Well, baseball fans, it looks like there’ll be a dogfight at the top of the Pac-10 this year, and it’s going to coincide with a fight for position at the top of the college baseball world. This week’s Baseball America Top-25 rankings just came out this morning. The most striking thing to note about the list? Four Pac-10 teams remain in the rankings, including a mini-comeback by preseason No. 1 UCLA (they check in at No. 23 after not being ranked last week). But the real drama comes in the top-10, with Stanford vaulting up from No. 10 to No. 5, a spot recently vacated by the Cal baseball team, which now checks in at No. 7, behind No. 6 Arizona State. The top three teams in the conference are now bunched together at the top of the national rankings. Hang on, folks, it’s going to be a helluva ride. Read the rest of this entry »

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Today marks the first time in 12 years that the Cal baseball team (21-7-1, 4-2 in the Pac-10) has ascended to a program-high No. 5 national ranking. Moving to No. 1 is Miami (26-2), in the midst of a 13-game winning streak. Where did erstwhile No. 1 Arizona State go?  After losing the weekend series with now-No. 10 Stanford, the Sun Devils dropped to No. 2.  And wouldn’t ya know it, the Card are coming to Berkeley this afternoon to play the Bears at 2:30 p.m. at Evans Diamond. The preseason No.1 and No. 2, UCLA and Arizona, both dropped out of the rankings, leaving Cal, ASU and Leyland Stanford Junior University as the only Pac-10 teams remaining in the Baseball America top-25.

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Every Sunday, the Cal baseball team nominates a pitcher and player of the week based on performances in the previous week’s games. If Kevin Miller isn’t the Bears’ pitcher of the week tomorrow, somebody’s taken a few too many Blake Smith fastballs to the head.

Miller pitched two scoreless innings to get the win against Fresno State on Wednesday, then replaced Craig Bennigson in the top of the third today and proceeded to throw a career-high 6 2/3 innings of shutout baseball to lead Cal to a 9-3 victory and improve his own record to 5-0.

This was just the latest installment in what has been a phenomenal season for the right-hander from San Jose. As a true freshman, Miller has pitched 38.2 innings, struck out 38 batters and has yet to allow an earned run.
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Tyson Ross didn’t seem like he was at his best today against Oregon State. That’s all right, though. Ross on a decent day is still better than about 90 percent of college pitchers on the best day of their careers.

The No. 7 Cal baseball team’s ace had some uncharacteristic trouble locating his fastball in the middle innings, gave up seven hits and walked three Beavers hitters in seven innings. But he allowed just two runs, stranded 10 runners and pitched himself out of a couple of jams in the early innings to lead the Bears to a 5-2 win over the two-time defending national champions and improve his own record to 5-0.
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UPDATE 9:33: Cal staged a last-minute mini-rally, but it fell woefully short. Jackson fouled out to Braunecker to lead off the inning, but Dylan Tonneson cracked a solid single into left center field to give the Bears some hope. Canha came up and dunked a dying quail down into right field to advance Tonneson to third, and B.J. Guinn, in his first at-bat of the game, flied out to center to score Tonneson on the sacrifice. But that was all she wrote, as designated hitter Michael Capbarat grounded into a fielder’s choice to the shortstop to end the game.

Cal scored one run on six hits, with five errors, while San Francisco scored five runs on eight hits and committed no errors. Read the rest of this entry »

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After sweeping then-No. 5 Long Beach State this past weekend, the Cal baseball team has climbed into the Baseball America top 10. In the latest rankings, the Bears came in at No. 7, the second-highest Pac-10 team behind No. 1 Arizona State (25-1, 3-0 in the Pac-10). Read the rest of this entry »

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I 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. Read the rest of this entry »

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The No. 11 Cal baseball team (15-5-1, 2-1 in the Pac-10) again hit a stumbling block in its midweek game, this time losing its second straight extra-inning affair at Santa Clara, 7-5. The Broncos got to Bears closer Matt Gorgen in the bottom of the 10th, when Matt Long went long against the junior fireballer, tagging Gorgen for a two-run walk-off home run.

On a lighter note, senior second baseman Josh Satin just keeps on chugging. Read the rest of this entry »

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Just checking in with a few notes on the newly-minted No. 11 Cal baseball team. The Bears finally supplanted the Southern Branch, which dropped to No. 23. The team who dealt Cal its first loss of the season, Missouri, vaulted itself to No. 2 on the arm of ace Aaron Crow. That loss is actually looking better and better as the Tigers climb up the ranks.

UCLA was swept over the weekend by Long Beach State (which climbed from No. 7 to No. 5) and has fallen far from its preseason No. 1 ranking. The next team that the Bears face in a weekend series? Those same Dirtbags, this weekend at Evans Diamond, while I will be at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum watching the Dodgers and the BoSox. If only I had a jetpack. If you are still in Berkeley, CATCH THIS SERIES. It could very well be a key to the Cal season, as a very interesting rivalry has developed between these two teams since the Bears shocked Long Beach State in 2005. It should be a great back-and-forth series.

Over the weekend against Wazzu (the Bears took the series 2-1), senior second baseman Josh Satin claimed the school consecutive-game hit streak record for his own. On Saturday, Satin broke the record in dramatic fashion, smacking his eighth home run of the season over the left field wall at Bailey-Brayton Field to record a hit in 24 straight games dating back to last season. The previous record holder was Brian Horwitz, who hit in 23 straight back in 2001. Satin will be this week’s Cal nominee for Pac-10 Player of the Week. Satin is hitting .443 with 22 runs, eight longballs, and 24 RBI. Only junior first baseman David Cooper has more roundtrippers (9) and RBI (26) than Satin.

That’s it for this installment of your Spring Break Baseball Update. More to come after the Bears take on Santa Clara in a midweek game, well, I guess that would be today, wouldn’t it?  Until then, take care, and keep reading.

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The No. 12 Cal baseball team looks to be back in proper form after a mid-week hiccup against 5-11 Sacramento State. Through three innings against No. 25 Washington State (13-5), the Bears are chipping away as usual, scoring a run in the second and a pair in the third. Senior Josh Satin is 1-for-2 so far, extending his season hit streak to 17 games. As a side note, the record-keepers in the media relations department have informed us that not only has Satin hit in 17 consecutive games this season, but he also hit in the last five games of the 2007 season, making his real streak 22 games.

This being Purim, let’s have a little fun with that. The record holder, Brian Horwitz (who hit in 23 straight from Feb. 9-Mar. 25, 2001), is, like Satin and myself, a Member of the Tribe (Jewish). Way to keep the record in the family, Josh. One more single tomorrow, and we can all wish Satin a hearty ‘Mazel Tov!’

More updates as the game progresses. Read the rest of this entry »

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