BERKELEY – A rally in the eighth inning gave the Cal baseball team a chance to pull out a highly competitive, back and forth contest against No. 1 Oregon State but the Bears couldn't quite come all the way back as they dropped a 4-3 decision in the Pac-12 opener on a cold and ultimately rainy evening at Evans Diamond.
 
Cal (12-5, 0-1 Pac-12) got within a run in the eighth inning thanks to a string of good hitting from the middle of the order. A leadoff single by Andrew Vaughn, his third hit of the evening, got the Bears started and Tanner Dodson made added life to the rally with a double down the right field line.
 
Korey Lee delivered a quality at-bat to cut the deficit in half, grounding to second to bring Vaughn in and make it 4-3. But, Oregon State reliever Brandon Eisert shut down the inning from there and a shallow fly out and strikeout ended the frame with the potential tying run stranded on third.
 
Beavers closer Jake Mulholland entered for the ninth and again Cal gave itself a chance as a Max Flower single to lead off the inning put a man on base immediately. Mulholland buckled down from there though and retired the next three hitters to earn his seventh save of the season.
 
Oregon State (16-1, 1-0) took the first lead of the evening, plating a run in the second inning on an RBI single by Steven Kwan. The Beavers added three more in the fourth, aided by two Cal errors, and took a 4-0 lead to begin the game.
 
The Bears made their bid to get back in the ballgame in the bottom of the fourth. Vaughn singled and Lee got hit by a pitch to give the Cal a pair of runners and Jonah Davis cashed one in, ripping a double down the left field line to score Vaughn. One hitter later, Sam Wezniak singled into the six hole to score Lee, leaving Cal down 4-2 after four innings.
 
Not to be lost in the decision was perhaps the best outing of the season from right-hander Jared Horn. Cal's ace weathered that tough fourth inning and pitched six strong innings, allowing two earned runs and striking out eight on the evening. Zayne Patino and Joey Matulovich closed the night out, tossing three scoreless innings to finish the game.
 
Cal recorded 11 hits as a team, led by a 3 for 3 night from Vaughn. Dodson and Davis tallied two hits apiece. The Bears and Beavers reconvene on Saturday afternoon at 3:05 for the second game of their three-game series. The weekend finale is set for Sunday at 1:05 p.m.