SEATTLE – If any Cal baseball fans made the trip north and showed up late to Husky Ballpark on Thursday night, they need not have worried.

The Bears were in no rush for the top of the first to finish.

They sent 11 men to the plate and scored five runs before Washington recorded the first three outs of the game. That 31-minute top of the first told the story early as Cal pounded its way to an 18-8 victory over the Huskies to open this regular season-ending three-game series.

Cameron Eden went 5-for-6, Sam Wezniak added four hits and four RBI and Korey Lee hit a grand slam late as the Bears improved to 31-18 (16-11 Pac-12) and made another statement in proving their worthiness of an NCAA Regional berth.

The 64-team tournament field will be announced Monday morning, with most mock fields including the Bears in the postseason party. But the Bears would rather not leave anything to chance, and they jumped on Washington (28-23, 12-16) from the get-go.

"Our offense was unbelievable," Cal head coach Mike Neu said. "I think we knew we probably needed one more win to make sure we make a Regional. The way we came out  today was  unbelievable."

Cal's five-run first-inning got going when third baseman Quentin Selma hit a towering two-run homer to left. The opposite-field blast was his 10^th homer of the season, making him the fourth Bear to crack double figures in that category.

Wezniak singled home two runs in the rally and Grant Holman doubled home another. Wezniak would single home another pair in the second, and the sophomore shortstop reached base in five of his seven plate appearances as the Bears set a season high with 24 hits and tied their season high with 18 runs.

"It's a lot of fun," Eden said afterward. "You want as many at-bats as you can get, especially when everyone's hitting. It gets a little contagious. Everyone starts feeling it."

While several Cal batters were doing damage, the Huskies had no interest in letting No. 3 hitter  Andrew Vaughn hurt them. The Golden Spikes Award semifinalist reached base in all seven of his plate appearances. He drew five walks (three of them intentional) to go along with a single and double when he did get to swing the bat.

With the five free passes, Vaughn set a new Cal single-season record with his 58th walk in the ninth. He passed Chris Clapinski, who drew 57 back in 1992.
 
Freshman right-hander Sam Stoutenborough worked 5 1/3 innings to pick up the victory. He gave up six runs (four earned) on seven hits, with five walks and five strikeouts.

The Bears and Huskies continue this series Friday night with a 6:05 p.m. game that will air on the Pac-12 Network.