BERKELEY— Four solo home runs and strong pitching led the California baseball team all the way back from down four runs to defeat Sacramento State 5-4 in walk-off fashion Friday night at Stu Gordon Stadium.
Jordy Lopez was the Golden Bear to end it hitting his first-career home run in the first at-bat of the ninth inning.
Cal earned its first Friday win of the season and fourth straight overall to improve its record to 6-3 while the Hornets fell to 3-6 with back-to-back losses.
Junior
Oliver de la Torre earned the start for Cal and had a solid outing going five full innings with just two hits and a walk allowed while striking out five in the no-decision. The right hander pitched 3.2 hitless innings to start the night, but the Bears defense couldn't get him out of the fourth unscathed as three errors allowed the Hornets to score four unearned runs.
The Bears had their chances early getting three runners into scoring position in the first three innings but were unable to capitalize as Sac State starter Ethan Lay hung four straight zeros. It wasn't until the fifth inning that Cal gave Lay his first blemish as catcher
Hideki Prather extended his hit streak to seven games with his team-leading third home run of the season to cut the Hornet lead to 4-1.
The very next inning designated hitter
Daniel Murillo crushed the first homer of his Division I career to the same spot in left field that Prather did to make it a two-run ball game and shortstop
Jett Kenady cut the lead to 4-3 scoring third baseman
Cade Campbell on an RBI groundout.
Cal reliever
Quinn Larson had his best night of the season in relief of de la Torre tossing 3.0 innings of scoreless, two-hit ball with no walks and three strikeouts to keep his team within striking distance.
In the seventh inning Sac State made it clear it was in it to win it putting in right hander Kurt Marton, who was scheduled to be tomorrow's starter. Cal welcomed him in the bottom of the eighth with Campbell sending a game-tying home run that curled inside of the left field foul pole and landed on top of the Recreational Sports Facility roof. Campbell ended the night 3-for-4 with a double, two runs, and an RBI and has collected a hit in all nine games this season.
Senior closer
Cole Clark (2-0) made his second straight appearance and sat down the Hornets in order in the ninth to earn his second win of the season. The Cal pitching staff did not allow a single earned run on the night and scattered four hits and a walk.
In the bottom of the ninth Lopez stepped to the plate and on the second pitch he saw crushed the first home run of his career on a line over the right field wall to complete the comeback and give Cal the win 5-4. All three of the Bears' wins at Stu Gordon Stadium have come via a walk-off.
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