MORGANTOWN — Cal Poly came into the NCAA tournaments as an automatic qualifier after winning the Big West Conference Championship. The Mustangs were named as the last No. 3 seed in the tournament, and when they drew the Los Angeles Regional with No. 1 overall seed UCLA, their chances looked bleak.
In the first game, Cal Poly upset No. 2-seeded Virginia Tech 6-2. Then, No. 4 St. Mary’s upset UCLA, creating history as the first No. 4 seed to knock off a No. 1 overall seed in the first game of the tournament. So, the Mustangs were a win over St. Mary’s away from the regional final.
Cal Poly beat St. Mary’s 14-1 — one of the more lopsided games in the tournament. St. Mary’s knocked off UCLA, setting up a rematch. Cal Poly won 5-2, winning the regional and advancing to its first super regional in program history.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Gavin Spiridonoff said after winning the region. “It’s what you dream of as a young player. You want to win a regional, go to a super regional. You want to play in front of crowds, stuff like that. The work we put in, I couldn’t have been more proud of our guys.”
Head coach Larry Lee’s been to five regionals and hasn’t advanced. A lot had to go right for Cal Poly to play in the super regional as a No. 3 seed. For a start, since Cal Poly won its first two games, and St. Mary’s took care of the Bruins, the Mustangs didn’t have to play against the No. 1 team in the country. Things might’ve gone differently if the two teams had played.
“Maybe that made the path for us a little bit different,” Lee said. “It is what it is, and we survived. We go on.”
Cal Poly also got hot at the right time. The Mustangs have outscored their opponents 25-5 in three games and are one of the few teams in the tournament to be undefeated. Cal Poly has one loss in its last 13 games.
The Mustangs, who are riding high, head across the country to a team with just as much momentum, West Virginia, in the first-ever Morgantown Super Regional. WVU won the Morgantown Regional in two dramatic wins over Kentucky, coming down to the final inning.
It’ll be another big test for the overlooked Mustangs. Cal Poly and the Mountaineers square off on Friday, June 4 at noon, and again on Saturday, June 5, at noon, in a best-of-three series. Both games will be played on ESPN2.
But Cal Poly is no stranger to big moments. The Mustangs took a game off of No. 1-ranked Texas A&M in the three-game series early in the 2025 season. Then, Cal Poly rolled through the Los Angeles Regional and has three Quad 1 wins this season. The Mustangs also beat UC Santa Barbara in the Big West Tournament. UC Santa Barbara was the top team in the conference and gave host team Texas a tough game in its regional final.
This is a completely different team than Lee’s coached in the past.
“They play hard,” Lee said. “They play the game the right way. They are very resilient. They have learned to take the emotion out of it, unless the emotions are on our side. How the game got to a certain score in a particular part of the game, you just go on and to continue to compete. Play the full game.”
In the Morgantown Super Regional, Cal Poly will be overlooked again. The Mustangs aren’t a Power Four school, and are an underdog +265 to win the series over the Mountaineers. According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Cal Poly has the third-worst odds (+10,000) to win the national championship. WVU has the sixth-best odds (+1,200)
The Mustangs don’t care, like during the Los Angeles Regional. They have a goal, and that’s to keep the season going past the super regional.
“Our job is not finished,” Lee said. “That was the last message to our team. Let’s get onto the next. There are other goals that we want to add.”
