March 29, 2009

Box Score

BERKELEY, CALIF. - The Cal baseball team, led by Mark Canha's 4-for-5 day and Brian Guinn's clutch two-run double, defeated Washington State, 8-2, Sunday in the final game of a three-game conference series at Evans Diamond. The Golden Bears, who had lost to the Cougars 8-7 on Friday and 11-0 Saturday, improved to 14-10 overall and 3-3 in the Pac-10. WSU dropped to 10-12 and 2-1 in league play.

The winning pitcher for Cal was freshman right-hander Erik Johnson (2-2), who threw a career-high 6.0 innings with six hits, one earned run, no walks and four strikeouts. Junior left-hander Michael Bugary (2.0 innings, one hit, no runs, one strikeout) and junior right-hander Blake Smith (1.0 inning, struck out the side in the ninth) also pitched well for the Bears.

The Cougars had jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a home run by Derek Jones off of Johnson. Cal was able to comeback in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI single by junior second baseman Jeff Kobernus. WSU again took a one-run lead when Patrick Claussen scored on an error by the Bears' shortstop Guinn for a 2-1 advantage.

But Cal was able to take advantage of a series of Cougar errors in the sixth inning to break the game open. Kobernus opened the inning by reaching safely on WSU shortstop Shea Vucinich's fielding error and later scored on Cougar starter Jared Prince's (1-2, 5.0 innings, eight hits, five runs, one earned run, three walks, four strikeouts) balk. Then Prince gave up singles to senior third baseman Michael Brady and freshman designated hitter Danny Oh, and hit Dylan Tonneson to load the bases. WSU reliever David Stilley was able to get the next to batters to pop up, but a fly ball hit by Guinn was dropped by Cougar center fielder Garry Kuykendall to allow three more runs to score and give the Bears a 5-2 lead.

Cal added three more runs in the eighth inning on Guinn's two-run double and a wild pitch by WSU's Jeremy Johnson that allowed Guinn to score. Smith came into the game in the top of the eighth and struck out the side to make the final score, 8-2.

The Bears will next compete in the fourth annual Dante Benedetti Classic against the University of San Francisco on Tuesday, March 31 at 6:30 p.m. at AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. The Benedetti Classic celebrates the legacy of a giant in San Francisco youth and collegiate baseball. Benedetti, who coached USF baseball for 22 years (1962-80), passed away in 2005 at the age of 86. Tickets are available by going to www.usfdons.com.

Cal's next home game will be against Long Beach State on Wednesday, April 1 at 2:30 p.m. at Evans Diamond.

Home Runs:

Washington State: Derek Jones, solo home run in the first inning.

Cal: None.