BERKELEY – Drama on the baseball diamond can be overrated.
Take Sunday, when Cal head coach
Mike Neu was all smiles after a stress-free 13-5 victory over Long Beach State.
The Bears ended any suspense early, scoring nine runs in the first two innings and coasting to a win that completed a weekend sweep at Evans Diamond.
Korey Lee played the starring role with yet another home run and a career-high six RBI. But so many of his teammates got in on the act. Eight of nine starters in the lineup recorded at least one hit, and eight of nine scored at least once.
"We know we're not going to hit every game. We'll have our highs and lows," Neu said. "But if we can play for each other, get some team wins, that's going to be huge for us. And I thought we did a good job of that this weekend."
The Bears (14-11) outscored the Dirtbags 30-11 over the three games. They racked up 40 hits and hit nine home runs.
Four of those long balls came off the bat of Lee, who hit a three-run shot in the second inning Sunday and added a bases-clearing double in the fifth. For the series, Lee was 6-for-11 with four homers, 10 RBI and four runs.
He's hitting .352 overall with six homers and 23 RBI in 24 games.
"I'm just trying to stick to my approach to the right side," Lee said. "Consistent hard contact is my favorite thing I like to do, so that's the greatest thing right now."
The left-handed hitting
Quentin Selma, who has started the past eight games at third base, went 5-for-12 with two homers and five RBI in the series.
Leadoff man
Cameron Eden went 3-for-4 with three runs Sunday,
Sam Wezniak hit a three-run homer and
Andrew Vaughn doubled home a run and scored twice.
Though offense ruled the day, the Bears turned in some standout defensive plays too, particularly second baseman
Darren Baker. He made a great stop on a hard-hit ball off the bat of Brennan Rozell in the second and made the putout to strand the bases loaded.
But the play of the game came in the sixth, when LBSU's Victor Carlino lofted a pop-up into shallow right field. Baker went back for the ball and made a graceful over-the-head catch with a pop-up slide to finish the play.
"Darren had an amazing game defensively," Neu said. "… When they have some opportunities, guys on the bases, and you can shut that down with pitching and defense, it really keeps momentum on our side. And he really did it by himself a couple times."
Left-hander
Arman Sabouri made his second start of the weekend as the opener and delivered two shutout innings. He held Long Beach State (3-23) scoreless over four innings in his two starts.
Rogelio Reyes gave up two runs over five innings of relief Sunday to get the victory.
The Bears now are off until Friday, when they return to Pac-12 play with the start of a three-game home series against Washington State.