Two completely different California baseball teams were on display Tuesday and Wednesday against St. Mary’s, with the Bears first displaying a woeful offense at Stu Gordon Stadium before exploding for 14 runs in Moraga, Calif..
Cal is set to play its next series against Pac-12 opponent Washington State at Bailey-Brayton Field, followed by a one-game sweep against USF back in Berkeley.
Now 5-2pm on weekendsThe Bears fell to the Gaels 1-6 in the first game of the midweek set, getting his redemption the next day in a 14-11 win. After failing to capitalize on scoring opportunities and making numerous defensive mistakes in the first game, Cal turned the tables in the second.
“There are times where we let the game dictate what happens and I thought our guys did a better job of taking advantage of opportunities and being more aggressive (in the second game),” head coach Mike Neu said. “You end up with 15 hits and 14 runs and that’s big. We needed that.”
After receiving swept by arizona state a week and a half ago, the bears came out and scored 17 runs in their game against pacific on tuesday. Similarly, Cal’s offense put up 14 games on the board against a different West Coast Conference team in the Gaels after last weekend’s win by Arizona and loss to SMC in Tuesday’s game.
Mud, 5-10 in conference play, has struggled significantly against conference opponents of late, losing last seven games against Pac-12 teams.
“We’re going to have tough times throughout the year and we’re going to have some struggles, but we just have to race through it,” Noah said.
Sufferers ofoh tuesday loss where they went 0-13 with runners on base the blue and gold bounced back the next day withthis is abusive revenge. Although the pitching struggled in both games, the offense came through in Moraga.
PJ Moutzouridis, Jarren Advincula, Peyton Schulze and Seth Gwynn had three-hit nights and were responsible for driving in a combined 10 RBI. This came just a day after those four went a combined 0-12 with four strikeouts.
The first match against SMC also saw Advincula’s hitting streak ended at 19 straight games with at least one hit — beginning against Stanford on March 5. Advincula started a new streak of success on day 3-5.
Cal’s throw failed to hold off the Gaulish attack and surrendered 17 runs in just two gamess allowing SMC’s Connor “Bear” Harrison went 3-5 with a homer in game one and Nathan Chong went five runs on three hits in game two.
In the end, even though Game 1 didn’t go in their favor, the Bears came back offensively and defensively to claim victory in a back-to-back, high-scoring affair.
“We just have to build on (that win),” Noah said. “Take some of that momentum, take some of that mindset into the weekend and do the same once we get into the conference series.”
The upcoming series between Cal and Washington State in Pullman pits two 17-14 teams against each other, but the Cougars will enter the weekend with a slight advantage. They are 8-3 at home, while the Bears are 3-5 on the road.
In conference play, Washington State went four series against Pac-12 opponents, winning one series in a sweep but losing the other three.
In recent years, the teams have split their last six games 3-3. Washington State won two of three in the 2023 series and Cal won two of three in the 2022 season..
When they return home from Washington, the Bears willI host a midweek game against 17-16 USF. Cal’s insultse unleashed against their neighbors across the bay earlier this season, beating the Dons 11-3.
USF has lost the last four series he played in, including a win at Santa Clara in which he scored just one run in that three-game span.
The Washington State series runs from April 12-14, with the single game against USF at Stu Gordon Stadium starting at 6:05pm on Tuesday.
