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.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 76%

Today at 2 p.m., one of these very good West Coast teams will be cleaning out their lockers. The Cal baseball team (33-20-2) and Long Beach State (37-20) each have one loss in this regional round of the NCAA tournament, so the next one to drop is done. The Bears were expected to start freshman phenom Kevin Miller. The righty leads the team with a 2.56 ERA and owns a 6-2 record, and was an All-Conference Honorable Mention. But head coach David Esquer is going to go with the best matchups, and that means starting lefty Craig Bennigson (6.79, 4-4) against the Dirtbags. Long Beach State features four left-handed hitters, including leadoff man Jordan Casas, third-place hitter Jonathan Jones, cleanup hitter Shame Peterson, and eight-hole hitter Jason Tweedy.

Also unexpected is the Dirtbags’ decision to not start Vance Worely, who the Bears have already seen this season. Instead of his No. 2 starter, Long Beach State head coach Mike Weathers is going with sophomore transfer Brett Lorin, who played at Arizona last season. The righty is 4-3 this season in 14 appearances with a 2.49 ERA, a far cry from his 9.31 mark over 9 2/3 innings last season as a freshman for the Wildcats. He will have to face a lineup that starts with three left-handed hitters: leadoff man Rich Gorman (a switch-hitter), left fielder Charlie Cutler and first baseman David Cooper. He gets a “rest” with righty Josh Satin (who was crushing the ball in batting practice) and then has to face lefties Brett Jackson and Blake Smith. It seems apparent that Esquer is a firm believer in the value of the lefty-righty matchup.

It’s a bit warmer today than it was yesterday afternoon, so the ball should carry a bit more, though how much that matters in a cavernous field like this is probably negligible. There should be a larger crowd here than there was yesterday given that the “away” team is the host of this little shindig. The crowd will be decidedly in favor of the Dirtbags, and given that this is their home field, you can throw out the records between these two teams this season. While the Bears swept Long Beach State in Berkeley the weekend of mar. 28-30, this is not Evans Diamond, despite the fact that Cal is wearing its home whites.

And the storylines keep on multiplying for this game, as two former Bears, catcher Travis Howell and right fielder Jason Corder, are both in the starting lineup for the Dirtbags, and both have many friends still on the Cal team. These two squads are very familiar with one another, so this should be one heck of a chess match, and it’ll be personal.

Popularity: 74%

 4:39: And that’s the game. Other than a David Cooper single to right (an encouraging sign for the struggling slugger), the Bears went in order in the top of the 9th.  They’ll play again tomorrow, same bat-time, same bat-channel, at 2 p.m. at Blair Field against the loser of tonight’s 6 p.m. contest between Fresno State and host Long Beach State. It will be an elimination game, as the regional round is in the double-elimination format.

4:30: Rollin pitched a solid top of the ninth, allowing only one single. Now is Cal’s last chance here in the top of the ninth, with Cutler, Cooper, and Satin coming up.  If they’re going to score, it will start with these three. It would be a helluva time for Cooper to come out of his slump. 

4:21: Despite a great at-bat by Jeff Kobernus, the Bears were unable to do anything of consequence against Matusz.  Going into the bottom of the eighth, it’s still 5-0 USD.  Not that Cal should be ashamed; Matusz is considered one of the premier prospects in this year’s draft. But considering that the Bears have two high-draft-potential hitters in Satin and Cooper, they should have at least done better than two hits. 

4:12:  Ross’s final line: 6 2/3 innings pitched, 9 hits, 5 runs, two of them earned, three walks and four strikeouts.  Rough go of it for the Bears’ ace. Rollin did come in and force Gelbrich to pop out, so Cal gets out of the bases-loaded jam. Coming up are the 8-9-1 hitters for the Bears, trying to get something started in the top of the eighth.

4:09: Can’t say I saw this coming. Ross absolutely imploded here in the bottom of the seventh. After the first hitter reached second on an error by left fielder Cutler (he misplayed a ball in deep left), Ross was unable to recover and has allowed four runs to score, three of them earned. He loaded the bases and then hit Kevin Hansen to force in a run. He will be pulled in favor of senior Alex Rollin, who will face Logan Gelbrich, the Torreros’  DH.

3:43: The spell was finally broken in the bottom of the sixth.  With two away, Ross walked Josh Romanski on four straight pitches, perhaps trying to work the corners a bit too much instead of pitching so Romanski would swing. On the first pitch to the next hitter, Sean Nicol, Ross gave up a huge drive to left center that only stayed in the park because Jackson was able to leap and get some leater on it. The ball fell back into the field of play as Romanski scored and Nicol pulled into second with a double.  Going into the top of the seventh, Jackson is leading off and USD leads, 1-0. 

3:32: Ross is looking very, very comfortable, and has struck out four. Matusz is looking like he’s finally settling in, setting Cal down 1-2-3 on only 10 pitches in the top of the sixth. Both pitchers are looking dominant, and Ross looks to have regained his form of last season. He’s really popping the mitt, using both sides of the plate and changing speeds and eye-level very well.  He’ll get to work again in just a few moments here in the bottom of the sixth. 

3:17: Canha hit one off the end of his bat right to the second baseman, who in turn threw home to erase Smith on an ill-advised base-running move by third-base coach Zuber. The infield was drawn in, and in any other situation, sending Smith would have been a good idea, but not with a game as close as this where the infield knows how valuable a single run is.  Still 0-0 going into the bottom of the fifth. 

3:13: Blake Smith led off the top of the fifth with the first extra-base hit of the game, slamming a screamer down the right field line for a double.  The way David Esquer has his lineup, with Brady hitting eighth, it allowed for the weak-hitting shortstop to sacrifice Smith over to third for Canha, who is hitting .283, and Kobernus, who is hitting .308. given that Matusz has now thrown over 70 pitches, there was a very lengthy pitching conference before the junior lefty started pitching to Canha. 

3:07: Toss allowed two hits in the bottom of the fourth, but one, a bouncing single by Sean Nicol, was negated by a solid throw from Tonneson, who erased Nicol on a stolen base attempt. Going into the top of the fifth inning, we’re still scoreless here at Blair Field. 

2:58: The Bears go down 1-2-3 in the top of the fourth inning, but Matusz had to use 18 pitches to do it.  He’s now thrown 61 and it’s only the fourth, so chances are the Bears will get to the Torreros’ bullpen soon - one which they have already seen and hit hard. Ross on the other hand has only thrown 31. 

2:49: Ross walked his first hitter of the day, catcher Nick McCoy, but a well-timed hit-and-run play by the Torreros turned out to be their undoing. Kevin Muno grounded one up the middle, but as shortstop Michael Brady was ranging over to cover a throw from Tonneson on the running half of the hit-and-run, he was perfectly positioned to take the ball to the bag and then make the throw for the 6-3 double play.  Still 0-0, Josh Satin leading off the top of the fourth. 

2:43: Cooper struck out swining on three pitches to end the minimal Cal threat.  Both aces have now set down two hitters apiece. Ross now starts his third inning of work against Jose Valerio. 

2:35: Ross is looking like his old self, striking out two in the bottom of the second. But, Matusz is also finding his groove, striking out Kobernus on four pitches. Matusz though has since hit Charlie Cutler, with David Cooper coming to the plate in the top of the third inning. 

2:28: Ross was very efficient in his half inning, using only 10 pitches to four USD hitters. Matusz settled down in the top of the second, being far more economical in the bottom half of the Bears lineup, himself only throwing ten pitches. Ross now goes out for his second inning of work, and he has that feeling.  He looks very comfortable and relaxed out there and his fastball is really popping. 

2:13: Matusz is plain nasty.  His curve and his cutter are breaking ankles all over the place.  That being said, Cal really put the pressure on the junior lefty in the top of the first. On the first pitch of the game, Kobernus singled hard on the ground up the middle. While the only other Bears hitter to reach base was Satin (on an intentional walk), Cal hitters made Matusz throw 22 pitches, most of those coming on Charlie Cutler’s at-bat. 

1:49: OK, not cool: the Torreros brought their mascot. Why can’t Cal shill out some cash to bring down Oski?  For the first time in six years, the Bears are in the playoffs, and they don’t even get Oski. For shame. 

1:43: The field is being watered and dragged, the families are all here and the stands are slowly filling up here at Blair Field as both sides prepare for the 2 p.m. start time.  In the stands also are the players left off the 25-man postseason roster, including senior designated hitter Jordan Karnofsky, who just had elbow surgery this past week.  His arm is wrapped up in surgical tape, but the big fella won’t let that slow him down or prevent him from being there when his team finally participates in the postseason. 

1:11: Josh Satin is hitting now, and he looks like a world-beater.  Hitting everything on the screws and is taking a lot of pitches to right field.  Good approach against a tough lefty. David Cooper is just trying to work on a few little things, so he’s not swinging for much power.  The reason for his recent struggles is that he has not been seeing the ball well, but he has fixed that over the week of practice, according to sources close to the team.

Jeff Kobernus just popped one over the fence in left, so it is possible. And now Cooper is starting to swing with a little more authority. This is a deep park folks, with the distances down the lines at 348 feet both ways.  The power alleys are 387 (Evans Diamond’s alleys are only 365), though center is still a pedestrian 400.  It’s a very wide and shallow outfield with a lot of room in the corners, so if speedsters like Kobernus and Jackson can put it there, they’ll have some room to run. 

1:02: OK, here we have the starting lineups for both teams.

A little bit of a different look for the Bears, leading off with third baseman Jeff Kobernus (.308, 3 HR, 27 RBI, 11-for-16 in stolen bases). Two through seven are just what you’d expect, with Cutler in the two-hole, David Cooper in the three slot, Josh Satin hitting fourth, center fielder Brett Jackson hitting fifth, catcher Tonneson hitting six, and Smith in right hitting seventh. Moving up from the nine-slot to hit eighth is shortstop Michael Brady, and the designated hitter will be Canha (.283, 6 RBI).

For San Diego, the lineup goes something like this:

LF Kevin Muno (.332, 4 HR, 27 RBI, 21-for-30 in stolen base attempts )
CF Josh Romanski (.316, 6, 47)
SS Sean Nicol (.308, 0, 21)
RF James Meador (.385, 6, 51)
2B Kevin Hansen (.347, 1, 36)
DH Logan Gelbrich (.279, 7, 32)
3B Victor Sanchez (.281, 12, 47)
1B Jose Valerio (.344, 5, 24)
C  Nick McCoy (.228, 0, 11)

12:56: Lots of solid hits for this group up, with Hanlon and freshman Mark Canha being added to the mix, along with Dylan Tonneson.  But the ones that look like they should be carrying just aren’t.  Maybe the cross breeze is catching them, but balls do seem to be dying in the outfield.  This next group has Charlie Cutler (whose father I met just a few minutes ago getting some hot dogs), Blake Smith, Rich Gorman, and Brett Jackson, so maybe a little more pop to really get an accurate bead on the power potential here.   

12:50: Fourth outfielder and team captain, Michael Capbarat, is absolutely killing the ball in BP.  Not distance wise, as he’s not really a power hitter, but he is really making solid contact every time.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets some playing time this weekend at the DH slot or if sophomore Blake Smith comes in to pitch out of right field. Capbarat hasn’t mishit a ball yet.  Every swing is dead on.

Reserve outfielder Ryan Hanlon is also making some solid contact, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get some action either if the situation calls for a right-handed pinch-hitting bat.

Off the field, the hot dogs here at Blair Field are pretty solid, good texture, nice spice, but they’re five bucks.  As a recent graduate (read: unemployed), this is killing my wallet. 

12:41: Cal batting practice has started with the first round being BJ Guinn, Austin Booker, and Brett Thomas. Pitcher Alex Rollin is hitting grounders to the infield along with pitching coach Dan Hubbs. The real action, though, is on the mound, where hitting coach John Zuber is throwing left-handed to Cal hitters to prepare for the Torreros’ Brian Matusz, predicted by one scout I spoke to before the game to go in the first round of the draft. Matusz, who will oppose the Bears’ right-handed ace Tyson Ross, is 11-2 with a 1.88 ERA on the season in 96 innings pitched.  He has struck out 131 hitters and walked only 20, so Cal hitters will see a lot of strikes.  He also has the stamina to go the distance, tossing two complete games this season, his junior campaign. 

12:27 PM: Hey there folks, I’m here at Long Beach State’s Blair Field for the first layoff action the Cal baseball team has seen since 2001.  We’re just starting to get under way here, as San Diego (41-15) takes its batting practice as the home team. The Bears (33-19-2) is just starting to warm up in the wings, practicing bunting in the bullpen and playing flip in front of their third base dugout. The weather down here in Southern California is perfect for baseball. There’s just a steady subtle brease swirling abound the stands, but it doesn’t look to be doing anything to the flags atop the scoreboard in right field. It’s sunny with narry a cloud in the sky and is in the high-60s to low-70s. More updates to come as the game gets underway.

Popularity: 76%

In a world that all-too-often doesn’t live up to expectations, where the fairy tale ending almost never happens, and disappointment outstrips elation, days like Sunday don’t happen very often.

Having squandered a 4-0 lead, and then going down 6-4 to UCLA, in danger of being swept at home for the first time this season, the Cal baseball team gave the over 1,000 people in attendance, and one cynical sports writer, a reason to believe. Read the rest of this entry »