. The Mustangs defeated the Gauchos on Friday in their lone matchup in the Big West Tournament.

Cal Poly (36-22) needed to win the conference tournament in order to advance to an NCAA regional. The Mustangs will now compete in the Los Angeles Regional, hosted by UCLA, the nationally number 1-ranked team.

The Mustangs will begin regional play against Virginia Tech on Friday at Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. UCLA and St. Mary’s are the other two teams competing in the double-elimination regional.

Cal Poly has previously appeared in four NCAA regionals. The Mustangs have yet to advance further than the regionals round of the NCAA Tournament.