Golden Bears Thrash The Beach

The "weekend warrior" moniker I gave the Dirtbags apparently forgot to accompany The Beach to Berkley. Long Beach St. (17-7) hadn't lost a three game set before yesterday but continued the four game free-fall by falling this afternoon and giving 11th ranked Cal a sweep of the 4th ranked Dirtbags.

Cal took the games by scores of 6-1, 10-6 and 4-3. Friday night saw Long Beach ace Andrew Liebel (2-1) struggle for the first time this season. Liebel pitched into the eighth giving up six runs and 12 hits to the Bears. Cal ace Tyler Ross got the W running his unblemished record to (4-0). Ross tossed eight innings of shutout ball, silencing the Dirtbag bats to the tune of just five hits while recording six K's.

Josh Satin paced a balanced Bears attack with three hits while Blake Smith and Dylan Tonneson went deep for Berkley. Freshman sensation Jonathan Jones had two hits for the Dirtbags as did DH Shane Peterson.

Saturday's affair marked the first series defeat for The Beach this season. It was a game the Dirtbags certainly feel like they could have won. After grabbing leads of 4-1 and 6-4, they could not hold off the Bears who took the game 10-6. The first lead came on the strength of transfer and former Cal Bear Jason Corder's third inning grand slam.

Yet it was the work of another transfer, Cal's David Cooper, who scorched the Big West as a freshman at Fullerton, that made the biggest difference in the game. Cooper launched his Pac-10 leading 10th and 11th big flies of the season to lead the home team to victory. Tonneson went deep for the second time in as many games for the Bears as well.

Although the Dirtbags touched up Cal starter Craig Bennigson for six earned runs in just four-and-a-third, the 'pen surrendered just one hit the rest of the way to allow the Bears to get back in the game. Dirtbags starter Vance Worley (3-1) suffered his first defeat of the season like Liebel the night before. Also in line with Friday's starter Worley got rocked for 12 hits and six earned too.

Today's final crusade between the chalk lines offered only another change in the loss column for the suddenly eroding Beach squad. An extremely tough non-conference schedule finally caught up to them this weekend. Alex Rollin (3-0) went the minimum for the win and David Cooper got another three hits for Cal. Jake Thompson (1-2) gave up two earned in 6.1 innings of work but before the 7th was over Cal took a 4-1 lead that the Dirtbags couldn't overcome.

Espinosa, Godfrey and Howell had two hits apiece for Long Beach. The tough opponents continue in advance of Big West play. The Dirtbags head to "The Farm" Monday to play Stanford. Look for a post prior to the game, sometime tomorrow morning, about my personal attachment to the match-up.