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Cal vs. Arizona baseball recap: Bears shut out Wildcats 4-0 Saturday

Kind of hard to win without scoring a run

Jason Bartel

Andy Lopez said he was intrigued by how his guys would respond on Saturday after being dominated on Friday.

Well, they were dominated again, losing to Cal 4-0.

When asked if the intensity was where he wanted it, Lopez hesitated for several moments, which indicates that no, it wasn't.

Just like Friday night's game, the scoring started in the fourth inning, when Cal brought two runners across the plate. Chris Paul started things with a single to left. Two batters later, Mitchell Kranson doubled to put two runners on for Devin Pearson.

The Cal left fielder smoked one down the line past Bobby Dalbec to bring both runners in and give Cal a 2-0 edge.

The Bears tacked on two more runs in the fifth on an RBI single from Paul and a sac fly to right by Brett Cumberland.

"They got hits early on with no outs, and I gotta do a better job of executing," Nathan Bannister said after the game. "They slapped a hit and run, and then I just gotta make a good pitch there."

Unlike Friday, Arizona did not get very many runners into scoring position on Saturday. Tyler Krause got to second in the second, Justin Behnke made it to third with two outs in the third, and JJ Matijevic got to second base in the fourth.

Jared Oliva followed that Matijevic double with a single to left, and the freshman first baseman was waved home. Unfortunately, the play at the plate was not even close as Pearson gunned him down with about ten feet to spare.

Arizona starting pitcher Nathan Bannister had another great performance in just his second career start. He came up just one out shy of a complete game, being lifted with two outs in the ninth after having thrown 118 pitches.

Bannister surrendered those four runs, all earned, with nine hits and two walks while striking out five.

Three of the final four Cal batters he faced struck out.

"I was just working back on my gameplan," the pitcher said afterwards. "Just trying to get ahead, low strikes, and they weren't hitting at that point so I just gotta take advantage."

The Wildcats will try to salvage a game on Sunday afternoon if the rain doesn't come in. Bobby Dalbec is scheduled to take the mound for the home team at Noon PT. Dalbec will be looking to make up for his offensive performance on Saturday, which was the first game he failed to reach base all season.