SALT LAKE CITY – The Cal baseball team got a tremendous pitching performance from starter Christian Becerra while getting just enough offense to take game one against Utah 3-2, on Friday evening at Smith's Ballpark.
 
Cal (15-15, 4-12 Pac-12) finished the night with three runs on nine hits. Kade Kretzschmar continues to swing a hot bat, he went 4-for-4 on the evening with three singles and a double. Kretzschmar has been on a tear during the month of April. He has seven multi-hit games this season, six have come in the last two weeks. The four hits tonight tie his career-high set on May 1, 2022, against Harvard while he was at Dartmouth.
 
Nathan Manning and Peyton Schulze both collected a pair of hits and an RBI. Manning finished the night 2-for-3 with a walk and a triple. Schulze was 2-for-4 with two doubles. Rodney Green Jr. went 1-for-4 with a run scored to extend his hitting streak to five games.
 
Becerra (1-2) had his best start of the season, earning his first win of the year. He went six complete, scattering seven hits, one run, with a walk and a strikeout. The six innings pitched is a career-best for the sophomore.
 
Utah (12-20-1, 3-12-1 Pac-12) got a strong start from lefty Bryson Van Sickle (2-4) he tossed seven complete and struck out a career-high nine batters. The 4-5-6 hitters for the Utes went a combined 7-for-10. The difference tonight was hitting with runners on. Cal was 4-for-17, Utah was just 2-for-15, and 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
 
In the top of the fifth inning, the Bears broke the scoreless tie. Dom Souto led off the inning by drawing a walk. He eventually moved into scoring position on a failed pickoff attempt by Van Sickle. With two outs, Manning slapped a ball down the right field line for an RBI triple.
 
One inning later Cal got another clutch at bat. With Kretzschmar on first, Schulze smashed a two-strike, two-out double to center that scored Kretzschmar easily.
 
Utah finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth. TJ Clarkson led off the inning with a double to right center. He moved to third on the infield single by Jayden Kiernan. A deep fly ball by Cameron Gurney scored Clarkson from third. Becerra ended the threat by getting a strikeout and a lazy fly ball.
 
The Bears' speed and timely hitting got it done once again in the top of the eighth. Green Jr. reached safely on a fielder's choice. One batter later, he scored all the way from first on an RBI double by Kretzschmar – his fourth hit of the night.
 
Utah cut the Cal lead in half in the bottom of the eighth. Clarkson led off the inning with a triple to right field that was misplayed by Kretzschmar. Clarkson scored on a sacrifice fly by Kiernan to make it a 3-2 game. With one out, Gurney singled through the right side and moved to second on a wild pitch. Matt Lozovoy got the Bears out of the jam getting a pair of ground outs to strand Gurney at third and preserve the lead.
 
Austin Turkington threw a clean ninth for his second save of the season. With the win, the Bears improved to 13-3 when leading after six innings.
 
UP NEXT
The series will resume tomorrow at 1:00 pm PT at Smith's Ballpark. Cal is scheduled to send Paulshawn Pasqualotto to the hill, and Utah will counter with RHP Merit Jones. Tomorrow's contest will be streamed on the Utah Live Stream.
 
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