May 2, 2000

Box Score

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - San Francisco scored six runs off of three Cal pitchers in the bottom of the eighth for a 9-5 victory over the Bears Tuesday afternoon at Benedetti Diamond. Cal falls to 24-25 overall, while the Dons, who had lost 10 games in a row, improve to 25-26.

The Bears held a 5-3 lead going into the bottom of the eighth, but USF started off the inning with three straight hits and three runs off of Cal reliever Jon Cuccias. Two of the hits barely rolled between shortstop Jason Williams and second baseman Tommy Callen around the second base bag. Rob Meyer (3-2, 0.3 innings, two hits, three runs, two walks, one strikeout) came in relief of Cuccias and gave up an RBI single to Ryan Leahy and a tie-breaking two-run double to Danny Trumble. David Cash came in for Meyer and gave up an RBI single to Nick Guerra before finally getting out of the inning.

The winning pitcher for San Francisco was its fourth reliever, John Herbert (4-3), who balked in a run in the eighth inning, but got the Bears out 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth.

The Dons had scored an unearned run in the first inning off of Cal starter Brad Steele on an RBI ground out by Trumble, but from there Steele pitched well, going 6.0 innings with seven hits, one walk and a career-high eight strikeouts. USF scored two runs in the seventh inning on a two-run homer by Soares off of Andrew Sproul.

After the Bears had been shutdown by Don starter Jason Martina (5.0 innings, three hits, no runs, one walk, nine strikeouts), they finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth inning when Callen and Mike Tonis scored when Chad Soarus missed a Clint Hoover pop up. Cal added two more run off USF reliever Peter Dunkie in the seventh inning on Brad Smith's RBI single and Xavier Nady's sacrifice fly. The Bears scored their fifth run on Herbert's balk.

Freshman left fielder David Weiner led Cal at the plate, going 3-for-3, while Callen went 2-for-4 for the Bears.

Cal will next travel to UCLA for a three-game series, beginning Friday, May 5 at 7 p.m. at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Home Runs: California: None.

San Francisco: Soares, two-run homer in the seventh