LOS ANGELES – After bashing five home runs over the first two games of its series at UCLA, the Cal baseball team couldn't get the offense cranking Saturday afternoon.

The Bears were held down by four UCLA pitchers in a 6-1 loss in the rubber match of a three-game set at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Despite dropping two of three, Cal made the trip back to the Bay Area having secured one of the program's biggest victories in recent years Friday, when it knocked off the No. 1-ranked Bruins in the middle game of the series.

Research has yet to uncover Cal previously having beaten a top-ranked team before Friday, and that victory is likely to boost their RPI ranking and help their case when it comes time to deciding NCAA Regional berths.

On Saturday, Cal (20-14, 8-7 Pac-12) didn't have an answer for UCLA right-hander Jack Ralston, who gave up just one run over 6 1/3 innings and struck out six before handing things over to his bullpen.

It was a 4-0 game when the Bears struck for their only run in the seventh. Sam Wezniak drew a one-out walk and moved around to third on Grant Holman's double. Garret Nielsen's sacrifice fly got Cal on the board and within three at 4-1, but that was as close as the Bears would get.

Holman, who also started on the mound and took the loss, had two hits as did Andrew Vaughn. Chase Strumpf had two hits and two RBI for UCLA (30-7, 11-4) and Noah Cardenas was 3-for-3 with a run.

After back-to-back conference road trips, Cal returns to Berkeley for a five-game homestand that begins Tuesday night with a non-conference game against Sacramento State at 7:05 p.m. Next weekend Oregon arrives for a three-game conference series that starts Friday night and then the Bears will host BYU for one game April 29.

Cal is alone in fifth place in the Pac-12 at 8-7, with Oregon one game back.