BERKELEY – The California baseball team scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning which is all the run support
Luke Short needed, as the Golden Bears defeated Washington 10-3 Thursday evening at Stu Gordon Stadium.
Cal (32-18, 15-13 Pac-12) left 11 runners on base but scored 10 runs on 15 hits.
Peyton Schulze had an explosive night at the plate, hitting his seventh home run of the season while going 4-for-5 with two runs scored and two driven in. It was his third four-hit game of the season.
PJ Moutzouridis,
Caleb Lomavita,
Jag Burden, and
Dominic Smaldino also had multi-hit nights.
Short (5-2), making his first start since March 28, dominated the Huskies. He tossed 7.0 complete, scattering six hits, three runs – all earned, with a walk and seven strikeouts. The lone blemish on his record was a 3-run home run off the bat of Jeter Ybarra in the top of the third inning.
Washington (19-27-1, 10-18) starter Max Fraser (1-1) surrendered five runs in the fifth and could not get out of the fourth. He finished the night going 2.2 innings, allowing 10 hits, nine runs, eight earned, with a walk.
After a quick top of the first, the Bears scored five runs in the home half before an out was recorded.
PJ Moutzouridis, Lomavita,
Rodney Green Jr., and Schulze all drove in runs, the big hit was a home run down the right field line by Schulze to make it 5-0.
Singles in the first and second innings were all the Huskies could muster against Short early. In the third that changed. Back-to-back singles by Aiva Arquette and AJ Guerrero put two aboard for Ybarra who made it a 5-3 ballgame with a blast over the left field fence for his sixth of the year.
In the home half, Cal's offense went back to work. The Bears put the game way scoring four runs on six hits. Burden, Advincula, Moutzouridis and Lomavita all drove in runs. In the bottom of the fourth, Burden drove in
Max Handron for the final run of the game making it 10-3 in favor of Cal.
After giving up the home run to Ybarra, Short was brilliant. He retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced to earn his team-leading fifth win of the season.
Robert Aivazian pitched the final two innings in relief for the Bears. After walking the first batter he faced he retired six in a row without allowing a run or a hit, while striking out three.
Cal goes for the series victory tomorrow at 6:05 p.m. Friday's game will be televised on Pac-12 Network.
