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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