BERKELEY, Calif. – A six-run explosion in the seventh inning backed a strong start from right-hander Joey Matulovich and gave the Cal baseball team a lead it wouldn't give back as the Bears claimed a valuable Pac-12 series win with a 7-2 victory over the Cougars at Evans Diamond.
 
Cal (11-13, 3-5 Pac-12) got the winning rally started thanks to some well-timed plate discipline. After Conner Bock led off with a walk, Cameron Eden got plunked by a Ryan Walker pitch, chasing Walker from the game and putting the go-ahead run on base.
 
Austen Swift earned his way on base in the same fashion, taking a hit by pitch to load the bases. Four pitches later, Jeffrey Mitchell, Jr. tied the game without the ball leaving the infield, chopping an infield single over the mound to score pinch-runner Preston Grand Pre.
 
After a strikeout brought the first out of the inning, a wild pitch brought the go-ahead run home as Eden raced home to make it 3-2. A walk by Denis Karas loaded the bases again and Tanner Dodson made the chance count, lining a double down the left field line to score two. Jonah Davis brought another in with a sacrifice fly and Max Flower brought Dodson around with a double of his own and, by the time Cal was done, the Bears owned a 7-2 lead.
 
Cal's offensive outburst in the late innings made a winner out of left-hander Zayne Patino, who entered in relief of Matulovich after the Cal right-hander delivered another quality start for the Bears. The Danville, Calif. native went 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven and walking just one while scattering seven hits. After Patino finished the seventh, Andrew Vaughn and Erik Martinez worked the final two innings, yielding only one hit while needing just 25 pitches combined to close out the game.
 
"We just didn't give (Matulovich) a chance to take a breath and pitch really, really aggressive. I thought he was trying to pitch a little careful trying to keep it at zero," Cal head coach David Esquer said.  "They got a couple runs off him but he battled well and I thought he threw some really nice pitches. The progression will be as he starts to get some more chase pitches in his repertoire. He went with the changeup to lefties today, not so much the slider yet, but that's a work in progress. Once he gets that, he's going to be pretty complete."
 
Washington State (14-10, 1-4) hit the scoreboard first Saturday, but it took until the fifth inning for either team to scratch across a run. In the Cougars' case, a single by James Rudkin and doubles by Blake Clanton and Andres Alvarez pushed two across and gave Washington State the first lead of the game.
 
Cal answered with a run of its own in the sixth. With runners on first and second and one out, a passed ball moved both Bears up 90 feet. That gave Davis a chance to score a run even with an out and Cal's center fielder did just that, grounding out to first to bring Vaughn home for an unearned run and cut the deficit to 2-1.
 
Cal and Washington State return to Evans Diamond on Sunday for matinee action as the Bears and Cougars will meet at 1:05 p.m. in the final game of their three-game series. Cal remains in the Bay Area for mid-week action as the Bears travel to Stanford on Tuesday before returning to Evans on Friday to begin a three-game set with Arizona State.