Golden Nuggets: Mark Canha Driving A's Offense

Men's Water Polo

With returning All-Americans Colin Mulcahy and Luca Cupido back in the fold and a 10-player freshman class providing an infusion of energy and talent, the Cal men's water polo team won't exactly sneak up on the rest of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) this year.

Volleyball

The Cal volleyball team opens the 2015 season this weekend by hosting the 10th annual Molten Classic at the new Haas Pavilion.

Softball

Inside the Lair: California In My Heart

The year was 2002, and softball head coach Diane Ninemire and her ace Jocelyn Forest were basking in the glow of their recent NCAA Championship on their latest stop - downtown San Diego - in a post-Women's College World Series tour.

The time?

"Way past our bedtimes," said Mary Lee, then a nine-year-old rec ball youngster who loved the Bears celebrating a special night out with her younger sister Taylor and her diehard Cal fan and alum dad, Jason (Chemical Engineering '86).

"Never let them see you sweat," Forest scrawled alongside her autograph onto a softball, a treasure which Lee would take home and keep on a shelf in her bedroom for years to come. Ninemire added her signature, too.

"I guess you never know when the little girl you meet is going to end up playing for you down the road," Lee said.

Gymnastics

Women's Soccer

Three games in five days did not deter the Golden Bears one bit offensively as Cal and Beijing Normal played to an explosive 6-5 exhibition game Tuesday afternoon at Edwards Stadium.

Football

Men's Basketball

If Anyone Can Dethrone Arizona In The Pac-12, It's Cal

Sean Miller arrived in Tuscon, AZ to take over the Arizona program before the 2009-10 season, after a stretch at Xavier where he won 71.9 percent of his games and took the Musketeers to the Sweet Sixteen twice in five seasons as head coach.

What has Miller done since arriving in the Pac-12? Oh, just three 30+ win seasons, three Pac-12 regular season titles, a Pac-12 tournament title last season, three Elite Eight appearances and coaching 10+ NBAers in the process. That's a fairly decent resume if I do say so myself.

Miller seemingly keeps reloading his roster each season after losing a bulk of his talent from the previous year. Although Arizona will be really good again this season, there's a new kid on the block in the Pac-12, and his name is Cuonzo Martin.

Martin's strange move to leave Tennessee for Cal after three seasons last year was a bold move, but after seeing his recruiting class for this upcoming season, it may have been the right one.

Major League Baseball

Sister site Athletics Nation looks at the offensive contributions of Mark Canha and Marcus Semien

Mark Canha | 106

Canha has been on the roster all year long, every single day of the season, but he's been hidden away in a platoon role (at best) the whole time. Some of us have been dying to see him get an everyday role since day one, back when the A's made it clear how excited they were about their new sleeper slugging prospect, and now it's finally happening. Canha took over the regular job at first base on Aug. 12 and has played a dozen straight games since then, with the following results:

Canha, last 12 gms: 21-for-50, .420/.453/.700, 2 HR, 3 BB, 7 Ks

He's making a ton of contact, and he's crushing the ball when he does hit it. A lot of those outs were loud as well, and not many of the hits were cheap. He's also coming through with runners on, as he's driven in 13 in those 12 games. His sneaky speed also helps him beat out some infield hits and make some quality hustle plays, like last night when he scored from second base on an infield single to first baseman Jesus Montero.