Cal Baseball sweeps Wazzu; loses 8-4 to Stanford in a non-conference game

Ugh, Cal Bears had an early 2-0 lead but allowed 8 runs in the disastrous 4th inning when freshman Rogelio Reyes encountered troubles (didn’t help that CF Jonah Davis was unable to hold on to the ball on a long flyball). Unfortunately, the Bears cannot overcome that deficit to fall 8-4 in this non-Pac-12 game to No.20 Stanford (15-9). Retiring Stanford head coach Mark Marquess picked up career win No. 1600.

Check out the Pac-12 Network recap:

http://pac-12.com/videos/recap-no-23-stanford-baseball-earns-1600th-career-win-coach-mark-marquess-vs-cal

Golden Bears will carry a 12-14 record into the weekend series against the Arizona State Sun Devils. All 3 games in the weekend (Friday at 4pm PT, Saturday at 12:05 pm PT, Sunday at 2:05 pm PT) will be on the Pac-12 Networks.

GO BEARS!

Cal Baseball (12-13, 4-5 in Pac-12) will visit Bay Area rival Stanford in a non-conference game this late afternoon at 5:30 PM PT on the Pac-12 Network. It’s the first of two non-conference games down at the Farm, with April 18th being the other visit on the schedule; the Pac-12 conference 3-game series will take place in Berkeley from May 13th-15th. Golden Bears are coming off a 3 games sweep of the Washington State Cougars at home, which snapped a 4 game losing streak (Bears also lost 6 of the previous 7 games).

Quick Recap of that series:

Bears’ bat came to life against the Cougars (14-11, 1-5 in Pac-12). Tanner Dodson and Tyrus Greene both went 6 for 11 on the weekend.

Friday: Cal 12, Washington State 2

Bears scored four runs in the bottom of the 1st, nine runs in the first 4 innings, and never looked back. Freshman Jared Horn tossed 6 scoreless innings despite some control issues (5 walks). Reyes (tonight’s starter) walked 2 in his lone inning of work.

Offensively, Cameron Eden hit his 1st homer of the season. Freshman first baseman Andrew Vaughn continued to rack by going 3 for 5 with 2 RBI’s. Jeffrey Mitchell and Jonah Davis both had 2 hits and scored 2 runs.

Saturday: Cal 7, Washington State 2

A big 6 run burst in the 7th inning allowed the Bears to take game 2. Joey Matulovich allowed 2 runs in 6.1 innings (with 7 K’s). Zayne Patino picked up the win in relief after the Bears scored 6 in the 7th - key hit was Dodson’s 2 run double.

Greene, Mitchell, Eden each had 2 hits.

Sunday: Cal 9, Washington State 5

A 4 run 3rd and a 3 run 6th gave the Bears a big lead that they preserved at the end despite a late Wazzu comeback attempt. Matt Ladrech returned for the Bears and went 4 innings in a start (not enough innings to pick up the win though). Dodson had a big 2-run double in the 3rd and a RBI double in the 8th on a 4 for 5 day. Eden also drove in 2 with a double in the 6th. Greene picked up 4 hits as the Cal leadoff batter.

Stanford Cardinal (14-9, 2-4 in Pac-12 play) are coming off a 3-game home sweep to the Oregon State Beavers. OSU (24-1) is the top ranked team in the country right now in both the human polls and the RPI. Stanford, previously ranked in the top 10 in human polls, have dropped to 21st in the human poll (D1Baseball.com). Computer RPI actually bump Stanford up by one place to 50th after being swept by the top team in the country. For comparison, the Golden Bears are in the mid-80s in the RPI ranking.

These midweek games are prone to being very one sided as teams look to give some of the younger players (particularly pitchers) some much needed game experiences while saving their regular pitchers (especially if the game is out of hand). Stanford has done well on their midweek games so far this year in beating Cal Poly, UC Davis, and Long Beach State.

The young Golden Bears have not fared quite as well in midweek games - Bear beat Minnesota but lost to Long Beach State (in a close 3-1 game that saw the Bears just not being able to get the key hits). Freshman Rogelio Reyes will likely take the mound for the Bears, who have promoted sophomore Joey Matulovich from midweek to weekend starter.

Stanford lefty Erik Miller have started 5 games in his 6 appearances as the No.4 starter for the Cardinal. Hitting-wise, outfielder Quinn Brody lead Stanford with 0.313 batting average to go with 4 homers and 23 RBI.

PROBABLE STARTERS

Cal: RHP Rogelio Reyes (2-2, 5.71 ERA)

Stanford: LHP Erik Miller (1-1, 4.15 ERA)

With the return of MLB action this week and MiLB action by the end of the week, there are plenty of baseball games to watch for baseball fans. Nevertheless, it is great to see Cal Baseball getting more exposure on TV, even if it’s just the Pac-12 Networks.

GO BEARS!