MALIBU, Calif. – Given a chance to take another significant step towards accelerating the learning process for a young squad, the Cal baseball team took advantage of its opportunity as right-hander Joey Matulovich struck out 10, Cameron Eden homered and the Bears earned a 3-1 win to finish a sweep of host Pepperdine at Eddy D. Field Stadium.
 
After winning the first two games against a group of Waves that factors in the West Coast Conference title chase every season, Cal (7-7) went back to work Sunday with its eye on taking that momentum home to Berkeley.
 
Matulovich was intent on putting the Bears down that path early. He worked one time through the Pepperdine lineup without allowing a hit, striking out the side in the third and at one point fanning four Waves in a row.
 
Pepperdine (6-7) scored first, plating a run on an RBI ground out in the fourth. But, Matulovich kept the Waves from mounting a larger rally, striking out Nick Costello with a runner on third to end the inning.
 
Two innings later, Cal got its offense going. A two-out, RBI single by freshman Andrew Vaughn tied the game at 1 in the sixth and set the stage for more big at-bats to come. A two-out single by Ripken Reyes kept the inning alive and freshman Cameron Eden made Pepperdine pay, sending his first collegiate home run over the left field fence to make it 3-1.
 
From there, the game was Matulovich's to finish and the sophomore from Danville, Calif. did just that. He went back to the mound for the ninth inning to face the top of the Pepperdine order and finished the day with a strikeout, line out and foul out to wrap up the win. His final line showed just how dominant an effort it was, scattering five hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts.
 
""I was just going fastball-slider today," Matulovich said. "In my last start, I was going fastball-changeup but today I was really feeling my slider. I've been working on it a lot and that's what I went with."
 
Sunday's win put a cap on a hugely successful weekend for the Bears. After slugging its way to a 12-7 win on Friday, Cal turned to pitching and defense on Saturday and Sunday to climb back to .500 before heading home for four games at home. The Bears did record nine hits on Sunday as well, with Jonah Davis, Vaughn and Korey Lee all recording two hits.
 
"We've been working hard," Cal head coach David Esquer said. "We're so young and inexperienced, as we grow and mature, we're still going to go through some rough times and there's a learning curve there just getting comfortable in these spots and comfortable on the road but this was just a big step forward in proving to yourselves that you can do it on the road."
 
Cal returns to Evans Diamond on Tuesday for a 7:05 p.m. game against Big Ten foe Minnesota. Pac-12 play kicks off this weekend when Oregon comes to Berkeley for a three-game series. Friday's game is set for a 7:05 p.m. first pitch, Saturday's contest will begin at 6:05 and the Sunday finale will start at 1:05. Tickets for all three games can be purchased by visiting the Tickets link at CalBears.com.