OMAHA, Neb. – Three days at the home of the College World Series ended with a victory for the Cal baseball team as Andrew Vaughn tied the single-season school record with his 23^rd home run and four Golden Bear pitchers combined for a strong outing in a 7-2 victory over Creighton.
 
As it did all three days in Omaha, Cal (30-21) took the first lead of the day against the Bluejays. A double by Sam Wezniak got the inning started and Korey Lee eventually brought the freshman in, grounding to third to plate the Bears' first run of the day.
 
Two more runs in the fourth inning pushed Cal's lead to 3-0. Cameron Eden singled to left to bring one run home and Tyrus Greene brought another run in with a grounder to second base. The Bears took advantage of three walks in the inning to chase Creighton starter Preston Church and set up the rally.
 
After Creighton (34-16) came back to score two runs in the bottom of the fourth, Cal's pitching took over. Arman Sabouri entered for starter Joey Matulovich and ended the fourth with a ground out before eventually taking the Bears into the seventh inning with 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
 
Carson Olson drew the next assignment on the mound and posted a pair of zeroes himself, getting the Bears to the ninth with the lead intact. And, Vaughn took the mound for the ninth and closed out the game in his season pitching debut, adding another scoreless inning to a well-pitched afternoon.
 
Cal added an important insurance run in the seventh when Vaughn led off with a double and Jonah Davis brought him home with a sacrifice fly. Two innings later, Vaughn punctuated the victory with his first home run of the weekend, tying Xavier Nady's single-season home run record set in 1999 with a three-run blast to left field.
 
"It's pretty cool be put in a category with a guy like Xavier Nady," Vaughn said. "He's one of the faces on the wall (at Evans Diamond) so he's definitely a special player who came out of Cal and it's pretty cool to be in the same category as him."
 
Vaughn wasn't Cal's only offensive standout on a day the Bears recorded 12 hits as a team. Tanner Dodson, Wezniak and Eden all finished with two hits and Wezniak's were both doubles. Cal had five extra-base hits on the afternoon.
 
"I think overall it's a little disappointing because we came off such a big weekend with the sweep over Arizona," head coach Mike Neu said. "You come in here hoping to get the series and maybe even a sweep just to keep our hopes alive but we fell short the first two days. It is good to get a win and finish the weekend with a win. We've got three games left and we're excited to see what we can do these last three."
 
Cal will head to Phoenix for the final series of the 2018 regular season as the Bears take on Arizona State for three games beginning Thursday. The first two games are scheduled for a 7 p.m. first pitch and Saturday's series finale will begin at 6 p.m. All three games will be broadcast live by the Pac-12 Network.