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. >

I may not be able to be in Berkeley to see the showdown between the No. 11 Cal baseball team and the No. 5 Dirtbags of Long Beach State, but at least I have Gametracker. (Click here to read more…)

Look for next week’s new Baseball America Top 25 sometime on Monday, because after downing three ranked teams this weekend and coming within a sneeze of beating No. 5 Missouri, there’s a good chance the Cal baseball team will be up in the low 20’s.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” junior pitcher Craig Bennigson said. “But, we’ll see how it goes.” (Click here to read more…)

It may take a few convincing wins over ranked teams for the Cal baseball team to elbow its way into the conversation in the stacked Pac-10, but today’s 14-4 thumping of No. 24 Fresno State in the opening game of the San Diego Invitational isn’t too bad of a start.

Starter Chris Petrini saw action for the first time since the beginning of the 2007 season, and threw 5 2/3 innings for the Bears, allowing four hits, four runs and five walks to go along with three strikeouts. His roughest inning was the first, in which he allowed the Bulldogs to jump out to a quick 3-0 lead. (Click here to read more…)

Two main news items out of Cal baseball following the team’s 2-0-1 opening weekend. First, starting catcher Charlie Cutler will miss 8-10 games because of a broken pinky finger on his left (catching) hand.  Cutler is optimistic and has all the confidence in the world in backup Dylan Tonneson, who went 1-for-4 on the weekend with a run scored.

Second, junior ace Tyson Ross received Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week honors from the conference for his opening day start against Kansas State. Despite intermittent rain, Ross went five one-hit innings against the Wildcats, walking one and striking out seven.  The only hit Ross allowed was a leadoff home run to Kansas State rightfielder Jordan Cruz. Transfer Daniel Wolford finished the game for Ross, throwing four no-hit innings in his first appearance for the Bears since he transferred from Long Beach State.  Wolford struck out five and walked three to earn his first save.