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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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5:33: I just broke the first rule of being a sports journalist: I cheered in the press box.  Josh Satin, a fellow Southern-Californian and Dodger fan, a senior, just hit a walk-off home run to left-center field to win his last home game ever at Evans Diamond.  The Bears win 7-6 in 10 innings, out-hitting UCLA 16-13, but all that counted was one.  Satin was mobbed at the plate, and lifted up on his team’s shoulders, as he should be.  All four of his grandparents are here, and they all saw his 18th home run to win the game.  Boy, oh, boy, what a game this is, this game of baseball.  (Click here to read more…)

4:41: UCLA has held now the Bears to eight hits in two days, and has outscored them 15-0 on their way to winning the first two games of this series.  Cal, no surprise, went 1-2-3 here in the bottom of the ninth to mercifully put an end to this debacle.  The fifth through ninth hitters today for the Bears have gone 0-for-14, including Dylan Tonneson, who popped out weakly to center to end the game.  Cal still has a chance to salvage the third game of the series and at least go into the regionals with a modicum of pride and momentum.  And with that, I bid you adieu from Evans Diamond, where the No. 15 Bears lost in front of 892 fans, 7-0, to unranked UCLA.  (Click here to read more…)

5:45: The Bears have had a mini-rally here with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.  Pinch hitter Austin Booker singled through the right side and Blake Smith (owner of two strikeouts on the day) showed some patience and walked with a full count to bring up third baseman Jeff Kobernus.  Kobernus took a few big rips against Murphy, who has thrown over 140 pitches today, a career-high, but was unable to do any kind of damage, grounding out to short to end the game.  This is the first time the Bears have been shut out this season, as they fall to the Southern Branch, 8-0.  The Bruins scored 8 runs on 12 hits and left 11 on base.  Cal had no runs on 5 hits, made no errors, and left 8 runners on base.  759 fans came out to Evans Diamond today.  Tomorrow, the Bears face UCLA right here at 1 p.m. (Click here to read more…)

Taking the week off for finals didn’t hurt the Cal baseball team (32-17-2, 11-10 in the Pac-10) too much, as the Bears dropped two spots to No. 15 in the weekly poll after coming in at No. 13 last week.  Stanford (31-19-2, 12-8), which had three games last week, also dropped two spots after going 2-1.  This weekend will be huge for Cal, even though UCLA (29-23, 11-10) has fallen far from its lofty preseason No. 1 perch.  The Bruins find themselves in much the same situation as Bears teams of recent years, going into the final weekend desperately trying to cash in enough wins to make the NCAA tournament. (Click here to read more…)

The road to the NCAA Championship just got a whole lot tougher for the Bears. Cal dug itself in a pretty deep hole on day one of the NCAA West Regional, finishing in 21^st out of 27 teams and 17-over. The Bears, as is their habit of late, improved on day two to end the second round tied for 16^th. Only the top ten teams will qualify for the NCAA Championship, so the Bears need to gain ground-and quick. They’re seven strokes out of 10^th, so with some pretty flawless play, a comeback is not out of the question. (Click here to read more…)

This isn’t basketball, but the phrase “one and done” still applies. The Cal men’s golf team will either end their season or extend it just a bit further this week in Bremerton, Wash.

The Bears are visiting the University of Washington for the NCAA Western Regional, and a top-10 finish there will advance the team to the national championship tournament in Indiana at the end of the month. (Click here to read more…)