5:25 p.m. So the Bears go out not with a bang, but with a whimper. Austin Booker looks at an inside fastball for strike three, and Long Beach State lives to play another day with a 9-2 victory over Cal. It’s a disappointing end to a dream season in which the Bears ascended to No. 6 in the country before coming back down to earth at USC and Arizona State. And then, in their first postseason appearance in six years, the Bears go two and out at the Long Beach regional. That’s all for today from Long Beach. Check Monday’s Daily Californian for full coverage of this weekend’s action.
5:18 p.m. In another nod towards seniority, Dane Ferguson comes in with two outs to try to record the final out for the Bears, facing Jonathan Jones with a runner on third.
Ferguson hits Jones with an inside fastball and walks Brandon Godfrey on four pitches, but he settles in enough to coax a ground ball to first base out of Shane Peterson. Cal goes into its last at-bat still down by seven runs. It’ll be Satin leading off, followed by Jackson and probably a pinch hitter. Ryan Hanlon was swinging a bat between innings and it looks like Austin Booker might have a helmet on.
The PA system is playing “The Final Countdown.” It’s ominous.
5:08 p.m. In what was most likely his final at-bat in a Cal uniform, David Cooper struck out flailing at a fastball outside to end the eighth inning with the Bears still trailing, 9-2. It’s a fitting end to his time here at the tournament, and very much not a fitting end to his college career. Cooper has been one of college baseball’s most dangerous hitters since his freshman season at Cal State Fullerton and has only improved in his two years in a Bears uniform. He’s projected as a possible first-round draft pick and he’s got a bright future ahead of him.
Senior Brett Thomas is now catching for Cal, adding a little feel-good story to the end of an otherwise disappointing tournament appearance. Thomas hasn’t seen a lot of playing time in his career with the Bears, but is definitely one of Cal’s most respected players and the ideal teammate. It’s fitting that he should be on the diamond for the final inning of his career.
The Bears will have Josh Satin leading off the bottom of the ninth.
4:53 p.m. Long Beach State tacks on another two runs in the top of the eighth as Blake Smith walks the bases loaded with one out and gives up a two-run single to Jason Corder. The pace of this game is starting to slow down dramatically, which really doesn’t seem to favor the Bears. They have no kind of rhythm on the field. It’s like they’re being lulled right out of the tournament. Already down seven, they need to put at least a couple on the board here in the eighth to have any chance at completing the comeback.
B.J. Guinn pinch hits for Michael Brady to lead off the eighth, but can’t provide a spark as he’s thrown out at first on a nice play by Dirtbags shortstop Danny Espinosa. So now it’s back to the top of the order for the Bears, down to their last five outs. As a San Francisco Giants fan, it really pains me to say this, but the Angels were down to their last five outs in Game Six of the 2002 World Series, too.
4:24 p.m. Seventh inning stretch here in Long Beach and Cal is running out of chances to get back into this game. Fortunately for the Bears, they’re the home team in this game so they have nine more outs to work with before the door closes on this season.
Blake Smith is leading off the inning for Cal, followed by Michael Capbarat and Jeff Kobernus.
4:15 p.m. The Dirtbags finally go down in an inning without scoring. Gorgen still walks two guys, but neither of them come around to score and the score stays at 7-2.
David Cooper sees just one pitch leading off the bottom of the sixth and grounds out to Jason Tweedy at second base. I can’t remember the last time David Cooper swung at a first pitch that wasn’t right in his wheelhouse. It’s possible that he just isn’t trusting himself late in the count like he was earlier in the year. One at-bat comes to mind from the Bears’ series against Loyola Marymount where he fell behind 0-2, worked the count back to full, fouled off a couple pitches and then hit a home run to the wall of Edwards Stadium in right-center field of Evans Diamond. Right now he looks off-balance, swinging at a lot of changeups away and looking at fastballs on the inside corner.
Blake Smith has relieved Matt Gorgen to start the top of the seventh.
3:53 p.m. Rich Gorman walks with two outs, but Charlie Cutler strikes out swinging on a high fastball for the second time today. Score is still 7-2 in favor of Long Beach State.
It looks like Tonneson’s a little more shaken up from running into the backstop than he let on at first. Esquer just took him out of the game and moved Cutler behind the plate, with Michael Capbarat coming into the game in left. Capbarat was stinging the ball in batting practice. Maybe he’ll give them a lift. Somebody needs to.
3:43 p.m. Long Beach State puts up a two-spot against Gorgen in the top of the fifth to make it 7-2. Again, they’re just singling the Bears to death. The Dirtbags start the inning with three straight singles and a double before Gorgen stops the parade around the bases by getting Kip Masuda to ground into a fielder’s choice, with Dylan Tonneson tagging out Jason Corder in a rundown between third and home.
Gorgen does settle down a little after that. He loads up the bases on a bunt single, but strikes out Travis Howell on a fastball on the outside corner and gets Jordan Casas to fly out to Charlie Cutler to end the inning.
Still, the Bears can’t be playing this game where they take an inch and then give it right back. Long Beach State has now scored in four straight innings and, unless the Cal lineup suddenly catches on fire, they’re going to need the pitching to come up with some stops. That means Gorgen, although lefty Todd Fitzgerald and right fielder Blake Smith have both been warming up in the pen.
3:18 p.m. Blake Smith just got the Bears on the board with an absolute shot over the wall in center field. I mean, that ball was crushed. He just muscled up on a high fastball from Lorin and hit it over the Long Beach Mini-Cooper sign just to left of the 400 foot marker on the center-field fence. That was probably a good 420 feet and it scores Josh Satin from first base to make the score 5-2 in favor of the Dirtbags.
So much for not relying on the home run. Maybe that gave the offense the jump start that they needed. At least it broke Cal’s 12-inning scoreless streak here in Long Beach.
And Matt Gorgen is coming out to start the fifth inning for the Bears. So Miller goes one inning and gives up three runs, and now it’s up to Gorgen to keep it close. If nothing else, this means that Miller’s fresh to go tomorrow or Monday, should Cal get that far.
3:14 p.m. Long Beach State breaks through for three more runs against Kevin Miller in the top of the fourth inning to go up by a score of 5-0.
Getting out of jams is what has made Miller so good and so reliable all year. Here, he puts runners on first and second with one out and Long Beach State head coach David Weathers has Kip Masuda bunt. On a 3-1 count. That’s the kind of decision where Weathers gets second-guessed all day long if Jason Tweedy doesn’t follow up with a hit. But Tweedy shoots a line drive into right field and instead of having runners on first and third with two down and one run in, both runners score and the Dirtbags are all of a sudden up by four. Gutsy call and it paid off. Travis Howell tacks on the third run with an RBI single.
That’s the thing about Long Beach State. You look down their starting lineup and see one guy with double-digit home runs, four guys with zero home runs and a harmless total of 27. Cal’s starters, on the other hand, have a combined total of 72. But that won’t fly here at Blair Field, where it’s 348 to both foul poles and the fence curves out almost immediately to 387 moving towards center. The Dirtbags are killing Cal right now with singles–sharp line drives and grounders up the middle.
The Bears, meanwhile, have Gorman’s line drive up the middle, Cooper’s bloop that fell in left and a sharp single by Josh Satin into right field. So far that’s it. They need to start stringing those hits together soon.
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