Four Bears Earn All-Pac-12 Honors
BERKELEY – The California baseball team had four student-athletes voted on to the 2023 All-Pac-12 team as announced by the conference office Tuesday morning.
Outfielders Rodney Green Jr. and Kade Kretzschmar were named to the All-Conference Team while sophomore catcher Caleb Lomavita and junior pitcher Paulshawn Pasqualotto earned honorable mention. Pasqualotto was also named to the conference’s All-Defensive Team. In five full seasons under head coach Mike Neu, Cal has earned 15 All-Pac-12 First Team selections.
This is the first all-conference honor for Green Jr., who is having a stellar campaign. The Richmond native is one of three Golden Bears to start every game. He finished the regular season hitting .291 and put up career-best numbers in hits (49), doubles (9), home runs (14), RBI (37) and stolen bases (28). The steals were second in the Pac-12. He was also one of six players [JO1] to finish the regular season with double digits in stolen bases and home runs. Green Jr. also hit .330 with runners on base and .348 with runners in scoring position.
After a slow start to the season, Kade Kretzschmar became a catalyst for the Golden Bears. He finished the regular season hitting .333 and his 29 extra base hits (14 doubles, two triples, 13 home runs) led the Bears. He was named the Dick Howser Trophy Player of the Month after a blistering April in which he slashed .426/.488/.885. He pounded out 16 extra-base and had a Pac-12-leading 12 multi-hit games – including seven with three or more hits. The 2022 Ivy League Player of the Year at Dartmouth has career-bests in runs (39), hits (64), and home runs (13).
Lomavita earns his second all-conference honor. The native of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, continues to be a force at the top of the order for the Bears, leading the team in home runs with 15. The reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week finished the season on a hot streak, smashing four home runs in the crucial road series victory over No. 24 Washington that secured Cal’s berth in the Pac-12 Tournament. Lomavita finished the regular season with career bests in batting average (.307), runs scored (44), doubles (11), home runs (15), and slugging percentage (.588). Conference play is where Lomavita did the bulk of his damage, as he had 18 extra-base hits in Pac-12 action (eight doubles and 10 home runs) and drove in 21 RBI.
Pasqualotto was brilliant in his return to the mound. After missing all of 2022 recovering from Tommy John surgery, he resumed his role as staff ace. He finished the regular season making 14 starts and going 5-1 with a 4.03 ERA. He struck ouit 51 in a career-best 58.0 innings pitched, and Cal went 10-4 in his starts. In games he started following a Cal loss, the Bears were 6-3. Over his last 10 games, he went 3-0 with a 3.94 ERA – including wins over UCLA, Washington State, and Washington. Pasqualotto also earned All-Defensive honors after leading Cal’s staff with 13 assists and no errors for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
Cal returns to action tonight at 7 p.m. PT when the Bears take on No. 6 seed Oregon in the first matchup of pool play at the Pac-12 Tournament. Cal will take on No. 1 Stanford on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Both games will be televised on Pac-12 Network.