Cal baseball is three weeks into the season, and I think the time is right for a few interesting details about the team that have emerged over the course of the past few weeks.

Deceptive Power

Remember the explosion of home runs during the Bears’ last home stand? Don’t be too excited about that power, says first baseman/right fielder/starting pitcher/Captain America (unconfirmed) Blake Smith.

“(Against UC Riverside) was a weird day for the wind here. The wind is normally never like this,” Smith said after the February 20-21 series. “You saw more home runs in three games than I think we had in the whole first month last year. It’s not going to be like that.”

Cal has eight home runs on the year so far, three of those from sophomore first baseman/outfielder Mark Canha (your Pac-10 Player of the Week). (Click here to read more…)

Alright, folks, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover in your Friday Cal baseball update, so let’s hit the ground running.

I got a chance to sit down with outfielder/first baseman/pitcher (yeah, I know) Blake Smith and center fielder Brett Jackson earlier this week, and the duo were both revealing and pleasantly talkative. There are too many great quotes to fit in just one blog post, so I’ll include more in another update down the road.

First off, the big news: Smith is indeed slated to start this season.

“I think tentatively I’m set to start on Sunday against Vanderbilt,” Smith said. “I’m excited. It’s going to be interesting to see how it works out.” (Click here to read more…)

I sat down with coach David Esquer the other day to discuss the early developments of the Cal baseball team. Here are some of the highlights of the interview:

On adjustments to the pitching and defensive lineups:

“We’ve probably got to try to establish the pitching roles. We’ve got guys who’ve put themselves in position through the fall, but nothing’s in stone. (There will probably be) a couple infield adjustments. Try to put people in the right spots, but we’re gonna have a few kids who’ll play multiple positions. No lineup will be set until 20 games into the season, I would imagine. It’s not gonna happen quick. We’re not gonna come out of the chute and play the same lineup every day.” (Click here to read more…)

A few days ago, someone posted a comment on my previous blog post asking for a breakdown of the Cal baseball team’s freshman class. I’m a little ashamed that I didn’t think of that myself, so I did some research to hopefully amend my mental slip.

In order to keep from a giant, War and Peace-like blog entry, I’m sticking to discussing just the true freshmen. With that said, here’s the SparkNotes version of the freshman class for those who are short on time: This class is good. Real good. (Click here to read more…)

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…)

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 Cal baseball team has ascended to No. 10 in the latest Rivals.com rankings, with Stanford sinking to No. 15.  Surprisingly, the Bears only moved up three spots to No. 13 with the Cardinal dropping to No. 14 in the Baseball America rankings.  I can’t say how shocked I am.  For once, I trust the Rivals rankings way more.  Baseball America must be joking.  The statement that Cal made this weekend was enormous, and the Bears took the wood to what was a top-10 team on the road.  Why they’ve only moved up three spots is beyond me. >

Well, baseball fans, it looks like there’ll be a dogfight at the top of the Pac-10 this year, and it’s going to coincide with a fight for position at the top of the college baseball world. This week’s Baseball America Top-25 rankings just came out this morning. The most striking thing to note about the list? Four Pac-10 teams remain in the rankings, including a mini-comeback by preseason No. 1 UCLA (they check in at No. 23 after not being ranked last week). But the real drama comes in the top-10, with Stanford vaulting up from No. 10 to No. 5, a spot recently vacated by the Cal baseball team, which now checks in at No. 7, behind No. 6 Arizona State. The top three teams in the conference are now bunched together at the top of the national rankings. Hang on, folks, it’s going to be a helluva ride. (Click here to read more…)

Every Sunday, the Cal baseball team nominates a pitcher and player of the week based on performances in the previous week’s games. If Kevin Miller isn’t the Bears’ pitcher of the week tomorrow, somebody’s taken a few too many Blake Smith fastballs to the head.

Miller pitched two scoreless innings to get the win against Fresno State on Wednesday, then replaced Craig Bennigson in the top of the third today and proceeded to throw a career-high 6 2/3 innings of shutout baseball to lead Cal to a 9-3 victory and improve his own record to 5-0.

This was just the latest installment in what has been a phenomenal season for the right-hander from San Jose. As a true freshman, Miller has pitched 38.2 innings, struck out 38 batters and has yet to allow an earned run.
(Click here to read more…)

The Cal baseball team got slapped hard by Sacramento State today at Evans Diamond. 12-6. Damn. I can easily say that this was the worst I’ve ever seen the Bears play in my three years covering them. Five errors by Cal and only four earned runs out of 12 for the Hornets. See tomorrow’s article in the Daily Cal for the down and dirty.

But for now, here are a few notes. (Click here to read more…)