Cal Poly rallies past University of Hawaii to lock up second place in Big West baseball

The Cal Poly baseball team won the dash for the Big West’s runner-up position with Thursday’s 5-3 victory over Hawaii at Les Murakami Stadium.

A crowd of 1,745 saw the Mustangs surge from a 3-1 deficit to score four runs in the eighth.

By winning the opener of the season-ending, three-game series, the Mustangs clinched a second-place finish. They are 36-20 overall and 21-7 in the Big West. The Rainbow Warriors, who entered two games behind Cal Poly, clinched at least a tie for third as they fell to 27-23 and 18-10. A week ago, UC Santa Barbara secured the Big West’s regular-season title.

The Mustangs offered a one-two threat with shortstop Brooks Lee, who is considered one of the top prospects for July’s Major League Baseball draft, and right-hander Drew Thorpe, a three-pitch pitcher also destined for the draft’s early rounds. Lee and Thorpe are among the 31 semifinalists — and only Big West representatives — for the Golden Spikes Award as the nation’s top player.

But it was Brett Borgogno, who entered as a pinch hitter, who made the difference. The Mustangs tied it at 3 with Matt Lopez’s run-scoring single and Reagan Doss’ RBI groundout — both against Dalton Renne in the eighth. Connor Harrison, the fifth UH pitcher, was summoned to relieve Renne. Harrison struck out John Lagattuta for the second out.

That brought up Borgogno for the second time. In the seventh, Borgogno was called to pinch-hit for pinch hitter Mark Armstrong when the ’Bows switched from a right-handed pitcher to left-handed Tai Atkins. This time, in the eighth, Borgogno pulled a drive over the NAPA sign in left field for the tie-breaking, two-run homer. It was his fourth home run of the season.

“I reached to catch the ball, and didn’t catch it,” said left fielder Scotty Scott, whose leaping effort ended with a crash against the wall. “Maybe if I’m 8 feet tall. Two more feet. Close is only good in horseshoes and hand grenades.”

Thorpe recovered from UH’s three-run first with seven shutout innings. He finished with 10 strikeouts in eight innings.

“You have to give credit to Cal Poly and Drew Thorpe,” UH coach Rich Hill said. “They did a great job. He settled in. And that Bugs Bunny change-up he has was hard to overcome.”

UH center fielder Cole Cabrera, who went 2-for-4 against his former teammate, said: “I got Thorpe twice, but he got me twice. He’s got three quality pitches, and he keeps us off balance. He kept me off balance that last at bat (a strikeout). That’s baseball.”

Cabrera, who transferred to UH last August, sparked a three-run first. With one out, Cabrera singled to center, went to third on Kyson Donahue’s two-out single, then scored on Matt Wong’s single to right. Wong, who announced he will return to UH next season, and Donahue both scored on Jacob Igawa’s double to left-center for a 3-0 lead.

Andy Archer, who transferred from Georgia Tech last summer, lived up to this week’s promise.

“He talked to the coaches — ‘I want the ball,’” Hill recalled, “and he let us know he was ready.”

Archer allowed five hits and struck out five in 5 2/3 innings. After giving up a bases-loaded single in the second inning, Archer induced an inning-ending double play: third baseman Donahue to catcher Nainoa Cardinez to Igawa at first.

In the past three games, Archer has a 0.75 ERA over 12 innings. But after throwing his 77th pitch, which went for the second hit of the sixth, Archer was pulled. He received a rousing ovation and a line of hugs from teammates.

“You can’t say enough about Andy,” Hill said. “It was his last collegiate start against a really good team. And he was awesome.”

Buddie Pindel worked out of the sixth-inning jam, and Atkins found the escape hatch in the seventh. But Renne struggled against three of the four batters he faced in the eighth.

“Dalton Renne has been the man all year, seven saves,” Hill said. “And tonight wasn’t his night. Tai Atkins doing his thing again. And Buddie Pindel doing his thing with inherited runners. … I’m so proud of our guys, the way they battled, the way they came out against an All-American pitcher. And the way we played defense.”