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Cal Hits Two Grand Slams, but Only One Officially, in Baseball Win

Bears' Nathan Manning leads Pac-12 in hitting, but made baserunning blunder in victory over No. 22 Arizona, leaving Cal just one game out of first place
Jake Curtis|
Cal Hits Two Grand Slams, but Only One Officially, in Baseball Win
Cal Hits Two Grand Slams, but Only One Officially, in Baseball Win

When is a home run not a home run?

Nathan Manning began Sunday as the Pac-12's leading hitter, and Cal's sophomore left fielder thought he had hit a grand slam for his first career home run in the third inning of the Golden Bears' 9-1 victory over No. 22 Arizona in Tucson, Ariz., on Sunday afternoon.

The specifications fit the definition of a grand slam. Bases were loaded, and Manning hit a ball over the right-center field fence.  That's a grand slam, right?

Well, no. Manning inadvertently passed Cal baserunner Darren Baker while rounding second.  So when Manning arrived home celebrating what was believed to be a four-run blast, the umpires noted the blunder.  Officially, Manning's hit was ruled a three-run single, which nonetheless proved to be the big hit of the game since it gave the Bears a 4-0 lead. Manning was ruled out on the play, but that was the first out of the inning.

Manning began the day hitting .453, tops in the conference, and his 1-for-4 day dropped him to .436, but he still leads the Pac-12 in hitting.

A Cal hitter did hit an official grand slam later in Sunday's game, though, as Dylan Beavers hit a home run with the bases loaded in the fourth inning. It was Beavers' ninth homer of the season, leaving him one long ball behind Pac-12 leader Brock Jones of Stanford.

Cal's winning pitcher Sunday was Paulshawn Pasqualotto, who gave up just four hits and no runs in his six innings, improving his record to 4-3.

And even though the Bears lost two of the three games at Arizona over the weekend, Cal finds itself in the middle of a wide-open conference title race.

Stanford and Oregon are tied for first place at 6-3. Oregon State, Arizona and Arizona State are all 7-5, and next comes Cal at 5-4, tied with USC, just one game behind first-place Stanford and Oregon.

Preseason favorite UCLA is right behind at 6-6.

The Bears (17-13 overall) play at Saint Mary's on Tuesday then play an important three-game series at Oregon State Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

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Cover photo of Nathan Manning by Robert Edwards/KLC Fotos

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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