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Cal Baseball beat UCLA 9-1 to open 3 game series

Bears win game 1 behind strong pitching by senior Ryan Mason (nope, I don't know the status of Daulton Jefferies).

By Ruey Yen
Daulton Jefferies will look to maintain his perfect record this year.
Daulton Jefferies will look to maintain his perfect record this year.
Cal Baseball Facebook

Bears beat the Bruins 9-1 to open the weekend 3 game series. Senior Ryan Mason took the hill for the Bears as a last minute replacement (apparently he only found out that he is needed about 15 minutes before the game) when scheduled starter Daulton Jefferies was scratched due to "lower body stiffness" (hopefully the Bears are just being overly cautious of their ace). Mason went 7 innings, allowed 1 run while striking out 7 batters.

Mitchell "El Guacho" Kranson led the offense by going 3 for 5 with 3 RBI's.

From CalBears.com:

BERKELEY, Calif. - The No. 13 Golden Bears (16-6, 5-2 Pac-12) topped the UCLA Bruins (12-11, 4-3 Pac-12) 9-1 on Friday night at Evans Diamond in Berkeley to win their fifth straight game. Projected starter Daulton Jefferies was a late scratch from the game with lower body stiffness and fellow righty, senior Ryan Mason (4-1) took the hill on around 15 minutes notice to toss a 7.0 inning gem, allowing just one run on six scattered hits with seven strikeouts. Offensively, senior third baseman Mitchell Kranson went 3-for-5 with three RBI to pace the California offense. Mason is now alone in seventh place on the all-time wins list at Cal, with a 22-8 career ledger.

"I’ve said it before, if he’s [Ryan Mason] not the best competitor I’ve ever coached, he’s right there," head coach David Esquer said on Friday night. "That’s Ryan Mason; he competes and he gives you what he has and will give you a chance to win and he will lay it out there for you. He did that today, and that was huge. We also really took some good swings on their guy [Griffin Canning], who is a real quality pitcher, and it was one of those days where we played old. We looked like we’d been there before and we need to play with that experience to play against these good teams."

Ryan Mason was recently featured in his hometown paper. Check out this article about him.

Bears will go with sophomore Jeff Bain tonight and probably sophomore Matt Ladrech on Sunday (he lost his Sunday starting job last Sunday but came in relief in the first to replace Bain and pitched 7 brilliant innings).

ROLL ON YOU BEARS!

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California Golden Bears (15-6, 4-2 in Pac-12) vs. UCLA Bruins (12-10, 4-2 in Pac-12)

Where: Evans Diamond

When: 7 pm PT

Radio: KALX

TV: None (that's unfortunate)

Today's Pitching matchup: RHP Daulton Jefferies (6-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. RHP Griffin Canning (3-2, 3.43 ERA)

Daulton Jefferies and the Golden Bears will try to keep on rolling against the visiting UCLA Bruins to kick off a three game series tonight from Berkeley. In the past, this matchup would have the Bears as the underdog. This year, however, Bears are the one with the ranking (No.13 in the country).

Jefferies, the 24th ranked MLB prospect for the upcoming draft this summer, has had a remarkable start to his junior campaign. The Golden Bears and Jefferies have been undefeated in series opener this season.

Great pitching has lead the way for the Bears so far this year, but the solid defense (Bears are a top team in the country in turning the double plays) and timely hitting have also attributed to the great start. Another secret weapon for the Bears may be the mustache...

Coming off a three game sweep of Oregon State (then ranked No.3 in the country, now 9th) and then that come-from-behind midweek win over USF, the Bears will try to sustain that momentum tonight as the team looks to move up in the Pac-12 Baseball standings.

2015-16 SEASON

CONFERENCE OVERALL LAST GAME NEXT GAME
California 4-2-0 15-6-0 W7-5 USF VS 4/1
Washington 4-2-0 13-8-0 vs ORST @ 4/2Pac-12 Networks
UCLA 4-2-0 12-10-0 L7-14 CSF @ 4/1
Utah 4-2-0 7-14-0 L6-7 UVU VS 4/1Utah Live Stream
Stanford 2-1-0 12-7-0 L9-10 SJSU VS 4/1Pac-12 Bay Area
USC 2-1-0 11-12-0 L0-8 LMU @ 4/1Pac-12 Bay Area
Oregon State 3-3-0 17-6-0 vs WASH VS 4/2Pac-12 Networks
Arizona 3-3-0 17-8-0 W4-3 UCRV @ 4/1Utah Live Stream
Oregon 2-4-0 11-10-0 vs MSU @ 4/2
Arizona State 2-5-0 15-9-0 W10-1 WSU @ 4/1Pac-12 Networks
Washington State 1-5-0 8-15-0 L1-10 ASU VS 4/1Pac-12 Networks

After sweeping Washington State to open Pac-12 play, the UCLA Bruins lost 2 out of 3 to Arizona last weekend. The 2013 NCAA National Champions are rather vulnerable this year.

GO BEARS!

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