Cal Baseball Open Thread: Game 1 at Furd

Time: 5:30 PM PDT
Radio: KALX 90.7 FM
Gametracker: Click here


After romping the Pacific Tigers 13-6, the 15th ranked Golden Bears prepare for a matchup with the #22 Cardinal in the Farm on fire. They've won 11 of their last 12 as they head into the toughest part of their schedule. Taking the series from their cross-Bay rivals on their field would be a great start to gaining that national respect.

Matt Kawahara of the Daily Cal talked with Brian Diemer about how important it is to manage expectations; despite the high ranking, the Bears are far from a lock for the tournament.

With a three-game series against Stanford beginning today at 5:30 p.m., at Sunken Diamond, the Bears are 23-11 (8-4 in the Pac-10) and ranked No. 15 in the latest Baseball America poll. Five of those 11 losses have come against top 10 teams-No. 1 Arizona State and No. 9 Arkansas.

With 19 games left in the regular season, it would take a dramatic reversal of Cal's success to date for the team to not reach the 30-win plateau, which is key to impress the NCAA selection committee.

What that means is that, right now, things are looking pretty good for the Bears as far as making it back to an NCAA regional after missing in 2009.

But Diemer knows better than to start making plans. He was redshirting in 2007 when Cal finished 29-26 overall and became the first team ever to finish in fourth place in the Pac-10 and not make the tournament.

"I think once you guarantee you're five or six games over in the Pac and five or six over overall, you start to feel good about getting in," Diemer said. "You don't really get comfortable, but you start to know that you're going to be there."

The Cardinal have already lost to the Bears 2-0 in a nonconference game (I don't know why either), but they just swept the formidable Beavers in Corvallis, so I doubt we can take them lightly on the road. Discuss the game here Cal fans!