March 31, 2000
BERKELEY, Calif. - The Saturday, Apr. 1 Cal-Washington game will be televised live on Fox Sports ... Rich Waltz (play-by-play) and former Arizona coach Jerry Kindall (color) will be announcing ... RADIO: KALX Radio (90.7 FM) will broadcast the Mar. 31-Apr. 2 Cal-Washington games...the David Esquer Show will air 10 minutes before the first pitch...SERIES RECORD: Cal has a 14-10 overall series record against the Washington Huskies...last season, the Bears won two-of-three versus the Huskies Mar. 20-22 at Evans Diamond (won 10-0, won 6-5 in 10 innings, lost 10-8).
HEAD COACH DAVID ESQUER: The Bears coach is in his first season at Cal and has a career record of 13-16 (.448) ... Esquer, 34, became only the 10th coach in the long history of Cal baseball, which began in 1892, when he was hired June 10, 1999 ... Esquer replaced longtime Bear mentor Bob Milano, who retired May 17 after 22 years as the Bears head coach and 29 years involved in the Cal baseball program ... Esquer comes to Berkeley after serving as the top assistant at Pepperdine since 1996 ... prior to working at Pepperdine, he was the No. 2 assistant coach at Stanford under Mark Marquess from 1991-96 ... a shortstop at Stanford from 1984-87, Esquer was a starter on Stanford's 1987 College World Series championship team, earning All-Tournament honors after hitting .350 with six RBI in Omaha ... he also earned All-Pac-10 Southern Division honors as a senior and went on to play professional baseball for four seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, California Angels and Milwaukee Brewers organizations.
BEAR NOTES: The 2000 California baseball team (13-16, 4-5 Pac-10) defeated Wichita State, 5-3, on Tuesday when junior first baseman Clint Hoover (Moraga, CA) hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning ... Cal's senior right-hander Jon Shirley (Bakersfield, CA), who hadn't pitch since Mar. 5 due to a strained right tricep, was outstanding, throwing 3.0 innings with no hits, no runs, one walk and four strikeouts ... Shirley was on a pitch count, so he was relieved in the fourth inning by junior right-hander Andrew Sproul (Moraga, CA) ... Sproul also pitched extremely well, earning his first collegiate victory by throwing a career-high 5.0 innings with three hits, one earned run, two walks and tied a career-high with five strikeouts ... junior reliever Rob Meyer (Antioch, CA) earned the team's first save of the year by pitching the bottom of the ninth (one hit, one run, two walks) ... Cal pitchers limited Wichita State to only four hits, while the Bears had 11 hits, including two hits apiece by junior catcher Mike Tonis (Elk Grove, CA, two-run double in the fifth), Meyer, junior shortstop Jason Williams (Fairfield, CA) and freshman center fielder Nick Medrano (Castro Valley, CA)...last weekend, Cal won one-of-three games at Evans Diamond against then No. 6 ranked Arizona State, losing 6-4 Mar. 24, losing 4-2 Mar. 25 and winning 7-2 Mar. 26 ... Cal held the Sun Devils to a season-low two runs on Sunday ... in the Bears victory, junior reliever David Cash (Modesto, CA) came in in relief in the first inning and went on to pitch 5.7 innings with six hits, one run, one walk and five strikeouts ... Cash was one strike away from earning the victory against ASU on Friday ... Tonis had an outstanding series against the Sun Devils, throwing out five baserunners, including three on Mar. 26 ... he was also 4-for-8 with three doubles at the plate ... Tonis is currently on a season-high 10-game hitting streak ... senior second baseman Tommy Callen (Burlingame, CA) was only 2-for-11 against Arizona State, but his two hits were big as Callen had a two-run homer Mar. 24 and a three-run homer Mar. 26 for five RBI ... Meyer also played well for Cal, going 5-for-11 with a double and an RBI ... the Bears are 5-8 this season against teams ranked in this week's Baseball America Top 25 poll.
| Day | Date | Opponent | Site | Time |
| Fri. | Mar. 31 | at Washington | Husky Ballpark, Seattle, WA | 6:30 p.m. |
| Sat. | Apr. 1 | at Washington | Husky Ballpark, Seattle, WA | 1:00 p.m. |
| Sun. | Apr. 2 | at Washington | Husky Ballpark, Seattle, WA | 1:00 p.m. |
CAL HAS SHOWN ITS POTENTIAL AT THE PLATE: The Bears have hit 38 home runs this season, including a school-record four home runs in the seventh inning Feb. 2 at Santa Clara ... junior Xavier Nady has hit two grand slams this season, Feb. 19 at Pepperdine and Mar. 18 at Arizona ... he now has 47 career homers, which is second on the Cal all-time list behind Troy Penix's 50 homers from 1990-92 ... the Bears have struggle at the plate at times this year, including Feb. 25-27 against Stanford when they only manage 10 hits ... but, Cal also has had it's 26 and 24 runs on 51 hits in two games, Mar. 18-19 at Arizona, 20 hits and three home runs Feb. 19 at Pepperdine and 18 hits and five home runs Feb. 2 at Santa Clara ... on the mound, Cal has maintained a respectable 5.10 team ERA, led by Meyer's 1.06 ERA.
| No. | Pos. | Player | 2000 stats |
| 15 | LF | David Weiner, Fr. | .288, 7 RBI, 2 HR |
| 24 | 2B | Tommy Callen, Sr. | .282, 19 RBI, 3 HR |
| 30 | C | Mike Tonis, Jr. | .319, 24 RBI, 7 HR |
| 11 | 3B | Xavier Nady, Jr. | .319, 31 RBI, 9 HR |
| 17 | 1B | Clint Hoover, Jr. | .304, 21 RBI, 7 HR |
| 26 | RF | Rob Meyer, Jr. | .315, 16 RBI, 2 HR |
| 31 | DH | Sam Petke, Sr. | .328, 8 RBI, 3 HR |
| 5 | SS | Jason Williams, Jr. | .274, 15 RBI, 3 HR |
| 42 | CF | Nick Medrano, Fr. | .277, 8 RBI, 0 HR |
| 32 | RHP | Trevor Hutchinson, So. (Fri.) | 2-3, 4.55 ERA |
| 28 | RHP | Brad Steele, Sr. (Sat.) | 3-4, 4.04 ERA |
| 34 | RHP | Jon Shirley, Sr. (Sun.) | 0-3, 6.00 ERA |
PAC-10 RACE (as of Mar. 31)
| Conference | Overall |
| W | L | PCT | GB | W | L | T | .PCT |
| USC | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | --- | 20 | 9 | | .690 |
| Arizona State | 2 | 1 | .667 | 1.0 | 26 | 7 | | .788 |
| Stanford | 2 | 1 | .667 | 1.0 | 20 | 7 | | .741 |
| UCLA | 2 | 1 | .667 | 1.0 | 17 | 11 | | .607 |
| Oregon State | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1.5 | 16 | 11 | | .593 |
| CALIFORNIA | 4 | 5 | .444 | 2.0 | 13 | 16 | | .448 |
| Washington | 1 | 2 | .333 | 2.0 | 9 | 13 | | .409 |
| Arizona | 2 | 4 | .333 | 2.5 | 17 | 18 | | .486 |
| Washington State | 2 | 4 | .333 | 2.5 | 12 | 16 | | .429 |
PLAYER NOTES
CLINT HOOVER: Is batting .304 with nine doubles, a triple, seven home runs and 21 RBI ... hit the game-winning three-run homer Tuesday at Wichita State ... was 2-for-12 with an RBI against Arizona State last weekend ... went 9-for-17 (.529) with two doubles, a triple and three RBI Mar. 17-19 at Arizona ... was 5-for-14 with two home runs and four RBI Mar. 10-12 vs. Cal State Fullerton ... hit the game-tying home run in the ninth inning Mar. 12 vs. CSF ... hit the game-winning homer in the 11th inning Mar. 3 vs. WSU ... was impressive Feb. 2 at Santa Clara, going 4-for-5 with two doubles, a home run and three RBI ... was outstanding in the series last season vs. Washington, going 3-for-12 with three home runs and 10 RBI.
TREVOR HUTCHINSON: Is 2-3 with a 4.55 ERA and has 36 strikeouts in 55.3 innings ... last outing got no decision Mar. 24 vs. Arizona State (7.0 innings, five hits, three runs, three walks, five strikeouts) ... earned win in Mar. 10 vs. Cal State Fullerton (career-high 8.0 innings, six hits, four runs, two walks, four strikeouts) ... got a no decision Mar. 3 vs. WSU (6.0 innings, six hits, two runs, four walks, career-high seven strikeouts) ... got no decision Feb. 11 at Long Beach State (7.0 innings, seven hits, three runs, two walks, four strikeouts) ... also got no decision Feb. 4 vs. Loyola Marymount (6.0 innings, six hits, one run, one walk, four strikeouts) ... earned win in season-opener Jan. 25 vs. San Francisco (5.0 innings, six hits, three runs, three walks, two strikeouts)...last season, got no decision vs. Washington Mar. 22 (5.3 innings, four hits, four runs, three walks, two strikeouts) ... is slated to start Friday.
ROB MEYER: Is batting .315 with four doubles, two home runs and 16 RBI ... is 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA (17.0 innings, nine hits, two earned runs, nine strikeouts) on the mound ... went 2-for-4 Tuesday at Wichita State ... also earned the save against the Shockers, pitching the ninth inning (one hit, one run, two walks) ... was 5-for-11 with a double and an RBI against Arizona State last weeked ... concluded last season on a nine-game hitting streak and started this season on a six-game hitting streak for a career-high 15-game hitting streak (24-for-59, .407, 3-2B, 2-HR, 12 RBI) ... went 5-for-16 with a double and three RBI Mar. 17-19 at Arizona ... vs. WSU Mar. 3-5 was 4-for-12 and pitched a total of 5.0 innings in two games (two hits, two strikeouts), earning the win in relief Mar. 3 (1.0 inning, one strikeout) ... Feb. 29 at Fresno State went 2-for-6 with an RBI and picked up the win in relief (2.0 innings, one hit, three walks) ... was 6-for-15 with a home run and three RBI Feb. 18-20 at Pepperdine ... was 3-for-4 with an RBI Feb. 6 vs. Loyola Marymount ... went 4-for-5 with a home run and two RBI in the season-opener Jan. 25 vs. San Francisco ... was 0-for-13 in last year's series versus Washington.
XAVIER NADY: Is batting .319 with a team-high nine home runs and 31 RBI ... has 47 career homers at Cal, three away from tying the school record for career home runs (Troy Penix, 1990-92) ... is also third on the Bears all-time RBI list (163) ... went 0-for-2 with three walks Tuesday at Wichita State ... was 2-for-12 with a home run and four RBI against Arizona State last weekend ... Mar. 17-19 at Arizona went 7-for-13 with three home runs and 11 RBI ... on Mar. 18 vs. UA was 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and a grand slam for a career-high seven RBI ... earned Pac-10 Player of the Week honors for his exploits at Arizona ... was 5-for-13 with a home run Mar. 10-12 vs. Cal State Fullerton ... went 4-for-13 with a double, home run and two RBI Mar. 3-5 vs. WSU ... was 5-15 with a double and a grand slam Feb. 18-20 at Pepperdine ... knocked in the game-winning RBI Feb. 4 and was 3-for-3 with a home run and two RBI Feb. 6 vs. Loyola Marymount ... last season vs. Washington went 4-for-12 with a double, home run and three RBI.
JON SHIRLEY: Is 0-3 with a 6.00 ERA ... was outstanding in a start Tuesday at Wichita State, pitching 3.0 innings with no hits, no runs, one walk and four strikeouts ... had not pitched since Mar. 5 vs. Washington State (3.0 innings, one hit, one run, one walk, six strikeouts) after suffering soreness in his right tricep ... had struck out six of the nine batters he had faced against the Cougars ... lost Feb. 27 vs. Stanford (5.3 innings, nine hits, seven runs, one walk, six strikeouts) ... lost Feb. 20 at Pepperdine (5.0 innings, eight hits, five runs, two walks, two strikeouts) ... suffered the loss Feb. 13 at Long Beach State, pitching a season-high 7.0 innings with eight hits, three runs, one walk and five strikeouts ... last season threw a complete-game shutout Mar. 20 vs. Washington (two hits, five walks, eight strikeouts) ... is slated to start Sunday.
BRAD STEELE: Is 3-4 with a 4.04 ERA and team-leading 36 strikeouts and 62.3 innings pitched ... suffered the loss in last outing, pitching 7.0 innings with eight hits, three earned runs, two walks, four strikeouts Mar. 25 vs. Arizona State ... earned win Mar. 18 at Arizona (5.7 innings, 11 hits, five runs, three walks, two strikeouts) ... got no decision Mar. 11 vs. CSF (7.0 innings, 11 hits, two earned runs, two walks, six strikeouts) ... got a no decision Mar. 4 vs. WSU, pitching a career-high 9.0 innings (eight hits, two runs, two walks) with a career-high nine strikeouts ... threw first career complete-game Feb. 19 at Pepperdine (10 hits, four runs, two walks, four strikeouts) ... has not pitched against Washington in a Pac-10 series in his career ... is slated to start Saturday.
MIKE TONIS: Is batting .319 with 12 doubles (team-high), seven home runs and 24 RBI ... is fourth on the Cal all-time home run list (34) ... went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI Tuesday at Wichita State ... was 4-for-8 with three doubles against Arizona State last weekend ... is currently on a team-high 10-game hitting streak (17-for-40, .425, six doubles, four home runs, 15 RBI) from Mar. 10 ... went 7-for-14 with two doubles, three home runs and 10 RBI Mar. 17-19 at Arizona ... Mar. 19 at UA was 2-for-5 with a three-run homer and a two-run homer ... went 4-for-13 with a home run and three RBI Mar. 10-12 vs. Cal State Fullerton ... was 6-for-14 with a double, home run and two RBI Feb. 18-20 at Pepperdine ... went 2-for-4 with two doubles Feb. 9 at Saint Mary's ... was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI Feb. 2 at Santa Clara ... last season vs. Washington went 5-for-11 with two doubles and three RBI.
PRESEASON ACCOLADES
Junior third baseman
Xavier Nady (Salinas, CA) is the Preseason National Player of the Year and a first team Preseason All-American by both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball after hitting 40 home runs last year (school record 23 for Cal in the spring and 17 for the USA National Team during the summer) ... Nady, selected Baseball America's 1999 Summer Player of the Year, is also projected to be next June's No. 1 pick in the Amateur Draft by the baseball publication ... fellow USA National Team member, junior catcher
Mike Tonis (Elk Grove, CA), is a second team Preseason All-American in Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball
