BERKELEY, Calif. – Nine runs in the first four innings put the Cal baseball team on the front foot and right-hander Jared Horn delivered one of his strongest starts of the season to make the lead stand up as the Bears claimed a 12-2 victory over Washington State in the first game of a three-game series at Evans Diamond.
 
Cal (10-13, 2-5 Pac-12) got the bats rolling right away Friday, plating four runs in the Bears' first at-bat to take an early edge. Infield singles by Jeffrey Mitchell, Jr. and Andrew Vaughn got the rally started, a fly out moved Mitchell to third and Tanner Dodson put Cal in front with a single through the right side.
 
That was just the start of what turned out to be a big inning. Jonah Davis stayed alive with a pair of foul balls and turned a 2-2 count into a two-run triple, lining one just inside the bag at first and into the right field corner. Max Flower followed with his own single through the right side and Cal owned a 4-0 lead.
 
After a scoreless second, the Bears added on in the third thanks to a birthday contribution from freshman Cameron Eden. The Cal shortstop celebrated his day with a two-run home run to left field, scoring Davis to push the margin to 6-0.
 
Cal's offense continued in the fourth and the lead continued to grow. Mitchell got the Bears started again, this time sending his own triple into the right field corner, and on this occasion an errant throw allowed the Cal sophomore to never stop running as he raced home for a run. Later in the inning, Ripken Reyes added to the offensive onslaught, bringing Dodson and Denis Karas home with a single that chased Washington State starter Damon Jones and put Cal ahead 9-0.
 
On the mound, freshman Jared Horn was the beneficiary of Cal's day at the plate but the right-hander would have kept the Bears in the game anyway thanks to his strongest home start of the season. The Napa, Calif. native worked six innings, scattered five hits and five walks and struck out four to earn win No. 2 on the season.
 
Vaughn added a two-run single before all was said and done and finished the day 3 for 5 with two RBI and a run. Mitchell and Davis also collected multiple hits as Cal finished with 12 as a team.

"Part of playing is winning ugly and you've just got to take it and move forward and hopefully the things you need to do well, do them better," Cal head coach David Esquer said. "We're not throwing enough strikes, obviously, and things like that but, if you can win doing that, you take it and move on. If we continue to play like that, we won't win much but we'll take it tonight." 
 
Cal and Washington State resume their three-game series on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. The Bears and Cougars will wrap up the weekend on Sunday with a 1:05 p.m. matinee. Cal remains in the Bay Area next week with a Tuesday game at Stanford and three games against Arizona State on the weekend.