May 27, 2011

Box Score

BERKELEY - No. 23 California out-hit Stanford and junior right-hander Erik Johnson recorded 11 strikeouts, but the Golden Bears still fell to their Bay Area rival, 3-2, Friday afternoon in a conference game at Evans Diamond. Cal, which got within one run on sophomore first baseman Devon Rodriguez's home run in the sixth inning, fell to 31-19 overall and 13-12 in the Pac-10. The Cardinal improved to 31-20 and 13-12 in league.

The winning pitcher for Stanford was junior right-hander Mark Appel (5-6), who threw 7.1 innings with eight hits, two runs, one earned run, no walks and three strikeouts. Johnson (6-3), who tied a career-high with his 11 strikeouts, went 7.0 innings with four hits, three runs and had four walks.

The Cardinal scored the first run of the game when Zach Jones walked to lead off the game and later scored on Stephen Piscotty's fielder's choice RBI. The Bears were able to tie the game in the bottom of the first inning when junior shortstop Marcus Semien had a one-out single off of Appel and later scored on shortstop Kenny Diekroeger's throwing error.

Stanford regained the lead with two runs in the top of the sixth inning off Johnson, who had retired 13 batters in a row before walking Jake Stewart to start the sixth. The Cardinal jumped ahead, 3-1, on RBI singles from Tyler Gaffney and Brian Ragira.

Cal was able to threaten when Rodriguez hit his fourth home of the year with a two-out shot over the right field fence to make the score, 3-2. Sophomore third baseman Mitch Delfino was able to keep the rally going with a double to right field, before Appel was able to get freshman center fielder Louie Lechich to fly out to left field to end the inning.

Besides the strong showings of Appel and Johnson, Cal junior right-hander Logan Scott threw well in the final two innings (one hit, no walks, two strikeouts), while the Cardinal's Chris Reed earned his seventh save of the season (1.2 innings, one hit, one walk).

Semien finished the day 3-for-4, while Delfino record two hits, including his double in the sixth inning, as the Bears out-hit the Stanford, 9-5, but left 10 runners on base.

Cal will next host Stanford in the second and third games of the Pac-10 series with a noon doubleheader on Saturday, May 28 at Evans Diamond.