Kay Yang/File

Despite the cautious preseason predictions from coach David Esquer, it was impossible to witness the promising signs emerging from the early slate of contests and dismiss them as meaningless. There was a sweep over a quality Big-10 opponent to kick off the 2013 campaign. There was an eight-game winning streak within the first month of the season. There were wins over top-25 opponents and hot starts from unexpected sources. Heading into the tumultuous Pac-12 slate, hope was as abundant as sunny days in the springtime.

But against the initial slate of highly ranked conference opponents, the Cal baseball team’s momentum started to slow to a stuttering halt. The Bears dropped two out of three to No. 11 UCLA. They dropped two out of three to USC. With postseason aspirations hanging in the balance of the next stretch run of games, the Bears reeled off an eight-game losing streak to shift the season permanently into a phase of development instead one of competition.

In Cal’s 7-3 loss to Stanford on Sunday, one saw the signs of the positive changes stemming from the Bears’ emphasis on development in the latter half of the season. Save for catcher Andrew Knapp, who is likely to depart for the MLB draft, everyone in the starting lineup from the Cardinal contest will return to Evans Diamond next year.

Perhaps the most promising discovery of the 2013 season was freshman center fielder Devon Pearson. Pearson, hailing from Carmel, Calif., was also a standout athlete in both football and basketball at Carmel High School. He chose to follow baseball to Cal, and the decision paid off after a surprisingly successful freshman campaign. Pearson finished second on the club with a .305 average and tacked on 19 walks and seven stolen bases for good measure. His defense in center field stood among the best in the conference, combining elite speed with a powerful throwing arm to aid Cal pitchers all year.

Encouraging steps forward from veterans Chris Paul, Brendan Farney and Devon Rodriguez on the offensive side of the game also served to bolster optimism for future seasons.

Paul tied Knapp for the team lead in home runs with eight and finished second on the squad with a .399 slugging percentage. Farney bounced back from a dismal freshman season by posting a .288 average and contributing stellar defense at a middle infield position. Rodriguez got off to a blistering start to the season, sporting higher than a .350 average for a portion of the nonconference schedule. But a lingering elbow injury derailed his strong start, and Rodriguez’s average dipped to .272 by season’s end. Rodriguez should bounce back strong and sit in the middle of the Bears’ lineup for the entirety of 2014.

And a strong effort from starting pitcher Dylan Nelson on Sunday showed that Cal’s greatest weakness this season — a weak starting rotation — could easily transition into a strength when next spring rolls around.

After a season full of ups and downs, Esquer and the Bears will likely leave the season content with what remains on their plate for next year.

Michael Rosen covers baseball. Contact him at mrosen@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @michaelrosen3.

The post Cal baseball ends disappointing season with loss to Stanford appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Kevin Foote/Senior Staff

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 mrosen@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @michaelrosen3.

The post Cal baseball falls to Arizona State as season nears close appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Kevin Foote/File

The Cal baseball team will finish its season with seven straight matches at home — but don’t expect their luck to get much better.

A week after being swept by No. 5 Oregon State, Cal now has to face No. 13 Arizona State in a weekend series beginning on Friday at Evans Baseball Diamond.

Arizona State (30-14-1, 12-9 in the Pac-12) ranks fourth in the conference and comes in to Berkeley looking to improve its postseason seeding. The surging Sun Devils recently secured their 30th win of the season on Sunday and have now notched 51 consecutive 30-win seasons — the most in NCAA history.

Meanwhile, Cal is floundering. After amassing a 16-12 record through the end of March, the Bears proceeded to go on an eight-game losing streak to begin April — and they haven’t recovered since.

Cal now holds a mediocre 21-26 season record, including 9-15 in the Pac-12, which has left the team in ninth place in the conference. The Bears’ postseason chances are essentially out the window.

Just two years ago, the Bears had a young, promising and star-studded roster: a potential major leaguer in Devon Rodriguez, a star in the making with Andrew Knapp and a standout pitching duo between Justin Jones and Kyle Porter. After a series of misfortunes, most notably Rodriguez’s season-ending knee injury in 2012, Cal’s chrysalis of young talent never blossomed the way the Bears wanted.

Right now, Knapp is still trying to keep Cal’s offensive ship from sinking completely. Knapp currently leads the Bears in batting average, hits, runs and RBIs, but Cal as a whole is only managing a .264 batting average.

The Bears’ subpar pitching is in no way helping Cal’s offense either. A combined ERA of 4.50 from Cal’s pitching staff is letting their opponents hit a .292 batting average off of the Bears. If Cal’s pitchers can’t get it together against Arizona State’s hard-hitting offense — led by outfielder Trever Allen — the Bears are in for a rough weekend.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez is battling injuries once again. In 2012, it was his knee, and now it’s his shoulder. The previous first baseman dislocated his shoulder late in the fall in a scrimmage game and has been limited to the role of designated hitter for most of the season because of it. Rodriguez was once well on his way to becoming an MLB draft pick, but he is now heading toward his fourth year playing in Berkeley for the 2014 season.

Although he has been unable to man his usual post at first base, Rodriguez has been a constant force for the Bears on the offensive end. He is second behind Knapp in RBIs — fighting on despite the need for a shoulder surgery that he will undergo as soon as the season is over.

Against Arizona State, the Bears will need all of their players to be at the top of their form in order to have any hope of winning.

While Cal continues to struggle this season, the team will look to return in 2014 with much of that same roster that took them to the College World Series in 2011.

But by then, they will be older, healthier and maybe better.

Contact Riley McAtee at rmcatee@dailycal.org
Contact Johnny Zhang at jzhang@dailycal.org

The post Struggling Cal baseball plays No. 13 Arizona State at home appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Kevin Foote/Senior Staff

From the moment Oregon State scored its first run against the Cal baseball team, the Bears couldn’t find an answer to get back into the game — let alone the entire series.

Junior designated hitter Devon Rodriguez’s lead-off home run during the seventh inning in the first game of the series was arguably Cal’s only offensive bright spot against the Beavers. But Oregon State’s incredible pitching and downpour of hits and runs completely extinguished any small flicker of hope the Bears had. In each of the three games this weekend, the Beavers completely overwhelmed the Cal team.

No. 5 Oregon State (37-9, 17-4 Pac-12) capped off its sweep on Sunday afternoon in Goss Stadium in Corvallis, Ore., with a 6-4 victory over the Bears. Cal (21-26, 9-15 Pac-12) will now need to win both of its last two series to return to a .500 overall and conference play record — a feat that will be close to miraculous for the struggling Bears.

Even when Cal started to make a turnaround during the last game of the series, outhitting the Beavers 13 hits to seven, the Bears were still fighting an uphill battle.

Junior Andrew Knapp led the offensive charge with three hits and two RBIs, but Oregon State still came away with the victory. With the game tied at one run apiece at the start of the third inning, the Beavers pulled away after infielder Danny Hayes smacked a homer into right field, giving Oregon State a two-run lead.

The Bears continued to battle back as Knapp pelted a double into the right field during the ninth inning to try to close the deficit. Oregon State’s advantage was too large to handle, though, as Cal could not close the margin, losing the game 6-4.

The series started off on an even worse note on Friday as the standout pitching of Oregon State senior left-hander Matt Boyd left Cal’s offense virtually immobile. Boyd only let in three hits, one run and one walk including throwing a career-high 12 strikeouts. The Bears just couldn’t get their bats moving during the game, tallying only three hits compared to Oregon State’s nine.

The only bright spot came from Cal’s only score of the game, when Rodriguez smacked his sixth home run of the season during the ninth inning. After falling to Oregon State 6-1, the Bears could not find an offensive spark in the next game of the series either.

In fact, Cal found itself in an almost identical situation on Saturday — this time limited by Oregon State’s right-hander Andrew Moore. Moore pitched all nine innings with two hits, one walk and two strikeouts, improving his season record to 9-1 and shutting out the Bears 5-0.

The Bears have been incompetent this season in handling top-tier teams. Earlier this year, Cal dropped series against USC and UCLA, and the team has been swept by Arizona, Oregon and now, Oregon State. Ever since Cal made the College World Series in its glory days two years ago, the team has been in a decline due to a major drop-off in pitching and hitting. As of now, the Bears are just shadows of their former selves as they look to finish off the season at home.

Contact Johnny Zhang at jzhang@dailycal.org Follow him on Twitter @thejohnnyzhang.

The post Cal baseball upended by Oregon State in weekend series appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Kevin Foote/File

When the Cal baseball team made an improbable run at the College World Series two years ago, the young talent that unveiled itself seemed to promise success for years to come.

Pitcher Justin Jones was just a sophomore, and freshman Kyle Porter posted a 6-0 record, emerging as one of the nation’s best starters. Freshman Andrew Knapp showed glimpses of a bright future, batting .360 with runners in scoring position in limited playing time. And maybe most promising was offensive star and sophomore first baseman Devon Rodriguez, named the Most Outstanding Player at the NCAA Houston Regional.

Fast forward two years, and the Bears (21-23, 9-12 Pac-12) are not where they would like to be.

Porter has a 4.12 ERA and has only started two games for the Bears all season. His ERA is a far cry from the 1.89 ERA he posted during his impressive freshman campaign. Coach David Esquer still gives Jones chances to prove himself, but the senior left-hander has a 1-5 record and a 5.00 in 18 appearances and nine starts this season.

Knapp and Rodriguez have been strong for the Bears on offense — the two sluggers are the number one and two RBI leaders, respectively. As a junior, Knapp has led Cal in nearly every offensive category. Rodriguez, a redshirt junior, is the only Cal player who has started every game for the Bears this season despite being hampered by a dislocated shoulder that limited him to the designated hitter role for most of Cal’s games.

But heading into a three game series this weekend against No. 5 Oregon State (34-8, 14-4) at Goss Stadium, the production of Knapp and Rodriguez might not be enough to make up for the fall from grace of Porter and Jones.

The Beavers have been a powerhouse in college baseball this year, beginning with their starting pitching. Matt Boyd, Andrew Moore and Ben Wetzler will be Oregon State’s weekend starters. The trio is 12-3 with a combined 1.74 ERA in Pac-12 conference play this season. Of the 158 innings that the Beavers played in conference, those three starters have worked 124 of them. Combined, opposing batters are hitting just .198 against the three.

Oregon State has been in the top-25 rankings for 17 consecutive weeks, dating back to last season. The Beavers also head into this series tied for the best record through 42 games in program history.

Faced with overcoming the potent Oregon State offense that has scored 239 runs this season, Cal will turn to freshman Ryan Mason. Thrown into the spotlight this year when older pitchers struggled, Mason solidified his role as the Bears’ Friday starter through consistently strong performances. The right hander is 5-2 with a 3.38 ERA in eight starts and 11 appearances.
Through the struggles, Rodriguez is confident his team will pull through.

“This year, we’ve hit a couple of bumps in the road,” Rodriguez said. “We’re a real young team, but we’re going to get through it. It’s inevitable that we’re going to get out of our little funk and be back where we want to be.”

Warren Laufer covers baseball. Contact him at wlaufer@dailycal.org

The post Struggling Cal baseball takes on Oregon State appeared first on The Daily Californian.

During his senior year of high school, Devon Rodriguez came to Berkeley on a recruiting trip. After walking on the field at Evans Diamond, he knew that he was coming to Cal.

“Berkeley was a little different,” Rodriguez says. “I wanted a change. Everything fit together.”

But his mom was not so certain.

“I walked on Telegraph, and I didn’t want him to come here,” says Natalie Rodriguez. “He said, ‘Mom, it’s just people trying to find themselves — just like me.’”

Undrafted out of high school, Rodriguez was offered a chance to pursue his dream of playing professional baseball.

After a solid freshman season in 2010, Rodriguez had an even better 2011 as the program fought for reinstatement after being cut. In one of the most exciting moments in Cal baseball history, Rodriguez hit a two-RBI walk-off single to right field to cap a four-run ninth inning and win the NCAA Houston Regional final.

“It was a real roller coaster ride,” Devon says. “I didn’t know if I was going to be around. I thought I was going to have to go play somewhere else. It was our rallying call.”

Rodriguez was named the Most Outstanding Player of that regional. He was set to be a star in the 2012 season, likely on his way to the MLB draft.

But before the start of last season, Rodriguez hurt his right knee. A life-threatening blood clot formed in his leg and forced him to take blood thinners for the remainder of the season, limiting him to only 11 at-bats.

With a medical redshirt year granted by the NCAA, Rodriguez prepared himself for a comeback year in 2013. But in the last scrimmage of fall 2012, he dislocated his shoulder while sliding into second base.

Unable to throw a baseball without causing inflammation in his shoulder, Rodriguez has been limited to the designated hitter role for most of this season. Surgery is no longer a question of if but of when. Instead of signing a professional contract this summer, Rodriguez will be recovering from arthroscopic surgery to the labrum.

Physically, Rodriguez should not be playing baseball right now. Yet he is the only Cal player who has started every game this season. If he had opted for surgery at the time of the injury, he would have sat out another season. But for someone whose favorite memories are all baseball-related, sitting out for two consecutive seasons was too much to bear.

“How do you take baseball away from someone who loves it?” Natalie says. “I was more concerned about his emotional happiness than anything else.”

Rodriguez was faced with a dilemma — emotional or physical pain. He chose the physical, risking his future in baseball for the chance to keep playing the game.

The game that he could not live without.

When Natalie was 31 years old, she finally hung up her spikes after a 16-year semiprofessional softball career. She was a tough catcher runners rarely dared to steal on.

But after years of wear and tear on her knees forced her to left field, she had to give it up. She quit a game she loved, but she did it on her own terms.

“I stopped playing when the game changed,” she says. “I kind of changed, too. I felt that it was my time. But when you love something, you can’t stop doing it.”

When her body wouldn’t let her play anymore, Natalie’s legacy continued. Less than a year after retiring from softball, Natalie gave birth to her second son, Devon. Devon exemplified the talent and love of the game that Natalie shared with him.

At only 18 months old, he would throw a baseball up and hit it. When he was 7 years old and playing in an all-star tournament against 8-year-olds, his mom promised him a bat if he hit a home run.

He hit a home run in his first at-bat — and another in his second.

When Devon was 13, he had one of his best performances at a travel-ball tournament.

“How do you do so well?” Natalie asked.

“Oh, because I can see the threads on the ball,” Devon replied.

Now a senior, Rodriguez is finishing up a degree in legal studies — just in case. It remains to be seen if a complete recovery is possible. But at least for now, he is taking his setbacks in stride.

“He’s learned to overcome adversity with his chin up and to do it with self-respect and humility,” Natalie says.

Rodriguez certainly has not forgotten what drives him. His goals of dogpiling after a win at the College World Series and hearing his name called at a Major League stadium are still at the forefront of his mind. He is not ready to give up on those goals any time soon.

“When someone I truly respect tells me that I don’t have much left, that will be one of the times that I would really have to sit back and think about that,” Rodriguez says. “At least I’ll be able to sleep at night knowing that I did everything I could to make it happen. But it’s not something I plan on thinking about for a while.”

If the day comes when the injuries and struggles are too much to bear and Rodriguez has to face the difficult decision of hanging up his spikes, as his mother once did, Natalie will be behind him. He hopes that he can, as she did, quit on his own terms.

“Whatever he decides, that’s what we support,” Natalie says. “When he makes a decision, you can’t sway him. Once he makes his mind, he’s set in stone.”

The dream has not changed for Devon Rodriguez, but the path there has gotten a little bit longer and steeper. If things go according to plan, he will rehabilitate his shoulder and come back to Cal next year.

Ideally, Rodriguez will be playing college baseball in 2014. It’s a far cry from the draft pick that seemed inevitable two years ago. He will try to get his swing back without the hindrance of a dislocated shoulder, adding power as he has in each previous year.

Maybe one day, he will finally realize his goal of stepping on the field of a Major League stadium and hearing his name called in front of screaming fans.

For Rodriguez, baseball is more than a game — it’s something he loves. And as his mom says, “When you love something, you can’t stop doing it.”

Warren Laufer covers baseball. Contact him at wlaufer@dailycal.org.

The post Don’t stop me now: The recovery of Devon Rodriguez appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Kay Yang/File

Finally, mercifully, a wild pitch helped put an end to one of the wildest games of the season for the Cal baseball team on Sunday afternoon.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the 14th inning with the game tied 5-5, Cal pinch-hitter John Soteropolus stood at the plate, looking to give the Bears an extra-innings edge. Huskies’ reliever Zach Wright took the option out of Soteropolus’ hands, throwing a pitch wide of the catcher and allowing baserunner Brendan Farney to scoot in to give Cal its only lead of the game.

Reliever Collin Monsour shut Washington down in the bottom of the inning to earn the save in the Bears’ 6-5 win. The win swung the balance of the series into Cal’s hands as the team picked up the final two games of the three-game slate.

At the Husky Ballpark in Seattle, the afternoon began innocently enough for Bears’ starting pitcher Dylan Nelson, who notched a scoreless first inning.

But the wheels flew off the wagon in the bottom of the second as Nelson’s command vanished into thin air. Washington cleanup hitter Michael Camporeale kicked off the inning by lashing a leadoff double through the gap in right-center. First baseman Brian Wolfe promptly singled Camporeale home to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.

Following an RBI single by Ty Afenir that loaded the bases and put Washington up 2-0, Nelson was pulled in favor of reliever Ryan Wertenburger. Wertenburger couldn’t plug the leak, allowing a bases-clearing 3 RBI triple to Jayce Ray. The score was 5-0 by the end of the inning.

The Bears’ bullpen was flawless for the remainder of the game following the Ray triple. The combination of Wertenburger, Kyle Porter, Logan Scott, Justin Jones and Keaton Siomkin tossed 12.2 scoreless innings to keep the game within reach after Nelson’s second-inning implosion.

Meanwhile, the Bears’ offense crawled back from the tantalizing deficit. Andrew Knapp closed the gap to three runs with a two-RBI single in the top of the third. Shortstop Chris Paul brought Cal within a run in the fourth with a two-run bomb to left field.

Two back-to-back doubles with no outs in the fifth tied the game up at five and offered the Bears a chance to gain the lead, but Huskies’ reliever Tyler Davis settled down and retired the next three hitters in order.

Both Cal and Washington blew key chances in the late innings to take the lead for good. In the top of the eighth, the Bears put runners on the corners with just one out after a Devon Rodriguez single and an error by Huskies second baseman Robert Pehl.

In an ill-fated strategic move, coach David Esquer attempted a safety squeeze bunt with Mitchell Kranson with speedy pinch-runner Sean Peters on third. The squeeze was fielded cleanly by Andrew Ely, and Peters was easily thrown out at the plate. After a Jacob Wark single loaded the bases, Paul grounded out to end the inning.

The Huskies faced a similar situation in the bottom of the 12th with a runner on third with one out. Esquer brought on Eric Walbridge to face the right-handed Braden Bishop, and Walbridge retired Bishop and Afenir to quell the threat.

Michael Rosen covers baseball. Contact him at mrosen@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @michaelrosen3.

The post After 14th inning rally, Cal baseball clinches series against Washington appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Kevin Foote/File

Devon Rodriguez should be counting down the days until the MLB draft in June. Instead, he’ll spend this summer in the batting cages, preparing for another season at Evans Diamond.

Rodriguez, who missed all of 2012 due to a knee injury, wasted no time blistering opposing pitchers to start the 2013 campaign. Heading into the March 28 series against USC, the first baseman stood among the Pac-12 leaders in batting average with a .351 mark.

Almost a month later, Rodriguez’s average has dropped all the way down to .278.

A lingering shoulder injury to the junior from Newhall, Calif., derailed his hot streak and forced him to leave the field to serve as the team’s designated hitter.

“It has to be,” said coach David Esquer when asked if Rodriguez’s shoulder is affecting his swing. “He won’t say it, but we’ve all seen him when he’s at full strength. He was swinging the bat fine.”

Rodriguez will continue to bat in his usual cleanup spot in the Bears’ three-game series at Washington this weekend. But if the shoulder problems persist and Rodriguez struggles for the remainder of the season, Cal’s offense may be in trouble.

Since the USC series and the ostensible onset of Rodriguez’s injury, the Bears (18-22, 7-11 Pac-12) have scored more than five runs just once in 12 games.

Without a full-strength Rodriguez protecting star catcher Andrew Knapp in the lineup and driving in runners, Cal’s offense loses a good chunk of its strength. Considering the starting pitching’s general inconsistency throughout the season (4.72 team ERA), a perpetually unhealthy Rodriguez might drag the Bears down to the dregs of the conference.

The results of this weekend’s series against the Huskies will be indicative of whether Cal’s destiny lies with the worst of the Pac-12. Washington also strives to avoid carrying that ignominious distinction, sitting at 10th place in the conference with a 13-26 overall record and a 5-10 record in conference.

The Huskies are struggling despite sporting a league-average pitching staff, which ranks seventh in the Pac-12 in ERA and sixth in strikeouts. That’s mostly because their offense hits just about as well as the Major League team playing miles south of their Seattle stadium; Washington’s .310 slugging percentage is by far the lowest mark in the entire league.

Strangely, the Huskies’ bats have been on a bit of a hot streak as of late; over the past five games, they have scored 32 runs and won four of those contests. Even more impressive, all four of those wins came against ranked competition in No. 5 Oregon State and No. 21 Gonzaga.

Middle-of-the-order mashers Andrew Ely, Jayce Ray and Michael Camporeale have contributed most of the damage, but Trevor Mitsui and Robert Pehl have each chipped in with multihit games of their own.

The Bears’ pitching staff hopes Washington’s recent run of success at the plate is more fluke than trend. If it is the latter, the health of Rodriguez’s shoulder might be Cal’s only hope of avoiding a descent to the bottom.

Michael Rosen covers baseball. Contact him at mrosen@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @michaelrosen3.

The post With ailing Rodriguez at the bat, Cal baseball faces struggling Washington at Seattle appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Kevin Foote/Senior Staff

On a day when the cloudless sky and the simmering heat embodied the perfect ballgame scene, Cal’s hitting with runners in scoring position was anything but.

Until the bottom of the ninth inning, that is, when an explosion of clutch-hitting, capped by a line-drive RBI single from shortstop Mike Reuvekamp, rendered the Bears walk-off winners, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon at Evans Diamond, giving the Bears the series victory.

“It’s a Sunday game — I think both sides came out a little punch-drunk,” said Bears coach David Esquer. “It took the adrenaline of the ninth inning to jump-start us.”

Washington State starter Scott Simon mixed a hard fastball with a devastating slider to shut the Bears down for seven innings. Reliever Kellen Camus held Cal (18-21, 7-11 in the Pac-12) scoreless in the eighth. An RBI single by Washington State first baseman Jason Monda to give the Cougs a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning looked like it would make the difference.

It was a scoreless pitchers’ duel highlighted by sparkling defensive plays and a litany of strikeouts. Simon was matched by a stellar combined effort from starter Dylan Nelson and relievers Keaton Siomkin and Logan Scott.

“I thought (Nelson) spotted his fastball really well today,” Esquer said. “Quite frankly, the umpire was working well with him on both corners.”

Camus looked shaky in the eighth inning, struggling with command and allowing a couple of baserunners to reach. But Washington State coach Donnie Marbut stuck with him in the bottom of the ninth to face the bottom of the Bears’ order.

Camus’ command issues persisted facing leadoff hitter Nick Halamandaris. The sophomore right-hander from Olympia, Wash., walked the first baseman on four pitches; all four offerings sailed far away from the strike zone. Sean Peters went to first base to pinch-run for Halamandaris.

After throwing a first-pitch ball to pinch-hitter John Soteropulos, Cougars pitching coach Gregg Swenson strolled out to the mound to counsel Camus. Soteropulos squared up a bunt on the next pitch, moving Peters to second base.

“(We bunted out of) desperation,” Esquer said. “You’re not counting on three hits there. We hadn’t got that all day long. I figured you get the game to extras, and you may just outlast them.”

The light-hitting speedster Brian Celsi came to the plate 1-for-3 on the day. Camus labored, taking eons between pitches and struggling to locate the strike zone. On a 3-1 count, Celsi slapped a soft grounder to Trace Tam Sing at shortstop. Tam Sing fielded it cleanly, but Celsi’s speed forced Tam Sing to throw to second, attempting to catch Peters off guard; the attempt failed.

The brewing excitement was palpable in the Evans Diamond stands. Mitchell Kranson wasted no time channeling the momentum, swinging at the first pitch and pushing a single through the right side. Peters scored easily from second base. The Bears had runners on the corners with one out.

Reuvekamp finished the job, whacking a line-drive to center field and knocking in Celsi for the game-winning RBI.

“It was going to be one of those weekends where you read about Monda being the hero of the weekend,” Esquer said. “We were lucky to come up with our own heroes at the end.”

Contact Michael Rosen at mrosen@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @michaelrosen3.

The post Cal baseball captures series in walk-off win over Washington State appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Kevin Foote/File

There’s always next year.

It’s a mantra repeated coast to coast by even the most pessimistic of baseball fans, consoling themselves for yet another lost season. Down on Evans Diamond, the phrase has lingered in the back of Cal baseball coach David Esquer’s mind since the first pitch of the season.

It’s no longer lingering — after losing eight straight games and 10 of their last 11, the Bears (16-20, 5-10 in the Pac-12) have effectively played themselves out of postseason contention.

Sitting in ninth place in the conference and heading into the second half of their Pac-12 slate, Cal’s focus rests more than on player development than on making another miracle run at Omaha.

Washington State, on the other hand, the Bears’ opponent for this weekend’s series, is hanging on for dear life to stay relevant in the national conversation.

The Cougars (18-16, 5-7) are just two spots above Cal in the conference standings. A weekend sweep of the Bears, however, could launch Washington State into the upper echelon of the Pac-12.

Like Cal, the Cougars are riding a similar streak of ineptitude, dropping their three past contents to Arizona and Gonzaga.

Led by an offensive attack featuring six hitters hitting above .280, Washington State figures to wreak havoc on the Bears’ starting rotation. Four of those six hitters bat from the left side, creating a major disadvantage for the young right-handed staff of Ryan Mason, Keaton Siomkin and Dylan Nelson.

Of hitters with more than 100 at-bats, WSU third-baseman Nick Tanielu leads the Pac-12 in batting average with a .402 mark. He’s displayed power on top of the elite contact skills, compiling a .626 slugging percentage fueled by 12 doubles and three triples.

The player for the Cal staff to pitch around this weekend will likely be center fielder Jason Monda. Although sporting just a .281 average, the Capital High School (Olympia, WA) product leads the team in both home runs and RBI. The lefty has a propensity for striking out but makes up for it with both power and speed.

Monda also heads the bullpen alongside former high school teammate Kellen Camus; in 18 2/3 innings, he’s allowed just one earned run.

Monda, Camus and the rest of the Cougar pitching staff will focus on shutting down Cal catcher Andrew Knapp, a projected early-round selection in the June MLB draft who has played exceptionally this season.

While commanding the pitching staff and handling the difficult defensive position of catcher with expertise, he’s managed to hit .348 with five home runs, both marks tops on the squad.

Knapp and the rest of the Bears can potentially derail the Washington State season with a series victory, especially if the trio of Mason, Siomkin and Nelson pitch efficiently and effectively. But wins will just be a bonus; at this point, Cal is simply searching for any signs of positive encouragement in an otherwise dismal campaign.

Michael Rosen covers baseball. Contact him at mrosen@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @michaelrosen3.

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