Tomorrow the Bears face elimination (again). In place of the Bears' other southpaw, Justin Jones, Kyle Porter will take the mound against Texas A&M. Despite the pressure of elimination and playing on a national stage, the freshman is surprisingly confident.
"I don't plan on going home (Tuesday)," Porter said.
A loss will end Cal's first CWS trip since 1992, when the Bears were two-and-done. A win will move them ahead in the losers' bracket, where they fell via Sunday's 4-1 opening loss to Virginia.
"Every player's goal is to get here, and we're here," Porter said. "To do it as a freshman is awesome. I want to go as far as we can here and I'm looking forward to coming back."
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"He's been nails," shortstop Marcus Semien said of Porter. "I try at shortstop to get in his ear if he walks a guy or gives up a hit, just to let him know we're behind him and calm him down. It's going to be a big stage for him."
Added Cal closer Matt Flemer: "He's a bulldog. He's not going to give an inch, that's for sure. The way (left-hander Michael) Roth threw last night for South Carolina against Texas A&M, Porter will give them some of the same and his changeup will be pretty good against their righties."
After the jump Desmond Bishop checks out the Memorial Stadium renovation (with pictures!) and Cal rugby is well represented on the 2011 All-American team.
Football
- Memorial Stadium has opened a public-access vista point on the eastern side of the stadium. From 7am until 7pm on weekdays and 9am until 8pm on weekends, fans can stop by and watch the construction progress.
- Desmond Bishop toured the new facilities and posted some pictures. SBNation does not seem to like the images' links, so I can't embed them. Go here, here, and here for the photos he took.
- Faraudo writes a profile of Larry Scott.
- Ted Miller looks at FBS schools that share towns with NFL teams. Why? I have no idea. But you can check out the writeup he did for Cal.
Basketball
- Allen Crabbe and Richard Solomon both missed out on the Under-19 US National Team. Crabbe went home prematurely with a broken nose and a concussion.
Baseball
Rugby