March 19, 2004

Box Score

TEMPE, AZ - The California Golden Bears scored five runs in the top of the sixth inning to erase a 7-3 deficit and held on to upset the No. 5 Arizona State Sun Devils 9-7 in the Pac-10 opener for both teams Friday night at Packard Stadium. The Devils had their four-game win streak snapped with the loss to fall to 19-4 overall on the season. California improved to 13-14 with the victory and 1-0 in league action. It was the first time the Bears had defeated the Sun Devils at Packard Stadium since a 6-3 win Apr. 14, 1996.

California got a solid performance out of its bullpen to secure the victory. Sophomore lefty Cameron Johnson picked up the victory with one and a third scoreless innings and senior right-hander Matt Brown recorded his first save of the year, pitching 1.0 innings with one hit, no runs, no walks and two strikeouts. It was Brown's 15th career save, placing him tied for third (with Drew Fischer, 1994-97) on the Cal all-time save list.

Arizona State freshman reliever Quentin Andes was saddled with the loss after giving up the eventual game-winning run in his inning and a third appearance.

The Bears trailed 7-3 after five innings, but battled back with a big five-run sixth inning. Sending 10 batters to the plate in the inning, Allen Craig, David Weiner and Grossman all drove in runs with singles to put the Bears in the lead.

Cal jumped out to the early 1-0 lead after back-to-back singles from Craig and David Nicholson to lead off the game. Cleanup hitter Chris Grossman drove home a run on a sacrifice fly to center field to stake the Bears to a 1-0 lead.

ASU answered with three runs in the bottom of the first to take a 3-1 lead. Dustin Pedroia and Travis Buck led off with consecutive singles and Jeff Larish drove home the first run with a double to the right field fence. Freshman designated hitter Zechry Zinicola reached on an error that allowed two more runs to cross the plate.

The Devils added a run in the second on a two-out double by Zinicola, but Cal kept it close with single tallies in each the second and fourth innings. A two-run single by Tuffy Gosewisch and a two-out single by Pedroia in the fifth extended the lead to 7-3.

Again, the Bears battled back with five runs in the top of the sixth to take an 8-7 lead.

The Devils had a chance to push the equalizer across the plate by loading the bases in the seventh, but Jesse Ingram got Larish to strike out on a 2-2 pitch to end the threat. Cal then added an important insurance run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Nicholson.

The Bears were led by the top of their lineup combining for four multi-hit games. Craig, Nicholson, Weiner and Grossman each had two hits in the victory. Senior shortstop Jeff Dragicevich was also 2-for-3 with two RBI.

The Devils and Bears continue the Pac-10 opening series Saturday at 1 p.m. at Packard Stadium.

California 9, Arizona State 7 (Mar 19, 2004 at Tempe, Ariz.)
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California.......... 110 105 010  -  9 13  2      (13-14, 1-0 PAC-10)
Arizona State....... 310 030 000  -  7 11  1      (19-4, 0-1 PAC-10)
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Pitchers: California - Gold; Johnson(5); Ingram(7); Brown(9).
Arizona State - Mousser; Averill(4); Andes(6); Bresnehan(8).
Win-Johnson(1-0)