The No. 20 California Golden Bears hit the road over the weekend to take on the Long Beach 49ers. The series was a hard-fought affair for the Golden Bears, who saw the last two games go to extra innings. Cal ended up dropping two of three games to bring their record to 4-2 through their first two series of the 2012 college baseball season.
The first game, on Friday, was the only lopsided game of the series. Cal dropped the opener by a final score of 7-4. Ace Justin Jones had a shaky start on Friday, only going 3.0 innings, with four runs, three hits and a strikeout. Right fielder Danny Oh got the Bears within a run in the sixth inning, when his two-run homer made the score 5-4 in favor of the home team, but the 49ers would tack on two runs and hold on for the win. Jones ended up taking the loss to bring his record to 1-1.
On Saturday, Cal pulled off a tight 2-1 win in 10 innings. DH Vince Bruno led off the top of the tenth with a triple and came in to score the eventual winning run on a sacrifice fly by center fielder Chad Bunting. Logan Scott improved to 2-0 by picking up the win with 3.0 IP, one hit, no runs, no walks and two strikeouts.
Sunday's rubber match also ended in a final score of 2-1 but the 49ers were able to emerge victorious and take the series. Long Beach scored both of its runs in the second inning, when Cal starter Michael Theofanopoulos threw a wild pitched that allowed Juan Avila to score, and then gave up an RBI single to right field that scored Jonathan Kim. Theofanopoulos only allowed two hits in 7.0 innings but picked up the loss to put his record at 0-1.
The Bears will return home next to host the San Francisco Dons on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 1:30 p.m. at Evans Diamond.
For more in depth discussion and analysis of the Golden Bears, head over to California Golden Blogs.