Cardinal Snap Bears’ Winning Streak
STANFORD – The California baseball team led 4-0 heading in to the bottom of the fourth when Stanford's bats came to life. The Cardinal scored seven runs over the next two innings, but it was a five run fifth inning that was the difference as Stanford took game one 8-6 on Friday night at the Sunken Diamond.
The loss snaps Cal's (25-15, 11-11 Pac-12) nine-game winning streak. Offensively, the Golden Bears got contributions throughout the lineup, with eight players recording a hit. Nico Button and Jarren Advincula had strong nights at the dish collecting three hits each. Button went 3-for-4 with a run scored and two driven in. Advincula went 3-for-5 and scored a run. Max Handron and Seth Gwynn also had multi-hit games. Handron went 2-for-5 and Gwynn went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Stanford (18-21, 10-9) had six players record multiple hits. The Cardinal finished with 16 on the evening. Ethan Hott went 3-for-4 with a run scored. Malcolm More went 2-for-5 with a home run, his 13th of the year. Brandon Larson also went 2-for-5 with a home run.
Cal struck first in the top of the second. Schulze led off the inning smoking a double to the gap in right center field, his 16th double of the year. Schulze moved to third on the single to left field from Gwynn. With two outs, Gwynn stole second to get into scoring position. The extra 90 feet paid off for Cal as Button slapped a single the other way to left field, allowing both runners to score.
The Bears added runs in the third and fourth innings to go up 4-0. In the third, Cal had runners at the corners for Rodney Green Jr. who hit a ball to deep left field which allowed Advincula to score. In the fourth, Button walked with two outs and scored from first on the RBI double from Moutzouridis.
Cardinal starter Matt Scott (4-6) got the win. He tossed 5.1 innings, allowing 10 hits, and five runs all earned with two walks and three strikeouts. Toran O'Harran earned his sixth save of the year, going 1.2 innings allowing just a walk and strike out while striking out four.
The loss went to Luke Short (3-2). Short entered the game in the bottom of the second and was consistently ahead of the Cardinal, getting first-pitch strikes to the first seven batters he faced. In the bottom of the fourth, he ran into trouble. Moore led off the inning with a solo home run over the right-field fence. Two batters later Larson cut the Cal lead in half, hitting his third home run of the year.
In the fifth trailing 5-2, Stanford erupted for five runs on seven hits. An RBI double by Jimmy Nati ended the night for Short who went 3.0+ allowing 10 hits, seven earned runs with no walks and two strikeouts. Christian Becerra entered the game with no outs and two on with the game tied 5-5 but could not stop the bleeding. Stanford scored two more runs to take the lead for good.
Becerra had a strong outing overall, going 2.2 innings, scattering five hits, no runs with two walks and four strikeouts.
Cal got a run back in the top of the seventh. Handron led off the inning with a single up the middle and Gwynn was walked to put two on. With one out Button singled up the middle to load the bases for PJ Moutzouridis who hit a ball to deep right field, scoring Handron to make it 7-6 in favor of the Cardinal.
Stanford put the game away in the bottom of the eighth scoring a run on a suicide squeeze from Jake Sapien.
Cal looks to get even in the series tomorrow afternoon. Saturday's game will be televised on Pac-12 Bay Area and is scheduled for a 4 p.m. first pitch.
STAY POSTED
For coverage of Cal baseball, please follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalBaseball), Instagram (@CalBaseball), and Facebook (/CalBaseball/).