Cal Baseball swept UCLA last weekend, stayed a perfect 9-0 at home

Golden Bears now hold an 188-187 all-time lead on UCLA; Cal Softball hosts Stanford

Just like last spring down in Los Angeles, California Golden Bears (11-3, 3-0 in Pac-12) swept the UCLA Bruins in a three-game Pac-12 series. While the two teams may meet again as Pac-12 foes in year 2 (and final year) of the Pac-12 Baseball tournament, Cal Baseball has used this six-game winning streak against UCLA to take the all-time series lead at 188-187.

Golden Bears remain a perfect 9-0 at home so far in 2024. Showing incredible grit, Cal had to rally in two of the games from a sizable deficit to earn the wins.

Cal 11, UCLA 7

According to the Cal commentators, a Cal Baseball alumni from the 70’s, Evans Diamond is a lot more hitter-friendly at night. Cal did not add lights until after the program was saved from the chopping block in the 2010’s and private money was raised and invested in the program to improve the stadium like adding lights to earn more money through night games. Anyhow, a morning breeze from the Bay that keeps balls inside the park is not a factor for the night game.

UCLA hit the first three homers of the game to go up 7-1 in the top of the 5th, but Cal will hit the last three homers of the game (Advincula, Handron, and Schulze) along with plenty of other clutch hits to score 10 unanswered runs. The comeback started right away with six runs to tie up the game in the bottom of the 5th.

https://twitter.com/CalBaseball/status/1766545765449809994

Freshman Trey Newmann again could not navigate through the lineup in the second and third time through the order. He gave up seven runs despite registering seven strikeouts in five innings. Junior Christian Becerra valiantly kept the Bruins in check with three scoreless innings to be rewarded with his third win of the year, all in relief. Becerra has recaptured some of his freshman magic after a tough sophomore season where he was often left in games for too long to give up crooked numbers.

The Cal freshman double-play duo of SS PJ Moutzouridis (3 for 5) and 2B Jarren Advincula (2 for 4) provided several key hits along with 1B Peyton Schulze (3 for 5) in a game where Cal stars Rodney Green Jr. and Caleb Lomavita combined to only bat 1 for 9.

A great sign of the potential success of this season was how the Bears kept on fighting despite the big deficit at the halfway point. This was also head coach Mike Neu’s 200th win of his career.

Cal 4, UCLA 1

Graduate transfer RHP Tom Mayer started the Saturday game for the Bears and was strong by allowing just one run in 5.2 innings.

Despite being hitless in the series before then, Caleb Lomavita was clutch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th. Lomavita hit a two-run single to put the Bears ahead by a 3-1 score.

While the Bears did hit another homer: Peyton Schultz with his 4th to extend the lead, it was a late web gem by defense replacement Jag Burden in leftfield for a key second out with the tying run at the plate that gets the replay here.

https://twitter.com/CalBaseball/status/1766625893513040232

Connor Sullivan pitching the final three innings of the game earned him the win.

Cal 6, UCLA 5

While a lesser team might have been discouraged when UCLA rightfielder JonJon Vaughns reached over the fence to rob Cal freshman DH Matthew Thomas of a go-ahead three-run homer to end the 6th inning, Cal Baseball is not that team.

A lesser team might be content with giving up on the series finale when UCLA hit two solo homers, including the second of the game and the third of the series from UCLA 1B Mulivai Levu, in the top of the seventh to go ahead 5-1, but the Golden Bears do not quit.

After eking out a run each in the bottom of the 7th and 8th, Cal opened the bottom of the 9th with a single and a double from the two freshmen Advincula and Moutzouridis, respectively. While UCLA did manage to strike out Rodney Green Jr., Caleb Lomavita did this next.

https://twitter.com/CalBaseball/status/1766964264915587177

Here is an alternate angle of the Lomavita walk-off homer.

https://twitter.com/CalBaseball/status/1766984706464350412

Caleb Lomavita hit his team-leading sixth homer of the season to give Cal a very satisfying sweep of the UCLA Bruins. Closer Tyler Stasiowski picked up his first win of the season after pitching a scoreless top of the 9th. Freshman Oliver de la Torre got the start and gave up only a solo homer in the top of the fourth to his last batter after three scoreless innings. Fellow freshman Oliver Boone pitched 3.1 innings but also gave up a pair of homers.

The Cal offense was kept in check by UCLA starter Michael Barnett who went 5.1 innings, but Rashad Ruff could not get the traditional three-inning save by giving up five runs in 2.1 IP.

Lomavita now has 29 homers in his Cal career to be just one behind Conor Jackson, a former 1st round and 19th overall pick in the 2003 MLB Draft, for 10th in the program history book.

It is way too early, but Cal is atop the Pac-12 Baseball standings as the lone undefeated team in conference play.

Golden Bears will play their first true road games of the season at Oregon (11-5, 2-1) this weekend. Ducks won the series at Arizona State last weekend. All three games will be streamed for free online by Oregon.

• Friday, Mar. 15, 5:05 p.m.:  Oregon Live Stream | CalBears.com

  Cal projected starter: LHP Luke Short (1-0, 2.84 ERA)

• Saturday, Mar. 16, 2:05 p.m.:  Oregon Live Stream | CalBears.com

  Cal projected starter: RHP Trey Newmann (0-1, 8.16 ERA)

• Sunday, Mar. 17, 12:05 p.m.:  Oregon Live Stream | CalBears.com

  Cal projected starter: RHP Tom Mayer (0-1, 3.63 ERA)

UCLA (5-10, 0-3) dropping seven straight games (they lost the midweek game to UConn, who Cal also swept) meant that Cal actually got hurt in the RPI by playing the UCLA Bruins. One has to think that UCLA will rebound eventually to make this series win look good on paper. Nonetheless, Golden Bears are looking like a postseason team right now and need to keep this winning streak going on the road.

Ducks effectively ended Cal’s season last year in the inaugural Pac-12 Baseball Tournament. Oregon rallied with two runs in the bottom of the 8th to win 3-2 and ended Cal’s slim hope of running the table to take the automatic bid into the postseason (Cal played another game after that loss, but their fate was sealed). Oregon then won three more games to take the Pac-12 Baseball tournament and the conference’s automatic bid. Ducks managed to win the Nashville Regional over host Vanderbilt but lost to Oral Roberts in the Super Regional.

LHP Ian May did not make an appearance last weekend but the former ace might be closer to contributing to the squad this weekend.

Hitting long balls (25 and counting, 37th-best nationally) is still the calling card for this team. The Cal offense is also just making solid contacts with a team average of 0.296, 4th best in the Pac-12. But the most important stat is the four-game winning streak achieved all against Pac-12 rivals even if the midweek win over Stanford was a non-conference game. Cal Baseball is rolling and that collective belief that they can rally and come back in any and every game will only help them.

Pro Bears Updates

Six Cal Baseball alumni will be showcased in the brand-new MLB Spring Breakout series this weekend.

https://twitter.com/CalBaseball/status/1768033273589236112

Baltimore Orioles 1st-round draft pick Dylan Beavers played RF and CF while going 0 for 1 with a walk on Thursday.

Up at the MLB level, three Cal alumni are locks to open on MLB rosters: 2B Marcus Semien with the Texas Rangers, 1B Andrew Vaughn with the Chicago White Sox, and 1B/OF Mark Canha with the Detroit Tigers.

Coming off a World Series win, ESPN named Marcus Semien the 24th-best overall player in the MLB with his durability cited as his best asset. In a very early move this past offseason, the Detroit Tigers acquired Mark Canha from the Milwaukee Brewers and picked up his option. Well-regarded for his on-base prowess, Canha will provide some right-handed at-bats and veteran know-how on a young Detroit Tigers team. As for Andrew Vaughn, 2024 is an important year for him to finally break out in a big way. The White Sox with their bad reputation for developing players may be blamed for some of it, Vaughn has not yet lived up to his expectations as the 3rd overall pick. Vaughn needs to improve his wRC+ from 103 last year (slightly above average which is 100) to closer to 120+ to earn a sizable salary increase in 2025, when he will be arbitration-eligible for the first time.

Battling for opening day roster spots after spending some time in the Big League last year are RHP Lucas Erceg with the Oakland (for now) A’s, RHP Daulton Jefferies with the San Franciso Giants, C Korey Lee with the Chicago White Sox, and Cameron (Cam) Eden with the Toronto Blue Jays. Also not that far removed from the Big League but saw no time there in 2023, C Andrew Knapp is with the Texas Rangers camp this spring after signing a minor league deal with them in the offseason.

Erceg, who transitioned from a 3B prospect to a pitcher in 2021, has the best chance to break camp with the Big League team. After leaving Cal (where he technically was a two-way player his freshman year but became a slugger only his sophomore season) due to academic issues, Erceg was drafted in the 2nd round out of Menlo College by the Brewers. He made his MLB debut in 2023 with Oakland and appeared in 50 games pitching 55 IP with a decent strikeout rate (68 K in those innings) but also too high of a walk rate (36). He did eventually pitch in some high leverage situations to earn 11 holds and should again fill that role on the A’s with the possibility of earning fantasy baseball relevance as the closer over flamethrower Mason Miller.

While only a non-roster invitee in the Giants camp, Daulton Jefferies is finally healthy again to pitch after an injury derailed his promising career with the A’s. Jefferies has pitched well enough this spring to be considered in that swingman/long-relief role. It also helps that his old A’s manager and fellow Cal Baseball alum Bob Melvin has joined the Giants as the manager this offseason. The pitching coach for the Giants is another Cal alum and former manager Bryan Price. And if you did not already know, Giants executive Farhan Zaidi has a Ph.D. in economics from Cal.

White Sox acquired Korey Lee late last year from the Houston Astros (where Lee ended up on the active playoff roster for the 2022 World Series-clinching game) in exchange for RHP Kendall Graveman. Reunited with his Cal teammate Vaughn, Lee is probably the third catcher behind veterans Martin Maldonado and Max Stassi. Because Lee still has options, he is less likely to break camp with the White Sox.

Cam Eden made his MLB debut late in 2023 thanks to his speed and 53 steals with the AAA Buffalo Bisons. He was outrighted off the 40-man roster during the offseason and then reassigned to the Blue Jays’ minor-league camp this Monday, March 11th. Now as an outfielder, Eden still might see some more time at the Big League thanks to the recent rule change to increase the size of the bases and roster rule limiting the number of pitchers. Speedy guys who primarily will only be used as pinch runners do have a role in the changing MLB landscape. Eden was the latest Cal Bear to make the MLB.

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Cal Softball hosts the Big Series against Stanford

Cal Softball (21-4, 1-2 in Pac-12) played at Eugene last weekend but only managed a win in the first game. Cal Bears blasted the Oregon Ducks 11-5 in game 1 of Friday’s doubleheader, hitting five homers including two from Elon Butler. The game 1 win gave head coach Chelsea Spencer her 100th victory of a young career.

The condensed three-game series due to bad weather forecast for Sunday limited the availability of Cal freshman ace Randi Roelling. Roelling pitched well in game 1 but was forced into action for an extended stretch just a couple of hours later in game 2. Roelling came into the game in the 6th after Cal had tied up the game at 3-3, but the game went into extra innings. Vallery Wong became the hero by hitting the walk-off single in the bottom of the 9th.

On Saturday, Haylei Archer gave up two runs in 2.1 IP but Randi Roelling in relief was not sharp in giving up three runs, only one earned, in 3.2 IP. More importantly, the powerful Cal offense was kept in check by Elise Sokolsky (1 ER in 3 IP) and Morgan Scott (1 ER in 4 IP). A solo homer by Elon Butler in the 6th was not enough in a 5-2 loss.

With three homers on the weekend, Elon Butler is still hitting an insanely great 0.409/0.488/0.909 slash line with 10 homers. Acacia Anders is just behind her with a slash line of 0.408/0.494/0.697 with 11 doubles.

https://twitter.com/CalSB/status/1768381788106465569

As a team, Cal is collectively slashing 0.316/0.404/0.559. If they can keep this up, they will stay ranked in the top 25 and be winning a lot of games. Bears slipped from No.15 to No.17 after the current two-game losing streak.

https://twitter.com/CalSB/status/1768013310404997242

Golden Bears face their toughest test so far this season with No.6/9 Stanford (19-5) visiting Berkeley this weekend. Pac-12 Networks will have all three games.

WEEKEND LINEUP

• Teams: Cal (21-4, 1-2 Pac-12) vs. Stanford (19-5, 0-0 Pac-12)

• Location: Levine-Fricke Field | Berkeley, California

• First pitch: Friday: 3 p.m. | Saturday: 3 p.m. | Sunday: 2 p.m.

This will be a golden opportunity for the Golden Bears to further showcase their greatness to the rest of the collegiate softball world.

Cal slipped from No.9 to No.11 in the RPI. Even with this series being at home, they could get a boost from beating Stanford who is No.3 in the RPI.

GO BEARS!