March 11, 2012
Box Score
LINCOLN, NEB. -
California pitchers did not give up a hit until two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning as the No. 25 Golden Bears improved to 11-3 on the season with a 4-0 shutout of Nebraska, Sunday (March 11) at Hawks Field in Lincoln. The Cornhuskers dropped to 9-6.
Winning pitcher for Cal was sophomore left-hander Kyle Porter, who went 4.0 innings with no hits, one walk and one strikeout to improve his record to 2-0. Junior third baseman Mitch Delfino had an RBI single in the first inning, senior catcher Chadd Krist had an RBI single in the third inning and junior left fielder Darrel Matthews had an RBI single in the seventh inning. Finally, Krist gave the Bears an insurance run with an RBI double in the top of the ninth inning.
Krist's double was the 52nd of his Cal career, placing him fourth on the school's all-time doubles list.
Six Bear pitchers limited Nebraska to three hits. After Porter's four innings, sophomore right-hander Trevor Hildenberger, sophomore left-hander Matt Evanoff, freshman right-hander Keaton Siomkin, freshman left-hander Chris Muse-Fisher and senior right-hander Joey Donofrio all kept the Cornhuskers off the scoreboard.
Matthews, Krist and Delfino all finished with three hits apiece as Cal outhit Nebraska, 13-3. Senior right fielder Danny Oh added two hits and Krist, Delfino, Oh and sophomore first baseman Andrew Knapp all had doubles for the Bears.
Cal is now 2-1 in the four-game series at Nebraska, winning 11-8 in 11 innings on Friday, and losing 12-5 on Saturday. The Bears and the Cornhuskers will meet for the final game of the series at 12:05 p.m. Central Time Monday, March 12.
"It was a solid team win today," said Cal coach David Esquer. "It was impressive defeating a regional caliber team on the road. Our pitching staff was outstanding. Coach (Mike) Neu had a solid game plan on how to use our staff and we matched up perfectly. We also had timely hitting and played well defensively. It was an important road win for us."
After the series at Nebraska, Cal will open Pac-12 play hosting Oregon State (11-5), March 16-18, at Evans Diamond. Game times are 2:30 p.m. Friday, March 16; 1 p.m. Saturday, March 17 and 12 p.m. Sunday, March 18.
