Mar. 5, 1997
Cal Rallies to Edge Cal State Hayward, 6-5
BERKELEY, Calif. - The University of California baseball
team topped visiting Cal State Hayward, 6-5, Wednesday at Evans
Diamond. Cal improves its record to 10-12 overall, while CS
Hayward falls to 8-11. The Bears snapped a five-game losing
streak with the victory.
Sophomore shortstop Brian Oliver hit a two-run double in the
bottom of the ninth inning off of Cal State Hayward pitcher Matt
Harris to lead Cal to the come-from-behind win over the
Pioneers. The Bears did not have a hit against CS Hayward until
the sixth inning and came back from a 3-0 deficit to hold a brief
4-3 lead after scoring a run in the sixth inning and three runs in the
eighth inning on a three-run triple by freshman Barry Schell.
The Pioneers came storming back by scoring two runs in the top of
the ninth inning on RBI singles by John Toven and Artie Besser to
take a 5-4 lead. But, CS Hayward reliever Ryan Muscio walked
Cal's Jim Schmidt to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Harris, who
had pitched the sixth and seventh innings for the Pioneers,
relieved Muscio and walked the next batter, John Furstenthal,
before getting an out on a force play at third on a fielder's
choice bunt by Juan Hernandez. Harris then gave up a single to
Ivan Lewis, which set-up Oliver's two-run double with the bases
loaded.
The winning pitcher for Cal was junior right-hander Jim Vorhis,
who improved his record to 1-2 by pitching the ninth inning (two
hits, two runs, no walks, one strikeout). Harris goes to 1-1
after pitching a total of 2.3 innings with four hits, three runs,
three walks and a strikeout. The top hitter for CS Hayward was
Besser, who was 3-for-4.
Cal will next travel to No. 7 ranked USC for a three-game series
in Los Angeles, Mar. 7-9.
