PULLMAN, Wash. – Another long day of baseball saw the Cal baseball team claim its third-straight Pac-12 series victory as the Bears split a doubleheader with host Washington State to leave Bailey-Brayton Field with two wins in three tries.
 
Cal (21-12, 7-8 Pac-12) won the first game of the day by a final of 6-3 before Washington State (10-19, 5-10) pulled out a 4-3 victory in 10 innings to finish the day. The Bears will return to Berkeley on Sunday and turn their attention to mid-week action as Santa Clara visits Evans Diamond for a 7:05 p.m. first pitch on Tuesday.
 
GAME ONE
Jared Horn delivered a quality start, Tanner Dodson picked up save No. 8 and the Bears took advantage of a four-run fourth inning to claim a 6-3 victory and lock up the series win.
 
Washington State got on the board first with a run in the first inning but Cal didn't wait long to tie the score and eventually take the lead. The Bears' first mark on the scoreboard came in the third as singles by Max Flower and Ripken Reyes set the table and Dodson took advantage, bringing Flower home with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-1.
 
Cal's biggest offensive inning came courtesy of a hot run of hitting in the fourth. Sam Wezniak brought in the first run with an RBI double over the right fielder's head, Darren Baker added two more with a double into the left-center field gap and Flower punched a single through the right side of the infield to put Cal up 5-1.
 
A pair of Washington State doubles brought home a run to start the bottom of the sixth but Horn came up big to quell the threat, getting a ground out and striking out two to end the inning. The right-hander from Napa, Calif. turned in a quality start to earn his fourth win of the season, allowing two runs on five hits, walking four and striking out four in six innings of work.
 
Washington State's best chance to cut into the Cal lead came in the seventh inning as the Cougars started Cal's first bullpen inning by putting runners on second and third with nobody out. That brought Dodson in from center field and the Bears' closer needed just two pitches to make a big impact, getting a double play ball and grounder to third to limit Washington State to just one run.
 
Dodson went the rest of the way to finish his eighth save of the season, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out one. With Saturday's effort, the native of West Sacramento, Calif. moved into a tie for ninth on Cal's single-season saves list, joining Mitch Hawley, Joe Buckley, Matt Brown, Jesse Ingram, Dylan Nelson and Erik Martinez. Ingram and Trevor Hildenberger hold the school record for saves in a season with 10.
 
Offensively, Cal used a balanced attack as each starter recorded a hit and the Bears tallied 11 as a team. Flower and Reyes led the way from their No. 8 and 9 spots in the lineup with two hits apiece.
 
GAME TWO
Cal had its share of chances throughout a 10-inning affair but Washington State got the last word as JJ Hancock delivered a game-winning single in extras and the Bears fell 4-3 to close out the series.
 
A pitcher's duel between Cal's Aaron Shortridge and Washington State's Scotty Sunitsch carried both teams into the late innings without much to separate the two. Each team plated a run in the third with Cal's run coming on a bases-loaded walk by Jonah Davis and that's where the scoring stayed through six innings.
 
Cal broke through in the seventh to take a 3-1 lead as a two-out single to center by Darren Baker put the Bears up for the first time since the third. Washington State answered in the bottom of the inning, scoring on a wild pitch and an RBI single by Andres Alvarez to tie the game. Dodson threw out the potential go-ahead run at the plate, keeping the tie intact heading to the eighth.
 
The Bears had their chance to take the lead in both the ninth and 10^th inning but left a combined five men on base between the two innings. A two-out double by Alvarez gave the Cougars an opportunity in the 10^th and Hancock made it count, singling to right field to score his teammate and win the game.
 
Cal had its share of traffic on the basepaths with 10 hits, four walks and five men hit by a pitch. Jeffrey Mitchell Jr., Dodson and Baker led way with two hits apiece but the Bears left 17 runners on base. Shortridge delivered another strong start after throwing a complete game one week earlier, pitching seven innings and allowing three runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out four. Zayne Patino finished the game on the mound and allowed just one run in 2 2/3 innings.