Lately, it's seemed like the Cal baseball team has been on the short end of nearly every bad break. All it took was one error by Washington State center fielder Garry Kuykendall to turn the Bears' fortunes around.

With Sunday's game tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Cal loaded the bases with two outs. Shortstop Brian Guinn sent a fly ball to left field, where Kuykendall and left fielder Patrick Claussen converged. Although it appeared that Claussen had the better look, Kuykendall called him off, only to have the ball glance off his glove.

The error plated three runs, breaking open the scoring for the Bears in their 8-2 victory over the Cougars at Evans Diamond.

"Nothing was going our way the first couple days," first baseman Mark Canha said. "Seemed like everything that could have gone wrong was going wrong. Today we got a bad hop for their shortstop, a dropped ball by the center fielder. It was huge for us."

The win was an especially cathartic one for Cal (14-10, 3-3 in the Pac-10), which dropped its first two games against Washington State-including a draining 11-0 loss on Saturday.

Through five innings, it looked like the Bears were headed for their first sweep at home by Washington State since 1999. Things looked particularly dire in the fifth, when right fielder Blake Smith was called out on a controversial play at home to end Cal's only real threat to that point. But Guinn's lucky break in the sixth and two-run double in the eighth sent the Cougars (10-12, 2-1) home without the coveted Pac-10 road sweep.

"We weren't playing very well and sometimes you've got to win games when you aren't playing well," coach David Esquer said. "The good teams play a little below their best and find a way to win ... Today we bounced back from getting our tail whipped. That's good to know."

After giving up 11 runs the day before, the Bears' pitching staff locked down for one of its best performances of the year. Hard-throwing freshman starter Erik Johnson earned his second career win, striking out four in six innings of work, while giving up just one earned run.

"He set the tone for us, he set the tone for me," reliever Michael Bugary said. "We really needed this win because a sweep is not a good thing, especially in the Pac-10. So Erik did a great job of setting the tone for our pitching staff."

Bugary came in next and pitched two innings of one-hit ball, before Smith closed the game by striking out the side in the top of the ninth.

And with five games coming up in the next six days, Sunday's win was a much-needed boost for Cal heading into another busy week.

"I don't think we played like ourselves the first two games and today is how we play," Bugary said. "I was really proud of the guys and how we did it. We came out with good energy, and that's what we needed."

Tags: BLAKE SMITH, CAL BASEBALL, DAVID ESQUER, BRIAN GUINN, MARK CANHA