March 20, 2012
Box Score
SAN FRANCISCO -
Led by two-run homers from junior designated hitter Vince Bruno and senior center fielder Chad Bunting, the Cal baseball team snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over host San Francisco Tuesday (March 20) at Benedetti Diamond. The Golden Bears also received a solid pitching effort from sophomore left-hander Michael Theofanopoulos (1-2, 6.0 innings, seven hits, three runs, two walks, five strikeouts), freshman Keaton Siomkin (2.0 innings, no hits, no runs, one walk, two strikeouts) and junior closer Logan Scott (1.0 inning, no hits, no runs, one strikeout).
It was Bruno's first career homer for Cal, Theofanopoulos' first career victory and Scott earned his third save of the year.
"It was a good win for us," said Cal coach David Esquer. "We finally did the things that you need to do to win ballgames; pitch well and play good defense."
Bruno gave the Bears a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning, hitting his first career home run for Cal off of San Francisco starter Andrew Pulido. A two-out error by USF third baseman Bob Crukshank on a ball hit by sophomore first baseman Andrew Knapp had extended the inning.
The Dons came back with two runs in the bottom of the third when Justin Maffei and Jason Mahood had back-to-back doubles, and Nik Balog had a two-out RBI double off Theofanopoulos.
The Bears upped their lead to 4-2 in the top of the fourth inning on senior center fielder Chad Bunting's two-run homer to left field off of USF reliever Jordan Remer. It was Bunting's team-leading fourth roundtripper of the year.
The Dons cut Cal's lead to one-run with Aritz Garcia's RBI ground out in the bottom of the fourth inning. However, the Bears were able to hold the narrow lead and neither team scored in the final five innings.
Cal continues its streak of 12 straight road games when it visits Tempe, Ariz., March 23-25, for a three-game Pac-12 series at Arizona State. The Bears don't play at Evans Diamond until hosting Bay Area rival Stanford on Monday, April 9 at 2:30 p.m.
