Cal Wins First Series at Stanford Since 1995

After two narrow wins over Stanford in the first two games of the weekend, the No. 16 Cal baseball team entered Sunday with the possibility of sweeping the No. 6 Cardinal for the first time in 16 years still very much intact.

With one swing, Brent Milleville shattered it-and possibly the ball, as well-to pieces.

Stanford's designated hitter unloaded on a fastball from Kevin Miller with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth, crushing it over the trees that line the left-field wall of Klein Field at Sunken Diamond to break a 3-3 tie.

The Cardinal went on to celebrate Senior Day with an 8-5 win over the Bears. But Cal pulled out victories on Friday and Saturday to break a different streak-recording their first weekend series win in Stanford since 1995.

"There were some opportunities lost," coach David Esquer said. "We haven't been good enough to finish it off with a great third day performance. And that's what takes. Good's not good enough against someone scrambling to avoid a sweep."

It was still a big improvement on the previous two road series that Cal (32-16-2, 11-10 in the Pac-10) had played, when they went a combined 1-5 against Arizona State and USC. But the opportunity to make a huge statement against the Cardinal (29-18-2, 11-7) disappeared on the vapor trail left by Milleville's grand slam.

Cal jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the second inning on a bloop RBI double by Jeff Kobernus and a two-run double from B.J. Guinn.

Bears starter Chris Petrini actually held Stanford hitless through 3 1/3 innings, but things began to unravel for him in the fourth when, with one out and a 2-2 count, Cardinal catcher Jason Castro check-swung at a high pitch. The entire Cal bench jumped up looking for the strikeout call, but the umpires ruled that Castro had held up.

"Obviously I think that was a bad call, and then he walked (Castro)," Esquer said. "It was unfortunate. You hate to turn on that, and I probably didn't do as good a job as I could have settling him down after that call."

Petrini didn't record another out. Stanford tagged him for back-to-back RBI singles and Miller gave up a sacrifice fly in relief to tie the score at 3-3.

After Stanford loaded the bases against Miller in the fifth, Milleville belted the second grand slam of his career.

Stanford starter Jeffery Inman settled down after the three-run second to improve his record to 7-2 and hand Miller (6-1) his first loss of the season.

Friday night, Tyson Ross kept the Cardinal lineup in check through eight, retiring 14 straight hitters at one point while the Bears built a 3-1 lead. But Stanford finally got to him in the bottom of the ninth with Randy Molina's RBI single tying the score at 3-3.

Cal then hit back in the 10th, as Charlie Cutler's single drove in Michael Brady to make the score 4-3, and Matt Gorgen pitched a scoreless 10th for the win.

"It was an amazing feeling," Cutler said. "I'm just glad that he didn't make the play. My initial reaction was that I hit it right at him, and when I saw it get by I was thrilled."

The Bears received another quality start on Saturday from Craig Bennigson, who allowed just two runs in six innings.

Down 2-1, the Bears finally broke through in the seventh for three runs on a two-run single by Kobernus and a squeeze play from Brady. Cal tacked on another run in the eighth to make it 5-2, and Gorgen survived a scare in the ninth by retiring Austin Yount-the potential tying run-on a flyout to the warning track to notch his ninth save of the year.

Tags: STANFORD