FRISCO, Texas – An early flurry of offense gave the Cal baseball team a lead to defend and the tandem of Jared Horn and Aaron Shortridge did just that as the Bears opened play at the Frisco Classic with an 8-2 win over Baylor.
 
Playing the first of three games at Dr. Pepper Ballpark, home of the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders, Cal (6-2) came out swinging to take the early advantage. Korey Lee landed the first blow in the top of the second inning, lining an RBI double to left-center that plated Jonah Davis. Cameron Eden followed with an RBI single to left and Cal led 2-0.
 
Tyrus Greene kept the rally going with a walk, Darren Baker drove in another run with a single to center and Andrew Vaughn loaded the bases again with a walk of his own. Tanner Dodson punctuated Cal's big inning with his own big hit, lining a single to left-center that made it 5-0 Golden Bears when the dust settled.
 
Baylor (3-4) made overtures towards a comeback, scoring single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, but Cal had an answer each time. The Golden Bears added a run on a double play in the fifth, scored another on a sacrifice fly by Eden in the sixth and Jonah Davis chipped in with a run-scoring single in the seventh to make it 8-2 Cal.
 
On the mound, Jared Horn took the ball for his usual Friday start and again pitched the Bears into the middle innings to improve to 3-0 on the season. Cal's big right-hander worked five innings and allowed two runs on four hits, walking two and striking out two.
 
Fellow Napa native Aaron Shortridge relieved his high school teammate and was even tougher for Baylor to deal with as the right-hander struck out a career-high six en route to his second save of the season. Shortridge pitched the final four innings, didn't allow a run, scattered two hits and didn't walk anyone to lower his ERA to 0.90 in a team-high four appearances.

"I felt pretty good. I got hot in the pen and came in expecting to do my best," Shortridge said. "The slider felt good and I was just out there trying to give us a chance to get a W today. It was fun to be out there and compete."
 
Offensively, Cal ended the day with 11 hits, led by two hits apiece from Eden, Dodson and Baker. Eight of Cal's nine starters recorded a hit and the Bears also worked six walks on the afternoon.

"We have some talented guys offensively, so that's a big part of it, but at the same time I think they feel comfortable with where they are in the lineup," Cal head coach Mike Neu said. "I feel like they have a pretty basic and simple plan and they haven't lost focus a lot so far. These guys come in and every inning has been pretty similar. If they have an opportunity to get some hits or get in a leverage count, they don't try to do too much. They've been really professional with their approach. I think it's a testament to the players we have and I think our coaches have done a good job too of preparing them for the situations they're in." 
 
Cal returns to action on Saturday with a noon (PT) contest against Louisiana Tech. The weekend wraps up Sunday when the Bears take on nationally ranked Texas A&M at 9 a.m. Live streaming video of the entire weekend is available by visiting the Frisco Classic Facebook page (facebook.com/friscoclassic). Cal comes home to Evans Diamond on Tuesday to host Xavier at 7:05 p.m.