Bears Complete The Sweep Over WSU
PULLMAN, Wash. – The California baseball team got another stellar relief pitching performance and pounded out a season-high 17 hits as the Golden Bears completed the sweep over host Washington State, taking the finale 8-2 on Sunday at Bailey-Brayton Field.
Reliever Trey Newmann (1-4) earned his first collegiate win tossing 5.0 complete. The freshman from North Medford, Ore., struck out a career-high nine batters, and scattered five hits, a run and a walk. Starter Tom Mayer was equally as effective, going 4.0 complete, allowing three hits, a run with two walks and four strikeouts. The two pitchers were stellar with runners in scoring position, holding Washington State (17-17, 7-11 Pac-12) to one hit in 12 at bats in that scenario.
Offensively, Cal (20-14, 8-10) did a tremendous job of keeping innings alive. The Bears hit .500 with two outs going 10-for-20 – four of their eight runs were scored after the first two outs of the inning. Peyton Schulze led the Bears with four hits, he was one of five Cal hitters with multiple hits on the day. PJ Moutzouridis went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, Caleb Lomavita also went 3-for-5 with two doubles. Rodney Green Jr. went 2-for-5 with two runs scored, and two driven in on his ninth home run of the season. Jag Burden also collected a pair of hits.
Cal scored the game’s opening run in the top of the second inning. Schulze led off the frame with a double down the left field line and eventually scored on a fielding error on a hard-hit ground ball by Ryan Tayman. The Bears scored a second run in the third on an RBI single up the middle by Schulze that allowed Lomavita to score.
The Cougars responded with a run of their own in the home half. Crew Parke led off the inning with a double down the left field line, he eventually scored on the ground out by Max Hartman.
The one run deficit was as close as the Cougars would get the rest of the way. Cal added two more runs in the fourth thanks to an RBI double from Moutzouridis and an RBI single from Lomavita. A solo home run from Jarren Advincula, his third of the year, and an RBI single from Max Handron put two more on the scoreboard in the sixth. Advincula has now reached safely in 25 straight games.
Newmann entered the game in the bottom of the fifth inning and was stellar. He retired the side in order in the fifth, struck out the side in the eighth, and made quick work of the Cougars in the ninth.
Green Jr. put the exclamation point on the contest hitting a home run to dead center field for his 29th career home run in the top of the eighth. He is two shy of cracking Cal’s top-10 list for career home runs.
The loss was issued to starter Duke Brotherton (4-2) who allowed eight hits, four runs, all earned with a walk and three strikeouts in four innings pitched.
Cal returns to action on Tuesday when San Francisco comes to Stu Gordon Stadium. Tuesday’s nonconference contest against the Dons will be streamed on the Pac-Insider and is scheduled for a 6:05 p.m. first pitch.