Bears Even Series With Late-Inning Magic

IRVINE – The California baseball team's late-inning heroics were once again on display, scoring 10 runs late to run away with game two of the series, defeating USC 11-4 on Saturday afternoon at Great Park in Irvine.
 
Cal (27-17, 13-13 Pac-12) scored the contests opening run but entered the sixth inning trailing 4-1. A five-run seventh inning was the difference as the Golden Bears notched their 11th comeback win of the season, eighth in the seventh inning or later. PJ Moutzouridis busted out of his slump in a big way going 2-for-5 with three RBIs. His 2-run double in the seventh helped seal the win for Cal.
 
USC (22-24, 12-10) scored four runs on nine hits, but were held completely in check from the middle of the fourth inning on. The Trojans left seven runners on base and were just 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Ryan Jackson, Kevin Takeuchi, and Braydon Dowd all had RBIs for USC.
 
Ian May got the start for the Bears and pitched two scoreless before running into trouble in the third inning. Back-to-back singles put two on for Takeuchi who put the Trojans ahead with a 1-out triple to right center. He would eventually come around to score on a base hit by Dowd.
 
Christian Becerra (4-1) entered the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. After allowing a leadoff double to the first batter he faced, who eventually scored the fourth run of the game for USC, Becerra promptly retired the next 14 batters in a row.
 
With Becerra piling up zeros, Cal's offense woke up in the top of the sixth inning. Seth Gwynn brought life back into the dugout smashing a solo home run over the left field fence to make it a 4-2 ball game. The home run was Gwynn's seventh of the year, and fourth in Pac-12 play.
 
In the top of the seventh inning, USC turned to relief pitcher Jared Feikes (2-2). Feikes did not get out of the seventh and surrendered four runs on three hits.
 
Advincula opened the rally with a single through the left side. Feikes then hit Caleb Lomavita to put two aboard for Rodney Green Jr. who singled to left field to load the bases for Schulze. Schulze hit a ball just over the shortstop's head into shallow left field, scoring Advincula and Lomavita to tie the game at 4-4. A throwing error on a failed pick-off attempt allowed Gwynn to score to make it a 5-4 ball game and ended the day for Feikes.
 
Moutzouridis put the game out of reach later that inning in a gritty at-bat. After fouling a pitch off his knee, he fouled several more pitches off before hitting a ball over the left fielder's head for a 2-run double to make it 7-4.
 
Entering the seventh inning, the Bears did not have a hit with a runner in scoring position all series. After scoring another run in the eighth and three more in the ninth, they finished the day going 5-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
 
Tyler Stasiowski pitched a clean ninth inning to seal the win for Cal. He entered the game in a non-save situation, but with two runners on and no-outs, the Bears turned to their closer to end the threat. He retired the first three batters he faced to strand two.
 
Green Jr., Schulze, and Jag Burden also had multi-hit games for the Bears. Schulze clubbed a double in the second, his 18th of the year, he is two shy of cracking Cal's top-10 for doubles in a season.
 
The rubber match is tomorrow at 1 p.m.
 
STAY POSTED
For coverage of Cal, please follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalBaseball), Instagram (@CalBaseball), and Facebook (/CalBaseball/).