Bears Beat Bulldogs Behind Grand Slam, 7-5
FRESNO - The late-inning long ball once again helped California put another one in the win column.
Trailing, 4-1, in the sixth inning, the Golden Bears scored six in the sixth, including a grand slam by Aleia Agbayani, and Cal defeated Fresno State, 7-5, Sunday afternoon at the Bulldog Classic from Margie Wright Diamond at Fresno State.
The homer was the first in Agbayani's career, and it marked her first career multi-hit game. It was also the second time this season that Cal posted a game-winning grand slam in the sixth inning after Kacey Zobac tallied one in Cal's 7-5 win over UC Santa Barbara on March 5 at Stanford.
With the win, Cal took three out of four at the Bulldog Classic this weekend and improved to 10-4 on the year. In addition, the Bears have now won six of their last seven, and all but one away from Berkeley.
Both of Cal's wins on Sunday were come-from-behind victories, with the other team scoring in the first inning in both contests. Trailing, 1-0, in the fourth, the Bears evened things up when D'Asha Saiki hit a sac fly to score Agbayani.
Fresno State jumped out to a 4-1 lead with three runs in the fifth, but Cal answered right back in the sixth. Three singles by Saiki, Sabrina Nunez and Lauren Espalin loaded the bases with two outs for Mikayla Coelho who slapped a single that scored two and made it 4-3, Fresno State. Following a walk to Nicole Hammoude, Agbayani stepped in the batter's box with the bases loaded and belted her grand slam to center.
The Bulldogs scored one back and loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth, but Chloe Romero got the Bears out of the jam.
Romero picked up her second win of the day and improved her team-best record to 6-0. Entering the game in relief of starter Haylei Archer in the fifth inning, Romero allowed one run on four hits and struck out two batters.
Nunez collected a career-best three hits.
Prior to next weekend's Pac-12 opening series at Oregon State, the Bears head to Stockton to face Pacific on Wednesday, March 17, at 2 p.m.