BERKELEY – Dominant pitching and a pair of home runs fueled California Baptist University baseball to an impressive 7-0 victory over Cal in the series opener on Friday at Evans Diamond.
Chris Burica, the reigning Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week, put together another gem to throw the first complete-game shutout of CBU's NCAA Division I era.
Ulises Caballero and
Harrison Spohn both homered in the game to highlight a banner performance from the Lancers offensively against the Golden Bears of the Pac-12 Conference, as well.
CBU and Cal will continue its series with a 2 p.m. game on Saturday back at Evans Diamond. It will come to a close with a noon game on Sunday.
It extends CBU's winning streak to nine-straight games, as it improves to 11-4 this season. The Lancers came into this week with the fifth-longest winning streak in the country. Cal's three-game winning streak comes to a close, as it drops to 10-7. Both the Lancers and Bears came into this series receiving votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's NCAA Division I rankings.
Friday was not only the Lancers' first shutout in the D-I era (2019-present), but the first since May 9, 2017 when
Andrew Bash shutout Concordia in a seven-inning game. It was also the second complete game in the D-I era and first from a CBU pitcher since Burica last did it in a 10-3 home win over Pacific on March 9, 2019. This time, Burica gave up just eight hits and also struck out eight batters. It marked the fourth-straight start he has thrown at least through the seventh inning and lowered his season ERA to 2.57, his WHIP to 0.86 and his opposing batting average to .194.
Offensively, CBU matched its season-high for hits with 12, which was also a season-high allowed by Cal. Eight of the Lancers' nine starters had a hit in the game, with
Nick Plaia, Spohn,
Connor Clift and
Damon Keith all logging two hits. Keith extended his hitting streak to eight games, which is the longest for the Lancers this year.
HOW IT PLAYED OUT
CBU jumped out to a 2-0 lead with runs in the third and fourth innings. Errors were key to both runs. Clift led off the third with a single and another single from
Nick Plaia put two runners on with no outs. An error at shortstop allowed the first run to score.
In the fourth, Spohn and Clift hit back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners with one out. An error on a
Mitchel Simon grounder made it 2-0.
The Lancers earned all four of their runs in the eighth.
Chad Castillo drew a one-out walk and Keith singled to set the table for a three-run homer from Caballero. Spohn then hit his first home run of the season with two outs to make it 6-0 CBU.
GOLDEN BEARS AT A GLANCE
Cal of the Pac-12 Conference has won its last three series against Loyola Marymount, Saint Mary's and San Francisco. The Golden Bears have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, including 2019, and advanced to six College World Series. They are coming off two 32-win seasons in 2018 and 19.
