SAN LUIS OBISPO – When walking Andrew Vaughn seemed like the safest thing for Cal Poly to do in a tight game Sunday afternoon, Korey Lee made sure the Mustangs paid.

Twice.

Lee delivered a pair of two-RBI hits over the final two innings to key a come-from-behind 5-3 victory for the Cal baseball team that capped a three-game sweep for the Bears at Baggett Stadium.

What a gratifying turn of events it was for Lee, a junior catcher who was 0-for-12 for the weekend before stepping to the plate in the eighth with Cal trailing 3-1.

The Mustangs had just walked Vaughn with first base open, loading the bases with one out. Lee responded by yanking a game-tying two-run double down the left field line.

"It gives you a little bit of fire when they walk him and put him on to get to me," said Lee, who hit third Sunday. "It shows that they want to throw to me. So as long as I put the ball in play, I'm happy. And as soon as we scored, that's something else."

The game was still tied in the top of the ninth when Vaughn, the 2018 national player of the year, was intentionally walked again, this time with two outs and runners on first and second. With the bases loaded again, Lee poked a single up the middle that scored two more and gave the Bears the lead.

After a trying couple of days at the plate, Lee suddenly had four RBI in a two-inning span.

"You just gotta keep going and get through it," Lee said. "It's baseball. You're gonna have ups and downs. It's about getting back up."

It was quite a bounce-back weekend for the Bears (4-3), who dropped three of four last weekend in the Angels College Classic. They beat BYU in the finale of that event, and now have a four-game winning streak after sweeping Cal Poly.

Vaughn had a terrific series against the Mustangs, going 6-for-10 with a homer and four RBI. He was intentionally walked in his final three plate appearances Sunday, and the mere threat of his bat wound up costing the Mustangs anyway thanks to Lee.

Cal got the job done on the mound this weekend too. Freshman right-hander Grant Holman, making his first collegiate start, fired five scoreless innings Sunday.
He showed grit staying in the game after colliding violently with a base runner while chasing a foul pop in the bottom of the third.

That five-inning outing marked the longest by a Cal starter through seven games, as the Bears are primarily beginning games with an "opener" who is slated to pitch only an inning or two.

Cal's pitching staff allowed only nine runs over three games this weekend. Also consider that Cal Poly scored all of their runs in just three separate innings spread over the weekend. That means that Bears pitchers held the Mustangs scoreless in 24 of 27 innings played.

A core of freshmen pitchers is stepping up for Cal, but juniors such as Arman Sabouri (who got Sunday's win) and Rogelio Reyes are also contributing.

The freshmen "have some fire in them," Lee said. "We're just feeding off that and everyone's getting excited."