Sometimes the stretch run of the baseball season stokes a passion so strong that the hearts of the faithful vacillate on the delivery of every pitch and the swing of every heavy hitter.
This is not one of those seasons for the Cal baseball team.
Mired in the dregs of the Pac-12 and effectively eliminated from postseason play, the weekend series against No. 13 Arizona State allowed the Bears to inject a sense of purpose into the latter slate of games by playing spoiler to a team gunning for home field advantage for the NCAA Regionals.
After splitting the first two contests in schizophrenic fashion by winning a tight 3-1 pitching duel on Friday and dropping a 10-9 slugfest on Saturday, Cal faced the Sun Devils for a noon contest on Sunday. Mirroring the Saturday contest, a gluttony of runs were scored, and the game remained close, but the Bears eventually fell 10-7 on the strength of a ninth-inning grand slam from ASU designated hitter Nathaniel Causey.
Arizona State, dangerously close to losing its coveted privilege of hosting the NCAA Regionals, wasted no time racing out to a daunting advantage. The Sun Devils piled on four runs in the top of the first inning, pouncing on the sloppy pitching and fielding from Cal starter Ryan Wertenberger and first baseman Nick Halamandaris, respectively.
Wertenberger easily retired leadoff hitter Kasey Coffman on a routine grounder to second to kick off the inning. But the grounder was the last out Wertenberger would secure. Wertenberger walked the next two Sun Devils and allowed a single by catcher Max Rossiter to load the bases. Causey subsequently knocked a two-RBI single to left field, and an error by Halamandaris brought two more runners home to give Arizona State a 4-0 lead. Wertenberger was pulled in favor of Colin Monsour after just 0.1 innings pitched and four runs allowed.
The Bears pulled back into the contest on the strength of power hitters Devon Rodriguez and Chris Paul. In the bottom of the third, Rodriguez slammed a Zak Miller offering over the fence in right-center, driving in Andrew Knapp and bringing the Bears within one run. The Sun Devils tacked on a run in the fourth on an RBI triple by Drew Stankiewicz to put them up 5-3, but a Paul solo shot and a wild pitch with Halamandaris on third base knotted the score up at 5, heading into the top of the fifth.
Both teams traded off runs in the sixth inning; the game remained tied at 6-6 until the top of the ninth inning. Kyle Porter led off the ninth by walking by Dalton Dinatale and was promptly yanked by head coach David Esquer. New pitcher Eric Walbridge induced a flyout but conceded two singles to load the bases. In the next at-bat, Causey crushed a Walbridge pitch over the right field wall, poetic justice for a season that began with a sense of hope but descended quickly into mediocrity.
Michael Rosen covers baseball. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @michaelrosen3.