There was a hell of an elephant in the room.
Every question asked in the Cal baseball postgame yesterday seemed to be skirting around the real issue. It took about five minutes but, finally, a reporter asked the Bears how it felt to be one win away from Omaha.
Coach David Esquer, pitcher Justin Jones, outfielder Chad Bunting and shortstop Marcus Semien all exchanged wide-eyed looks before bursting out into nervous laughter.
“We can’t even think about that at this point,” Esquer said.
Although no one seems to want to admit it, the trip to the College World Series is very much on the line for Cal when it takes the field tonight at 7 p.m. against Dallas Baptist.
The key to the game yesterday for the Bears was command. Both starter Justin Jones and reliever Logan Scott excelled at keeping the ball down in the zone and using their changeups effectively to keep the hard-hitting Patriots off the bases. Junior righty Erik Johnson, who will likely get the starting nod tonight, gave up five runs in three innings in his last start. His performance early on could well dictate the game for Cal.
Facing elimination, DBU will put senior righty Jared Stafford on the mound. Stafford comes into the contest with a 3.03 ERA.
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