April 1, 2012
Box Score
ROUND ROCK, TEXAS -
Junior third baseman Mitch Delfino hit a home run and had a key RBI single in the sixth inning as Cal baseball defeated No. 18 Texas, 6-5, Sunday (April 1) at Dell Diamond in Round Rock, Texas. After losing the first game of the three-game series 13-3 on Friday night, the Golden Bears rebounded to win 12-2 on Saturday and now 6-5 in the rubber match to improve to 16-10. Texas fell to 15-11.
Junior right-hander Logan Scott pitched the eighth and ninth inning (2.0 innings, two hits, one run, one walk, three strikeouts) for Cal to earn his sixth save of the season, getting strikeouts with runners in scoring position in both innings to preserve the Bears' victory. Cal's winning pitcher, one of six hurlers utilized on the day, was senior right-hander Joey Donofrio (3-0), who entered in the game in the fourth inning and threw 2.1 innings with one hit, no runs, no walks and three strikeouts.
Other top hitters for the Bears included sophomore first baseman Andrew Knapp, who was 2-for-3 with a double; and freshman shortstop Chris Paul, who had an RBI double in the second inning. Junior designated hitter Vince Bruno added an RBI single in the fourth inning, while senior catcher Chadd Krist hit a double down the left field line in the fifth inning.
Krist's double was his ninth of the season and the 55th of his career, placing him tied for second (with Mike Zahn, 1981-84) on the Cal career doubles list. Jon Zuber (1989-92) holds the school record for career doubles with 61.
"It was a great series win," said Cal coach David Esquer, "Defeating Texas in Texas is no easy task. Our guys were able to grind out another win. I am really proud of their effort and toughness."
The Bears started the day's scoring by pushing two runs across in the second inning. Knapp doubled to right center field to lead off the inning and ended up scoring on Texas catcher Jacob Felts' throwing error on Chad Bunting's bunt. Darrel Matthews advanced Bunting to third base with a sacrifice bunt, and Bunting scored on Paul's double to center field.
The Longhorns answered with two runs in the bottom of the second inning and scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth. But, Cal scored a run in the third inning on Delfino's lead-off homer to left center field, a run in the fourth on Bruno's RBI single, a run in the fifth when Krist doubled and later scored on Bunting's sacrifice fly to right field, and a run in the sixth on Delfino's RBI single through the middle of the infield to take a 6-4 lead.
Texas' biggest threat came in the bottom of the eighth inning when Scott gave up a one-out single and then an RBI triple to Tim Maitland to make the score, 6-5. With Maitland on third base, Scott was able to get Mark Payton to ground out to shortstop Paul and strikeout Jordan Etier looking.
In the bottom of ninth Scott was able to get out of another jam when he yielded a lead-off walk to Erich Weiss - and after Weiss was sacrificed to second base - was able to strikeout Alex Silver and pinch hitter Kevin Lussen to end the game.
Cal will next travel to USC for a three-game Pac-12 series, April 5-7, at Dedeaux Field in Los Angeles. Game times will be 6 p.m. both April 5 and 6, and 1 p.m. April 7. The Cal-USC series will be broadcasted on both KALX 90.7 FM and KNEW 960 AM.
