The Bears play five games in six days

Cal will play five games over the next six days, starting with a three-game series against rival Stanford.

BASE4/5/2023 1:45 PM | By: Cal Athletics

Cal hosts Stanford, Nevada before the St. Mary’s game

BERKELEY – The California baseball team will play five games over the next six days, including four straight at home against Stanford Thursday through Saturday and Nevada on Monday to finish the season with an eight-game home stretch at Stu Gordon Stadium. The Golden Bears will next face St. Mary’s in Moraga on Tuesday.

Cal (12-12, 3-9 Pac-12) is 2-2 so far at home, most recently defeating Pacific 5-4 on Monday. Stanford enters this week ranked No. 9 in the country in the D1Baseball poll. The Cardinal (18-7, 7-2) lead the Pac-12 standings and split a four-game series at Oklahoma last weekend. Nevada (12-15) will play a three-game series at UNLV before coming to Berkeley, while the Gaels (10-14) will travel to Malibu to face Pepperdine this weekend before returning to the East Bay for to host the Bears.

HOW TO FOLLOW

ENGINEERED STARTERS

• Thursday – LHP Daniel Colwell (1-2, 6.05 ERA) vs. LHP Quinn Matthews (3-2, 2.78 ERA)
• Friday – RHP Christian Becerra (0-1, 4.05 ERA) vs. RHP Matt Scott (4-0, 1.86 ERA)
• Saturday – RHP Paulson Pasqualoto (2-0, 3.13 ERA) vs. Joey Dixon (3-0, 4.35 ERA)
• Monday – TBD vs. TBD
• Tuesday – TBD vs. TBD

QUICK LOOKS

• The Bears are in the midst of an eight-game home stretch at Stu Gordon Stadium, where they are 2-2 after dropping two of three at Arizona State and beating Pacific 5-4 on Monday night.
• The Bears enter this weekend with a 12-12 record and are 3-9 in Pac-12 play. Bears are 4-6 in their last 10 games.
• The Bears are hitting .223, led by Rodney Green Jr .284 average (27-for-95).
• Cal is 7-4 at home this season. They are hitting .211 (72-for-342) as a team and averaging 5.1 runs per game while boasting a staff ERA of 3.42 at Stu Gordon Stadium.
• Cal went 2-0 in one-run games last weekend and is 5-1 in ball games on the season. Under the head coach Mike Newthe bears are 38-26 in games decided by a series.
• Cal’s pitching staff has a 4.20 ERA as a unit, which ranks 31st (out of 295 teams) in the nation.
• The Bears starting pitching is a staff ERA of 2.43. In 89.0 innings, Cal starters have held opponents to 24 runs and a .216 average. Christian Becerra owns a 2.45 ERA as a starter.
• Closing: Cal has been excellent at closing games this year. When leading after six innings, the Bears are 10-2; when leading after eight, they are 8-0.
• In the last five games Kade Kretschmar was on a tear, hitting .375 (6-for-16) during that stretch. In the win over Arizona State, he led off the ninth inning with a solo home run (his fourth of the year) to give the Bears a 5-4 victory.
• Last outing: The Bears defeated visiting Pacific 5-4 on Monday night. Cal is off to the best start of his career Andres Galan who earned his first collegiate win by throwing six complete while allowing just one earned run. Dom Souto hit his third home run of the season and the Bears stole nine bases as a team, four from Rodney Green Jr
• Sophomore hunter Caleb Lomavita was named to the Buster Posey College Catcher of the Year Watch List. The final list will be narrowed down to semi-finalists on May 22. Lomavita is hitting .262 (27-for-103) this season, with four doubles and five home runs. He is hitting .447 and has a .313 on-base percentage.

SERIES STORIES

• Thursday will be the 508th meeting between the Bears and the Cardinal, according to Cal records. Stanford owns a 279-236-1 all-time advantage in the series.
• Earlier this year, Cal defeated then-No. 2 Stanford 8-4 at the Farm in a nonconference contest on Feb. 21. Carson Crawford hit a grand slam in the first inning, Caleb Lomavita hit a two-run home run in the fifth. Under Mike New, The Bears are 6-10 against the Cardinal. In 2021, they went 2-3 against Stanford.
• Monday will be the 33rd^rd a meeting between the bears and the wolf pack. Cal holds an 18-14 advantage in the series, which hasn’t been played since 2011 when Cal beat UNR 2-0 in Berkeley.
• Tuesday will be 190^th matchup of all time between the bears and the gals. Cal owns a 127-62 advantage in the series. Last season, the two teams split the series at two games, with the visiting team winning both contests. Last outing Cal defeated SMC 6-0 at Louis Guisto Field on April 11, 2022.

NEXT

The Bears will return to Pac-12 play when they travel to Salt Lake City for a three-game series at Utah on April 14-16. Friday’s series begins at 5:00 PM PT. All three games against the Utes will feature live video and live stats.

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