March 25, 2011
Final Stats
BERKELEY -
Junior right-hander Erik Johnson threw a one-hitter through eight innings as California recorded its sixth shutout of the season, defeating Washington State, 7-0, in the Golden Bears' Pac-10 opener Friday (March 25) at Evans Diamond. No. 16-ranked Cal improved its record to 14-5 and won its league opener behind the impressive pitching of Johnson, who improved his record to 4-1 and lowered his ERA to 1.06 by going 8.0 innings(four walks, six strikeouts) and yielding just a single to WSU's Matt Argyropoulos to start the fifth inning.
Friday's game was televised by Fox Sports Network and will be aired Saturday, March 26 at 4 p.m. Pacific time. Fans should check their local cable company for availability of the telecast.
The losing pitcher for the Cougars was junior left-hander Adam Conley (4-2), who went 6.0 innings with 11 hits, five earned runs, one walk and one strikeout for 9-8 WSU. Sophomore right-hander Logan Scott threw the top of the ninth for the Bears with no hits and a strikeout.
Cal took advantage of some Cougars' errors in the second and fifth innings and added a run in the sixth inning. In the Bears' four-run second inning, senior designated hitter Austin Booker started the rally off Conley with a fielder's choice RBI, followed by sophomore right fielder Vince Bruno's RBI single through the left side of the infield and then sophomore second baseman Tony Renda added a two-run single on a ball that was fielded by diving WSU second baseman Tommy Richards in shallow right field.
In the fifth, junior catcher Chadd Krist and sophomore first baseman Devin Rodriguez started the inning off with back to back singles. Krist later scored on Cougar first baseman Taylor Ard's fielding error and Rodriguez scored on sophomore center fielder Darrel Matthew's fielder's choice RBI. The Bears scored their seventh run in the sixth inning off of Krist's RBI double to left field, scoring Renda.
Renda finished the day 3-for-5 with two RBI; while Krist (2-for-5, double, RBI), sophomore third baseman Mitch Delfino (2-for-3, double) and Matthews (2-for-4, double, RBI) had two hits apiece. Cal finished with 12 hits.
The Bears will next play Washington State in the second game of the three-game series, Saturday, March 26 at 1 p.m. The third game of the series, Sunday, March 27, is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
