Bears Head To Pacific Northwest

Friday, April 28

Seattle, Wash.

6:05 PM

California

Washington

Jared Horn is slated to get the ball Friday for the Bears in Washington (Dave Donovan Photography)

Photo by: Dave Donovan Photography

4/27/2017 12:00 PM | Baseball

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By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY - The Cal baseball team will look to carry its Pac-12 hot streak at home onto the road as the Bears head to Seattle for three games against Washington. First pitch on Friday is set for 6:05 p.m., Saturday's contest will begin at 2:05 p.m. and the series finale is slated for a 1:05 p.m. start on Sunday. All three games will be streamed live through the Washington website and Pac-12.com.

A 7-2 loss in mid-week action at San Francisco put a brief stop to Cal's momentum but the Bears will look to carry with them the good memories of a weekend sweep of USC as they head to the Pacific Northwest. Freshman Andrew Vaughn earned National and Pac-12 Player of the Week honors for hitting two walk-off home runs against the Trojans and Cal ran its home winning streak against conference opponents to 10 games.

PROJECTED STARTERS

Friday, April 28, 6:05 p.m.
Cal: RHP Jared Horn (3-3, 3.63 ERA)
Washington: RHP Noah Bremer (4-2, 2.44 ERA)

Saturday, April 29, 2:05 p.m.
Cal: RHP Joey Matulovich (4-1, 5.13 ERA)
Washington: RHP Jordan Jones (4-5, 3.33 ERA)

Sunday, April 30, 1:05 p.m.
Cal: LHP Matt Ladrech (2-0, 2.48 ERA)
Washington: RHP Joe DeMers (4-3, 3.23 ERA)

LAST TIME OUT
A pair of home runs put the Bears in an early hole during Tuesday's trip to San Francisco and Cal couldn't recover as it fell 7-2 to the Dons at Benedetti Diamond. Catcher Tyrus Greene led the charge offensively with a 4-for-5 day that included a pair of doubles while Denis Karas added a double of his own.

Before the mid-week trip to USF, Cal continued to demonstrate how tough it is at home with three hard-fought wins over a very evenly matched USC squad. Action started Friday night with a thriller as Andrew Vaughn belted two home runs, the second of which was a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning, and drove in seven runs to help Cal win 13-9.

Another offensive slugfest broke out on Saturday as the Bears scored three runs in the eighth inning to earn a 9-8 victory. Cal hit three more home runs in the victory and Erik Martinez earned his fifth save of the year with a 10-pitch ninth inning.

On Sunday, Cal starter Matt Ladrech set the tone with a gutsy performance as he pitched into the eighth inning and left with the lead. USC rallied to tie the game in the ninth but Vaughn came to the rescue again as the freshman belted a two-run walk-off home run to give the Bears an 8-6 victory. Vaughn ended the weekend with three home runs and 10 RBI.

SCOUTING REPORT: WASHINGTON

Washington enters the weekend as the winner of its past two games after beating Washington State 7-1 on Sunday and Seattle 7-4 on Tuesday. The Huskies have dropped their last two Pac-12 series though after only taking one game apiece against Oregon State and the Cougars.
The Huskies have relied on solid pitching and defense throughout the season and enter the weekend No. 2 in the Pac-12 with a 3.34 staff ERA. Washington also leads the conference with a .984 team fielding percentage.
Catcher Joey Morgan and outfielder MJ Hubbs rank among the Pac-12's leaders at the plate. Morgan is 10th in the conference in batting average at .359 and third in OBP at .465 while Hubbs is eighth in slugging percentage at .556 and sixth in home runs with five.
Cal leads the all-time series 41-34.
Last meeting: Washington earned a series win in Berkeley in 2016 with wins on Friday and Sunday. Cal picked up a 7-1 victory on Saturday behind four RBI from Robbie Tenerowicz and seven strong IP from Tanner Dodson.

AWARD TIME
Freshman Andrew Vaughn became Cal's first weekly award winner for the 2017 season after his incredible week against Stanford and USC. The Bears' first baseman was named Pac-12 Player of the Week, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National Player of the Week and Perfect Game/Rawlings National Player of the week after going 7 for 15 with three home runs (two walk-offs) and 12 RBI against the Cardinal and Trojans. Vaughn is the first Cal player since eventual 2016 Pac-12 Player of the Year Brett Cumberland to win the conference's top weekly honor and is the first Golden Bear to win national honors since Lucas Erceg and Brian Celsi in 2015.

RUFFING IT
One Golden Bear who has been asked to wear several different hats is catcher Matt Ruff. Serving more as a utility man this season, the junior from Yorba Linda, Calif. is hitting .302 on the season after a trip to Utah in which he went 6 for 11. Ruff enters the Washington series with the team's highest batting average in Pac-12 play, leading the Bears with a .433 mark.

ON DECK
This weekend's trip to Seattle marks the first of back-to-back ventures into the Pacific Northwest for the Bears. A Tuesday mid-week rematch against San Francisco will bring baseball back to Evans Diamond briefly as Cal will head to Corvallis, Ore. next weekend to take on No. 1-ranked Oregon State. Once the Bears return, they'll play host to their final home series of the season against Stanford and TCU.