Bears Advance Past UCLA At Pac-12 Tournament

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – California advanced into the winners' bracket of the inaugural Pac-12 Baseball Tournament with a 4-1 win over third-seeded UCLA that stretched from Wednesday night into the early hours of Thursday morning at Scottsdale Stadium.
 
Josh White struck out eight batters across seven scoreless innings in his first start since April 1 while Dylan Beavers and Rodney Green Jr. homered in consecutive frames as the sixth-seeded Golden Bears (29-25) captured their seventh win in a row. The game started at 10:18 p.m. PT and lasted just over three hours.
 
Cal scored all four of its runs in a three-inning span between the third and fifth frames. After two scoreless innings from both squads, Beavers (2-for-4) put the Bears on the scoreboard in emphatic fashion in the third by roping an inside-the-park home run off the center-field wall; the junior crossed home plate standing up after the ball ricocheted off the wall past UCLA center fielder Carson Yates.
 
Green Jr. deposited a solo blast to right field in the following inning to make it a 2-0 advantage. Cal improved to 15-7 when it hit at least two home runs in a single game this season. An RBI single by Caleb Lomavita (1-for-4) and a sacrifice fly from Keshawn Ogans (3-for-3) capped a two-run, three-hit fifth inning that stretched the Bears' lead to 4-0.
 
White (2-6) wasn't perfect throughout his seven innings pitched as he constantly battled through traffic, but the right-hander did more than enough to guide the Bears past UCLA (35-21). He scattered seven hits and four walks and limited the Bruins to a 3-for-15 effort with runners on base. Cal turned to Joseph King for the eighth and ninth innings and the junior delivered, holding UCLA to just one run on two hits in his first relief appearance of the season.
 
The Bears totaled 11 hits, including three by Ogans and two apiece from Beavers and Green Jr. Nathan Martorella (1-for-5) extended his hitting streak to 19 straight games, tying Mark Canha for the longest streak by a Bear since at least 2009. Beavers scored twice, moving him into a tie with Chris Clapinski for the eighth-most runs scored by a Bear in a single season (62).
 
Cal has outscored its opponents 86-17 during the seven-game win streak.
 
UP NEXT
Cal will face No. 2 Oregon State in the final game of Thursday's slate at the Pac-12 Tournament. First pitch is expected to be approximately between 8-9 p.m. PT and is dependent on the completion of the prior game between Stanford and Arizona.
 
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