BERKELEY – With 20 innings of baseball to play and a crucial Pac-12 series hanging in the balance, the Cal baseball team proved its lasting power as the Bears completed Thursday's game against Utah with a 7-6 victory, dropped game two 12-10 and then rode a sterling performance by Aaron Shortridge to a 5-1 victory and series win.
 
With the wins, Cal improves to 18-11 overall and 5-7 in Pac-12 play. The Bears will return to Evans Diamond on Tuesday for a non-conference game against San Francisco before jumping back into Pac-12 competition next weekend at Washington State.
 
GAME ONE
A game that had to be halted Thursday night due to wet weather concluded under sunny skies Saturday with Tanner Dodson recording the final six outs to preserve a 7-6 Cal victory.
 
After rain forced the Bears and Utes to retreat to drier spaces before the top of the eighth inning, Cal took a 7-5 lead into an unplanned Friday off. Once action resumed Saturday, Utah made its comeback bid in the ninth inning against the Bears' closer.
 
An RBI single by Davis Delorefice brought the Utes to within one run with two outs but Dodson countered with his second strikeout, ending the game on a swing and a miss.
 
Dodson earned his sixth save of the year with three innings of relief work split over two days and that preserved a victory for Matt Ladrech, who delivered a quality start Thursday to get the Bears started. The southpaw scattered six hits, walked just one and struck out four to improve to 4-3.
 
Offensively, Cal took a 7-5 lead Thursday thanks to three two-run rallies and a single run in the seventh inning. Jeffrey Mitchell, Jr. belted a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth to give the Bears a 6-3 lead and, after Utah countered with two runs in the top of the seventh, Cal added a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning.
 
GAME TWO
Big rallies marked Utah's ability to take the lead and the Bears' late bid for a comeback fell just short as the game ended with the tying run at the plate in a 12-10 decision.
 
Utah scored all 12 of its runs in three innings, plating five in the top of the first, one in the second and six more in the sixth. The Utes took advantage of five walks and a hit by pitch in the first inning to take the early lead.
 
Cal clawed its way back into the game thanks to single runs in the first and second, two runs in the fifth and a five-run rally in the seventh that turned the Bears' chances for a comeback into a more realistic goal. RBI singles by Max Flower and Ripken Reyes gave way to a bases-clearing triple by Dodson and Cal got back to within three at 12-9.
 
The Bears' final chance came in the bottom of the ninth as a double down the left field line by Reyes scored Sam Wezniak and brough the tying run to the plate. Utah reliever Trenton Stoltz finished the game off with a pair of ground balls, ending the threat and evening the series.
 
Cal collected 17 hits in the game, led by a three-hit performance from both Dodson and Baker. Reyes and Dodson each drove in three runs. On the mound, Jared Horn worked five innings and Zayne Patino pitched the final four.
 
GAME THREE
A strike-filled gem by Shortridge set the tone, Cal took the lead immediately with a strong first inning and the Bears earned the series win with a strong team performance in the final game of three on Saturday.
 
Utah (8-22, 4-5 Pac-12) got on the board with a run in the first inning but Cal came right back with three of its own to take momentum back. An RBI single by Jonah Davis, RBI double by Mitchell and sac fly by Baker gave the Bears the 3-1 advantage as Shortridge settled in on the mound.
 
Settle in he did as the right-hander delivered one of the best starting pitching performances of the season so far. The Napa, Calif. native tied a career-high with nine strikeouts and scattered six hits while walking just one to earn his second win of the year.

Given the chance to finish what he started, Shortridge didn't waver. He went back to the mound for the ninth inning and, after allowing a leadoff single, got a line out and two strikeouts to earn Cal's first complete game of the season.

"(Head coach) Mike (Neu) looked at me and I think he was going to ask me how I feel. I didn't say anything," Shortridge said. "I had to (go back out), and I think he knew that."
                                  
Cal added another run on an RBI single by Davis in the third and tacked on one more with a pinch-hit sac fly by Matt Ruff in the seventh. The Bears had six hits as a team, led by two from Davis, to finish the marathon day at the ballpark.

"We knew going into today it was going to be a lot of innings," Neu said. "You're really just trying to kind of find the balance but certain guys just have to kind of clutch up and game it for 20 innings and that's what a lot of these guys did."