Cal Baseball vs. Stanford on Pac-12 Networks, Monday Gamethread

Behind Ryan Mason's brilliant start (8+ inning, 5 runs allowed after both of his inherited runners scored in the 9th), the Bears beat Stanfurd by a 9-5 score on Monday to claim 2 games in the 3 games series. Stanfurd were in the giving mood on Monday with 2 errors leading to runs and wild pitches that allowed more Golden Bears to cross the plate.

The Bears will now head home to host USF on Tuesday night and then welcome Oregon State this weekend. With a record of 18-21, 7-11 in the Pac-12, Cal can still claw back into a possible postseason berth if they win every remaining 4 Pac-12 series and split or win the two midweek games against USF. In other words, Bears need to go 9-5 in the final 14 games. It is certainly plausible. Midweek games have been an issue all season, so hopefully freshman Alex Martinez or someone else can step up tomorrow. Bears had lost 1-0 to USF earlier this year in the Cal Baseball Classics.

ROLL ON YOU BEARS!

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Cal Baseball (17-21, 6-11 in Pac-12) at Stanfurd (18-18, 7-10 in Pac-12)

When: 6 PM

TV: Pac-12 Networks

Radio: KALX (90.7 FM)

Bears were able to win the Saturday game in the 10th inning by a score of 7-4. On Saturday, however, the Bears got one run in the top of the 1st but were then completely shutdown by the Stanfurd pitcher, John Hochstatter, who threw a complete game.

Good thing for the Bears, they will get to face a different pitcher today. Taking the mound for the Bears is sophomore Ryan Mason, who has been getting stronger as he transition from being the closer at the beginning of the season to being the Sunday starter (interestingly, he also made a similar relief to starting transition last year).

Repeating some info from yesterday's game thread:

Cal Line-Up For Saturday
No.    Pos.    Player    2014 Stats
23    CF Aaron Knapp, Fr.    .261, 6 RBI, 1 HR 
2      RF Derek Campbell, Jr.      .265, 15 RBI, 5 HR 
33    1B Devon Rodriguez, Sr.    .262, 18 RBI, 3 HR
21    DH Brenden Farney, Jr.
17    3B Lucas Erceg, Fr.    .188, 3 RBI, 2 HR 
25    LF Brian Celsi, So.    .274, 10 RBI, 0 HR 
20    2B Robbie Tenerowicz, Fr.    .103, 1 RBI, 1 HR
30    C Mitchell Kranson, So.    .235, 10 RBI, 0 HR
37    SS Mike Reuvekemp, Sr. 
16    LHP Kyle Porter, Sr. (Sun.)    4-4, 2.97 ERA
42    RHP Ryan Mason, So. (Mon.)    3-0, 2.32 ERA

Bears may also use Nick Halamandaris at 1B and/or Devin Pearson in the outfield.

SS Mike Reuvekemp had missed the last month plus due to an injury. His return and the insertion of freshmen Erceg, Tenerowicz, and Knapp to the starting lineup a couple of weeks ago may be the difference for the Bears going forward. From the Daily Cal preview of this series,

Shortstop Mike Reuvekamp could not take it any longer. On March 15, against UCLA, the  senior had to come out of the game due to a broken hamate bone he had suffered in the opening series of the season against Texas.

The fiery fifth-year player would be sorely missed for the next month of the season, as the team would post a 6-13 record in his absence.

"When Reuvekamp went out, that was a big blow to us," said coach David Esquer. "His spirit and energy are big to our team. We had won all our games against the big opponents with Reuvekamp in there. He was the heart and soul of our team, and we had lost that."

With a sub 0.500 record right now, the Golden Bears need to basically win every remaining series (taking at least 2 of 3) to be eligible for the postseason. Having 8 wins under their belt against ranked opponents already this year, a winning record should be sufficient for the Bears to make it to a NCAA regional.

GO BEARS!