Cal Baseball Alone in First Place in Pac-12
Thanks to Caleb Lomavita's dramatic, three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning against UCLA on Sunday, Cal finds itself alone in first place in the Pac-12 baseball standings.
Of course, it was only the first weekend of conference play, but the simple fact is that Cal is 3-0 in conference play while everyone else has at least one Pac-12 loss, except for Oregon State, which has yet to play a Pac-12 game.
The Bears (11-3, 3-0 Pac-12) are still not ranked in any of the major college baseball rankings released Monday, although they did receive votes in the USA Today coaches poll. (However, they received fewer votes than UCLA, which just got swept by Cal.)
Cal won the opener of the three-game series in Berkeley, rallying from a 7-1 deficit to win 11-7. On Saturday, Cal beat UCLA in a pitcher's duel 4-1 when starter Tom Mayer and relievers Jake Guardiancic, Logan Piper and Connor Sullivan yielded just one run to the Bruins.
It appeared Cal would have to settle for winning two of the three games on Sunday when UCLA held a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh. The Bears scored single runs in the seventh and eighth to close the gap to 5-3, and with two men on and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Lomavita belted his three-run homer over the left-field fence for a walk-off, 6-5 victory.
Lomavita now has six homers and 23 RBIs, both of which rank second in the Pac-12.
Cal freshman shortstop PJ Mountzouridis went 7-for-13 in the series and is batting .467, which ranks third in the conference.
Cal faces Oregon (11-4, 2-1 Pac-12) in a three-game series that begins Friday in Eugene, Oregon.
Cover photo of Caleb Lomavita (15) coming across the plate after his game-winning homer is by Rob Edwards, KLC fotos
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