Bears Upset Dirtbags
baseball March 28th. 2008, 2:17pmI may not be able to be in Berkeley to see the showdown between the No. 11 Cal baseball team and the No. 5 Dirtbags of Long Beach State, but at least I have Gametracker.
FINAL UPDATE: Just got back from dinner, and it looks like the Bears pulled off the upset, with junior Tyson Ross going eight strong innings (a career high), allowing only five hits and striking out six. This man is a beast. He just mowed down one of the best lineups in the country. Come catch him in action before you have to pay $25 at a big league park. But even then, he’d be worth it. Ross is now 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA over 25 innings pitched, and has struck out 21 hitters while only giving up 11 hits and 7 walks.
Cal (16-5-1) ended up downing the Dirtbags (I just love using that nickname) 6-1, with sophomore outfielder/pitcher Blake Smith giving up an unearned run in the ninth. Oh well, no biggie. Smith also cracked his fourth home run of the season in a 2-for-4 performance at the dish, so it all evens out. This is another must-see player. Great arm, plus-speed, and a knack for getting dirty. My type of player. Smith is now hitting .321 with 16 RBI.
One more big performance of note is senior second baseman Josh Satin. The man is simply on fire. He went 3-for-3 today with a run and an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the first inning. He’s hit in 26 straight games. He’s hitting .459, and no, that’s not a typo. He is still tied for the team lead in longballs (9) with David Cooper, and leads the team with 28 RBI. His slugging percentage is .812, with an on-base percentage of .525. Absolutely disgusting numbers.
UPDATE 3:51 PM: Just another 1-2-3 inning for Ross, as he completes his fifth inning of work. Ross has allowed only one hit, no walks, and has struck out five Long Beach State hitters.
UPDATE 3:40 PM: Rich Gorman continues to display some surprising power, launching a fly ball that got to the warning track pretty quickly, but died just short of the wall. Not all is lost, however, as sophomore right fielder Blake Smith tagged up and scored to stretch the Bears’ lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the fourth.
UPDATE 3:36 PM: Long Beach State pitcher Andrew Liebel had seemed to regain his composure after giving up two early runs, but the wheels have come off here in the fourth inning, allowing four straight singles to push the score up to 4-0. He has thrown down the rosin bag in frustration this inning and is leaving a lot of pitches up in the zone (thanks, KALX).
UPDATE 3:30 PM: Satin has just extended his school-record hit streak to 26 games with a leadoff single to right-center. Satin then advanced to third on when first baseman Brandon Godfrey had trouble handling sophomore Brett Jackson’s bunt attempt. Sophomore Jeff Kobernus then singled Satin home to bring the score to 3-0, Cal.
UPDATE 3:21 PM: Well, looks like the spell is broken, folks, as the Dirtbags get their first hit via a single through the right side off the bat of Jonathan Jones, who just made it to second on a sac bunt by Danny Espinosa.
In the bottom of the first frame, leadoff hitter Rich Gorman doubled into right-center field and then advanced to third on a Charlie Cutler single. First baseman David Cooper reached base on a fielder’s choice, as Gorman was erased between third and home trying to score. Luckily, Cutler capitalized and scampered to third, where he was knocked in on a sacrifice fly by Josh Satin.
Cal scored its second run without needing so much description. Catcher Dylan Tonneson hit his second home run of the season.
So far, junior starter Tyson Ross has been dazzling, striking out four Long Beach hitters and allowing no baserunners (don’t say IT out loud, or you’ll jinx IT, and if you don’t know what IT is, don’t force anyone to tell you). More updates for as long as I can stay on a computer.
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