It's a big night for Cal sports tonight. Jason Kidd is one win away from that elusive ring. Meanwhile, on the opposite coast, Cal baseball is one win away from its first CWS appearance in nearly 20 years.
When asked what if felt like to be one win away from Omaha, Esquer, Bunting, Semien and Jones each flashed a reflexive smile before the skipper composed himself.
"We can't even think about that at this point," he said, perhaps a bit too emphatically. "We're not going to spend a whole lot of time thinking about that. We feel pretty good about where we're at, but we've got a lot of work to do, and we've got a tough opponent on the other side that's going to play for their lives, and we know what that's like. We respect them and we respect the game enough to come out ready to play tomorrow."
The Bears and the Patriots go at it again on Sunday night at 7 PM Pacific. Former Cal star and Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Tyson Ross will be in the house. With a win on Sunday, the Bears will advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
Starting pitchers are slated to be junior righty Erik Johnson (6-4, 2.91) for the Cal and righty Jared Stafford (8-4, 3.03) for Dallas Baptist.
"We're leaning towards Erik Johnson, who we think is rested enough," Esquer said. "He pitched twice during the regional, starting on Friday and then he started again on Monday, so we felt like backing him up, at least one day, would be good for him. I think it being a night game tomorrow night, I think it probably feeds into what he has a little better."
Baseball
- Rivals recaps Saturday's 7-0 victory with quotes and notes and looks ahead to today's game.
- The Bears are one win away from the school's first College World Series appearance since 1992.
- CalBears.com has an extensive list of quotes from the post-game press conference.
Track
- Michael Morrison won the decathlon title at the NCAA Track and Field Championships.
- Cal's collection of pitchers is one of the best in the NCAA Super Regionals. The Bears have a team ERA of 2.90, which is its best mark since the 1976 season, when they recorded a 2.84 ERA.