California Golden Bears Athletics
Friday, February 14
Long Beach, CA
6:00 PM
California
at
Long Beach State
Season-Opening Road Swing
2/12/2020 3:53 PM | Baseball
Bears Kick Off 2020 With Four-Game Trip To SoCal
BERKELEY – California will open the 2020 baseball season with a four-game road swing against a pair of Big West Conference foes in Long Beach State (Feb. 14-16) and UC Santa Barbara (Feb. 17).
The action starts Friday night at 6 p.m. at Blair Field in Long Beach against the Dirtbags. Cal will face Long Beach State twice more at 3 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday before concluding its SoCal road trip with a clash against the Gauchos at 5:30 p.m. on Monday in Santa Barbara.
All four games will be live streamed and have live stats available on StatBroadcast.
WEEKEND LINEUP
Junior third baseman Quentin Selma's rise has been a fast one. The 2019 All-Pac-12 First Team member didn't break into the lineup until mid-March, but quickly developed into one of the Bears' most consistent hitters & earned a spot on the all-conference squad. Selma ended the 2019 season with a .311 batting average, 14 doubles, 10 home runs and 27 RBI. He participated in the College Home Run Derby last summer in Omaha and was recently ranked the No. 81 hitter in the nation by D1Baseball.
THEY GROW UP FAST
Much of Cal's success will ride on a talented sophomore class that earned its stripes as freshmen in 2019. Four sophomore pitchers – Sam Stoutenborough, Sean Sullivan, Grant Holman and Ian Villers – are expected to play key roles in the Bears' rotation and in the bullpen. Holman, a two-way player, is expected to start at first base when he's not on the mound. Fellow sophomore Cole Elvis will start at catcher, replacing 2019 MLB Draft first-round pick Korey Lee.
MR. RELIABLE
Senior right fielder Max Flower is the Bears' most experienced player heading into the 2020 campaign with 146 career games played, including 127 starts (63 consecutive starts dating back to 2018 season). A career .276 hitter with 59 RBI over his last two seasons, Flower has also flashed a prowess in the outfield by earning a 2019 Pac-12 All-Defensive Team honorable mention.
CONTRACT EXTENSION FOR NEU
Cal head coach Mike Neu agreed to a contract extension with the Bears through the 2024 season in late October 2019. Neu's Bears have won 32 games in back-to-back seasons along with 33 total Pac-12 victories since he took over the helm. Cal finished fourth and fifth in the Pac-12 over the last two seasons, respectively. Neu has already seen 12 Bears drafted in two seasons, none more accomplished than 2018 Golden Spikes Award winner Andrew Vaughn.
BAKER IN THE SPOTLIGHT
An eye-catching summer in the Cape Cod League with the Wareham Gatemen has Darren Baker poised to be one of the more dynamic players in the Pac-12 this spring. The junior second baseman slashed .342/.384/.376 and was named a Cape Cod League all-star while finishing fourth in the batting race.
As a sophomore at Cal, Baker batted .306 and was a perfect 21-of-21 in stolen bases while starting all 52 games. He was also named a 2019 Pac-12 All-Defensive Team selection, committing just six errors over the final 48 games of the season.
2020 SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN
Cal's 2020 schedule will feature 53 total games, of which 26 will be played at Evans Diamond and 18 will be featured on the Pac-12 Network. Key nonconference games include weekend series at TCU and Gonzaga as well as mid-week contests against 2019 national runner-up Michigan and rival Stanford (one of four games played vs. Stanford). In total, Cal will face eight teams that played in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
BASEBALL ON THE MIND
After three years as a collegiate dual-sport athlete (football and baseball) at both South Carolina and Cal, outfielder Brandon McIlwain has spent the entire 2019-20 academic year fully focused on baseball.
McIlwain is slotted as Cal's starting center fielder in 2020, as he has fully recovered from a foot injury suffered in late March of 2019 that sidelined him for the remainder of that season. Despite the injury, McIlwain was still drafted by Miami in the 26th round of the 2019 MLB Draft, but he did not sign. He batted .258 with two home runs and eight RBI in 20 games (18 starts) prior to his injury last spring.
STAY POSTED
For complete coverage of Cal baseball, please follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalBaseball), Instagram (@CalBaseball) and Facebook (/CalBaseball/).
The action starts Friday night at 6 p.m. at Blair Field in Long Beach against the Dirtbags. Cal will face Long Beach State twice more at 3 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday before concluding its SoCal road trip with a clash against the Gauchos at 5:30 p.m. on Monday in Santa Barbara.
All four games will be live streamed and have live stats available on StatBroadcast.
WEEKEND LINEUP
- Teams: Cal (0-0) at Long Beach State (0-0) & UC Santa Barbara (0-0)
- Locations: Long Beach, Calif. (Blair Field) | Santa Barbara, Calif. (Caesar Uyesaka Stadium)
- Friday: Feb. 14 | 6 p.m. | Live Stats | Live Stream
- Saturday: Feb. 15 | 3 p.m. | Live Stats | Live Stream
- Sunday: Feb. 16 | 1 p.m. | Live Stats | Live Stream
- Monday: Feb. 17 | 5:30 p.m. | Live Stats | Live Stream
- Projected Rotations:
- Friday: RHP Sam Stoutenborough vs. LHP Adam Seminaris
- Saturday: RHP Grant Holman vs. LHP Alfredo Ruiz
- Sunday: TBA vs. RHP Luis Ramirez
- Monday: TBA vs. TBA
- Cal is 7-3 in its last 10 season openers dating back to 2010.
- The Bears are 38-30 all-time against Long Beach State and swept a three-game series in Berkeley last season. Offensive firepower led the way for Cal last year, as it plated 30 runs in the series to outmatch the Dirtbags.
- This weekend will mark the first time that Cal and LBSU have played a series in back-to-back seasons since 2008-09.
- Cal is 45-15 all-time against UC Santa Barbara, but the two programs haven't faced one another since 2007. They will face one another again this spring on April 1 in Berkeley.
- Friday starter Sam Stoutenborough led Cal in victories (8) and innings pitched (81.2) as a freshman in 2019.
- Cal was picked to finish tied for seven in the Pac-12 Conference preseason coaches' poll.
- Cal went 32-20 overall and 17-11 in the Pac-12 last season while reaching the NCAA Fayetteville (Ark.) Regional. It was the Bears' first postseason appearance since 2015.
Junior third baseman Quentin Selma's rise has been a fast one. The 2019 All-Pac-12 First Team member didn't break into the lineup until mid-March, but quickly developed into one of the Bears' most consistent hitters & earned a spot on the all-conference squad. Selma ended the 2019 season with a .311 batting average, 14 doubles, 10 home runs and 27 RBI. He participated in the College Home Run Derby last summer in Omaha and was recently ranked the No. 81 hitter in the nation by D1Baseball.
THEY GROW UP FAST
Much of Cal's success will ride on a talented sophomore class that earned its stripes as freshmen in 2019. Four sophomore pitchers – Sam Stoutenborough, Sean Sullivan, Grant Holman and Ian Villers – are expected to play key roles in the Bears' rotation and in the bullpen. Holman, a two-way player, is expected to start at first base when he's not on the mound. Fellow sophomore Cole Elvis will start at catcher, replacing 2019 MLB Draft first-round pick Korey Lee.
MR. RELIABLE
Senior right fielder Max Flower is the Bears' most experienced player heading into the 2020 campaign with 146 career games played, including 127 starts (63 consecutive starts dating back to 2018 season). A career .276 hitter with 59 RBI over his last two seasons, Flower has also flashed a prowess in the outfield by earning a 2019 Pac-12 All-Defensive Team honorable mention.
CONTRACT EXTENSION FOR NEU
Cal head coach Mike Neu agreed to a contract extension with the Bears through the 2024 season in late October 2019. Neu's Bears have won 32 games in back-to-back seasons along with 33 total Pac-12 victories since he took over the helm. Cal finished fourth and fifth in the Pac-12 over the last two seasons, respectively. Neu has already seen 12 Bears drafted in two seasons, none more accomplished than 2018 Golden Spikes Award winner Andrew Vaughn.
BAKER IN THE SPOTLIGHT
An eye-catching summer in the Cape Cod League with the Wareham Gatemen has Darren Baker poised to be one of the more dynamic players in the Pac-12 this spring. The junior second baseman slashed .342/.384/.376 and was named a Cape Cod League all-star while finishing fourth in the batting race.
As a sophomore at Cal, Baker batted .306 and was a perfect 21-of-21 in stolen bases while starting all 52 games. He was also named a 2019 Pac-12 All-Defensive Team selection, committing just six errors over the final 48 games of the season.
2020 SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN
Cal's 2020 schedule will feature 53 total games, of which 26 will be played at Evans Diamond and 18 will be featured on the Pac-12 Network. Key nonconference games include weekend series at TCU and Gonzaga as well as mid-week contests against 2019 national runner-up Michigan and rival Stanford (one of four games played vs. Stanford). In total, Cal will face eight teams that played in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
BASEBALL ON THE MIND
After three years as a collegiate dual-sport athlete (football and baseball) at both South Carolina and Cal, outfielder Brandon McIlwain has spent the entire 2019-20 academic year fully focused on baseball.
McIlwain is slotted as Cal's starting center fielder in 2020, as he has fully recovered from a foot injury suffered in late March of 2019 that sidelined him for the remainder of that season. Despite the injury, McIlwain was still drafted by Miami in the 26th round of the 2019 MLB Draft, but he did not sign. He batted .258 with two home runs and eight RBI in 20 games (18 starts) prior to his injury last spring.
STAY POSTED
For complete coverage of Cal baseball, please follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalBaseball), Instagram (@CalBaseball) and Facebook (/CalBaseball/).
Players Mentioned
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