Despite season-long struggles, UCLA finds itself tied for third place with Cal, and will likely look to this weekend as a chance to leapfrog the ascendent Bears.  Before the season began, Cal head coach David Esquer said of this final series, “I hope it matters.”  Guess what, Coach: it will.  While it is all but a certainty that the Bears will make it into the postseason, having been ranked in the top-25 nearly the entire season, a series loss to the Bruins just may put some doubt in the minds of the selection committee.

Cal does have one huge advantage going into this weekend: a lot of rest, and home cooking.  While the Bears lost their last midweek game to UC Davis (no shame there, as the Aggies are likely another Regional-bound team), their last Pac-10 series at the Cardinal’s Sunken Diamond was a resounding success, as Cal took two of three from the then-No. 6 Stanford squad.  Weekend heroics earned closer Matt Gorgen the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week, as he notched a win and a save in the crucial series.  Before last weekend, the Bears were 2-10 at Sunken since 2004.

But back at home, Cal is all but futile.  The Bears are 20-5-2 at Evans Diamond this year and if the series against the Cardinal was any indication, starters Tyson Ross and Craig Bennigson look to be back to their old ways, which should cause concern among Bruins hitters.  On May 9, the opener of the Stanford series, Ross allowed only one run through eight innings, before allowing a pair to score with two outs in the ninth.  Ross’s strikeout numbers weren’t quite what we’ve come to expect from the big righty (he only whiffed five), but his velocity and movement were definitely back to where they should be.  Against a team like UCLA, which is decidedly not the caliber of the Cardinal, Ross should be able to pile up the K’s.  The Bruins are hitting .273 as a team and have struck out 430 times.  Stanford is hitting .301 collectively, and Cardinal hitters have struck out only 390 times.

Bennigson, who had struggled as a starter and was even moved to the bullpen for several weeks, was dazzling in his Saturday start.  The lefty tossed six innings, allowing seven hits, two runs and only two walks to four strikeouts.  He got up big time for that key series, and should perform similarly this weekend if he can get his head right.

The series win this weekend was huge.  It proved that Cal could win in a hostile environment, on the road, when it needed to.  A huge late-season series at a field where the Bears had been 2-10 over the last four years will definitely ring loudly in the minds of voters and the NCAA tournament committee.  No, Cal didn’t sweep the Card for the first time since 1992, but they came close.  Sunday’s contest was a squeaker up until Kevin Miller made a rare mistake to Stanford first baseman Brent Milleville, who absolutely crushed a Miller fastball somewhere into the stratosphere.  Welcome to the big time, kid.  Things like that happen.

Missing in action this weekend: Josh Satin and David Cooper. The duo who usually destroy opposing pitchers, and who have both seen the Cardinal bullpen before, went a combined 3-for-22 (.136) this weekend.  Pretty disappointing.  But the good thing about this team is that even without the big boppers hitting well, they can still win.  Baseball’s a game of streaks, and right now the Terrible Two are in a slump.  But while Satin and Cooper are struggling, the guys ahead of them and behind them in the lineup are getting the job done, no one more so than Charlie Cutler.

Not being behind the plate may have been the best thing to ever happen to Cutler.  Moved to the outfield after returning from injury to make room for sophomore Dylan Tonneson’s bat, Cutler has not had to take the day-to-day beating that catchers have to take.  No foul balls to the dome, no seam marks on his forearms, no baseball-shaped welts on his legs, and no bruises on his shoulders.  Without taking that beating, Cutler is white hot very late in the season, a tough thing to do for a backstop.  In the past four games, Cutler is 9-for-17 (.529) with six runs, four RBI, two doubles and has been hit by pitches twice.  He is getting on base at an absolutely sick pace.  He’s giving the middle of the lineup every opportunity to knock him in, not to mention the fact that he takes an hour after every pitch to adjust himself, grab some dirt to rub on his hands, check his grocery list, look at his watch and set his TiVO.  His time-consuming fidgeting drives pitchers crazy, and it worked this weekend.  He gets pitchers out of rhythm, enough to make mistakes to the middle of the lineup.  Right now, Cutler is the best player on the field for the Bears.

This weekend saw some huge clutch performances from lefty Craig Bennigson and beleaguered ace Tyson Ross.  Each turned in perhaps their best outings of the year, with Ross being pulled just one out away from a complete game after giving up two runs in the bottom of the ninth on Friday and Bennigson tossing six innings, allowing seven hits and only two runs while striking out four.  He had been struggling mightily in the starting role lately, but picked it up against the Cardinal.  Same deal with Ross.  He arguably should have been pulled at the start of the ninth at any sign of trouble for closer Matt Gorgen, who was ready in the bullpen.  Head coach David Esquer may have stayed with Ross for a little longer than he should, but luckily it didn’t have too many ill effects as Cal was able to pull it out with an RBI single from Cutler in the top of the 10th.

Overall, huge statement weekend for the Bears.  They proved that they belong in the national elite.  If they can do this on the road in the playoffs, I might have to buy a ticket for Omaha.

I wish I had the slightest clue as to why Chris Petrini, Craig Bennigson, and Daniel Wolford have imploded as of late.  Without two pitchers who were supposed to be weekend starters throwing effectively and a pitcher who had been a lights-out set-up man for closer Matt Gorgen, the pitching staff, which had been the Bears’ bread and butter, has become a huge weakness.  Twice this weekend, Cal scored seven runs in a game, and frankly, that should be enough to win, especially with Ross and freshman Kevin Miller starting.  The strength of this team for the first half of the season was a never-say-die attitude and a cockiness that allowed them to take it to whoever was across the diamond.  They didn’t care who they were playing.  They were aggressive and threw strikes.  This weekend, the Bears folded.  It seemed as if pitchers were too afraid to throw strikes in such a hitter-friendly ballpark, and part of that has to be the poor infield defense.  But throwing strikes has been their game all year, and by going away from that, they opened themselves to a whooping. 

Up next after a midweek road game against Cal Poly is a home weekend series against erstwhile No. 23 Arizona.  The Wildcats are a struggling team who just dropped two of three to Oregon State.  Scuffling Arizona is a team that Cal should be able to take advantage of to improve its place in the conference standings, if the Bears can play their game.  It’s a home series, so the territory will be far more familiar and conducive to the way this team is built to play.

“Even the three run cushion was pretty comfortable for me knowing that it was close enough to where we could bring in our closer and I knew he could shut them down,” Bennigson said, referring to junior Matt Gorgen, who closed out the ninth inning for his second save of the year. “The guys I got coming in behind me, I’ve got a lot of confidence in. Even one run should be enough for us.”

But one run is never really enough for the voracious Cal offense. On the year, the Bears are averaging just a shade over eight runs per game.

“We’ve been stringing a lot of hits together and our batters have this theme of bringing five guys to the plate (every inning),” Bennigson said. “Every time we bring five guys to the plate, the chances of us scoring a run are significantly higher.”

The three games this weekend were played in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minn., home of the Minnesota Twins. This weekend was the first of two times this year that Cal will play in a major league park, as the Bears will take part in the Dante Benedetti Classic on April 1, facing San Francisco at AT&T Park. But the first thing Bennigson noted about the Metrodome, in contrast with the Giants’ home park, was the climate control.

“I was really surprised to come indoors from negative one degrees (outside) to sweating my ass off,” Bennigson said. “It was 75 in there, with no wind or anything.”

Senior Josh Satin, who went yard on Sunday, took joy rounding the bases in a big league yard.

“It was awesome,” Satin said. “The first couple of days, we were all trying to do that in BP, and we weren’t hitting very good because we were all trying to see what we could do at a big league field.”

Satin, who has seen his fair share of disappointment and near-misses for the program in his five years at Cal, noted how the way this Bears team played this weekend was pretty remarkable.

“The best thing about this weekend is that we played pretty bad against Minnesota, offensively,” Satin said, “but we still found ways to get runs and win against a pretty good team. The old Cal team would never have been able to do that. That was encouraging because we weren’t on our A game, or even our B game, and we still won pretty easily against a good team.”

Satin hit on a few things that have distinguished these Bears from the past few iterations. First, they find ways to score, even without hitting the ball. They’ll talk walks, take pitches in the back without flinching, and knock the ball around the yard until they force a fielder to make an error. Despite some of the gaudier power numbers of Satin and first baseman David Cooper, a lot of these guys are scrappers, guys who don’t mind getting down and dirty.

Another thing that Satin hinted at was this team’s heart. They keep coming at you. In years past, stars like Brennan Boesch and Chris Errecart seemed to play not to get injured and to pad their draft stock, not for the team. They played not to lose, instead of playing to win. No matter who I talk to on this team, they all credit the other players. Pitchers credit the relievers, the defense and the hitting. Hitters credit the pitching. And even without two of the team’s stars who are on the shelf because of injuries, Cal still finds a way to win.

One of the big reasons this team has been winning has been the play of some of the youngsters. Sophomore Rich Gorman, who had only 43 at-bats all year in 2007, has been a spark plug at the top of the lineup, hitting .306 with a .479 on-base percentage. Sophomore backup catcher Dylan Tonneson, starting in place of the injured Charlie Cutler, has hit .333 with five runs and seven RBI. In Sunday’s 12-2 bashing of New Mexico, several younger players saw action, including true freshman Brian Guinn, who went 2-for-2 with an RBI.

“We’re trying to make sure we get some of the kids the chance to play,” head coach David Esquer said. “B.J. Guinn, we’re trying to get him into the game so that he’s ready to help us if that ever comes up. Getting out to a lead and being able to play ahead and get some guys some game experience, we’re going to be counting on some of these guys on the bench before it’s all said and done.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” junior pitcher Craig Bennigson said. “But, we’ll see how it goes.”

In other news, it looks like head coach David Esquer will be playing it safe with catcher Charlie Cutler, who is still out with a broken left pinky finger.

“I think Charlie’s going to miss the next weekend, and he definitely won’t be playing a full weekend, if at all,” Esquer said. “We look for him to be back to full strength in a couple of weeks.”

In the meantime, backup Dylan Tonneson has been performing quite capably, hitting .381 with 2 RBI in Cutler’s place. But don’t look for Tonneson to spell the team captain just yet.

“We felt like this was a chance for us to find out a little more about ourselves during this time,” Esquer said. “We got to find out just where Dylan is, and he’s answered the bell.

“(Charlie) is a presence on the field, and when he’s rolling, there’s no better No. 2 hitter in the league. He can hurt you in a lot of different ways.”

Senior second baseman Josh Satin, who had one hell of a weekend, is the Bears’ nomination for Pac-10 Player of the Week, and deservedly so. He went 10-for-19 over the weekend, with a double, two home runs and eight RBI. According to Satin and Esquer, the reason for the power surge is a better offseason fitness regimen and better eating habits. The lanky Satin has put on 10 pounds of muscle since last season.

Cal’s nomination for Pitcher of the Week is the southpaw Bennigson, who tossed eight innings in a win over No. 22 San Diego State, allowing only four hits and three runs while striking out seven.

“I didn’t feel too much pressure, because we have a solid defense and a dangerous lineup,” Bennigson said about facing a ranked team. “With the lineup we have and the defense I had behind me, there wasn’t too much pressure, knowing that they were going to come through and help me out.”

Overall, this has been a huge weekend so far for the Bears. They definitely have made some noise during the first tournament weekend of the collegiate baseball season. It wouldn’t be surprising in the least if Cal (5-1-1) is ranked in next week’s Baseball America Top 25.

Junior lefty Craig Bennigson tossed eight innings and struck out seven Azetcs in a very solid outing. Bennigson is now 2-0 and has gone seven innings or more in both of his starts.

Junior closer Matt Gorgen looked more like his usual self than his last outing against Kansas State (he lasted 2/3 of an inning and gave up one hit, one run and four walks), pitching a shutout ninth inning for his first save of the season.

Opposing pitchers are starting to pay attention to junior first baseman David Cooper, and it’s about time. With five home runs under his belt already in this young season, San Diego State pitchers walked Cooper three times, but they paid for it in the end, as Cooper scored two runs without even getting a hit (the first time he’s gone hitless this year).

Senior second baseman Josh Satin only had one hit, but he made it count. With the Bears down 3-2 in the top of the seventh inning, Satin crushed a three-run home run to left field to put Cal ahead for good. Satin now has three longballs and 10 RBI, second on the team only to Cooper in both categories.

Cal next sees action on Sunday at 1 p.m. against No. 17 San Diego.