Cal baseball stays alive after WSU, USF
If there’s one thing college students love more than free T-shirts, it’s free food. Unfortunately for the home side, the prospect of free food wasn’t enough to coax the Bears faithful out of their dens on a cold Tuesday night.
Before facing San Francisco in home territory, the Bears traveled to Pullman, Washington to face the Cougars.
Snow rescheduled Thursday’s game and forced a doubleheader on Friday in which the two sides played an uneventful game, with Cal ultimately falling 1-4. Though the cold weather froze game one over, the Bears quickly warmed up and brought the heat.
“It changed our game a little bit, but it worked out,” said Cal head coach Mike Neu about the last-minute doubleheader.
Work out it did, as the Bears bounced back from the defeat in game one to overwhelmingly win 16-4 in game two. Logging four of Cal’s 16 runs was none other than Dylan Beavers. Making history as one of the blue and gold’s best home run hitters, Beavers currently leads the team in runs with a whopping 42. The Bears’ bats ran piping hot, as nearly every batter had at least one hit and one run.
Continuing where they left off, the Washington cold could not extinguish the blue and gold’s red-hot start, as they took down the Cougars 7-4 in the rubber match. Trailing 4-1, the Bears let it fly in the seventh inning to pick up four runs and take the lead. Frozen in place, Washington State was unresponsive, as Cal added two more runs in the final inning to secure the series victory.
Picking up two wins over Washington State, the Bears now find themselves back at a perfect .500 conference record at 9-9. Pitiful losses have prevented the blue and gold from rising in the Pac-12 standings but, currently sitting in seventh place, they find themselves close to the middle of the pack.
The Bears came into Tuesday night’s game looking to pick up their third consecutive win — something they have only managed to achieve two times this season. The Dons, however, had other plans.
San Francisco swung big in the third inning, going up 7-1 with a three-run home run from senior Brandon Greim. Cal responded by picking up a pair of runs but continued trailing. After the Dons added another run to their lead, a comeback seemed to be on its way for the Bears. Beavers and Hance Smith notched back-to-back home runs to bring the blue and gold back within reach, closing the deficit to three.
However, despite the Bears’ strongest efforts, the Dons shut down any possibility of a comeback, as they scored six runs in the final two innings to win the game 14-11.
After this weekend’s results, the blue and gold find themselves again at the .500 mark. Their unremarkable record reveals one thing about this squad: They are remarkably average.
Despite playing another lackluster weekend of competition, one shining star emerged: Keshawn Ogans. The shortstop has been a consistent force for Cal and his efforts have not gone unnoticed. Ogans has earned himself a spot on the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List, an award presented to the best shortstop in the nation.
“Our offense has continued to get better throughout the year,” Neu said. “(Ogans) has been a big part of it.”
Ogans’ consistently strong performances guarantee that, regardless of wherever the Bears find themselves at the end of the season, he will be a household name amongst the blue and gold faithful and college baseball fans at large.
Even with star showings from players like Ogans and Beavers, however, the team is falling short and losing support. The Bears’ inability to move up the rankings has fan attendance becoming a rarer site with each unsuccessful performance.
Amber Soto covers baseball. Contact her at asoto@dailycal.org.