March 25, 2012

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Box Score

TEMPE, ARIZ. -

Tony Renda went 3-for-5 with a double and a home run, but Cal baseball gave up five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to let a 6-3 lead slip away, falling to No. 14-ranked Arizona State, 9-6, Sunday (March 25) at Packard Stadium in Tempe. The Golden Bears (13-9, 1-5 in Pac-12) ended up winning one of three games against the Sun Devils, losing 5-1 on Friday night before rebounding to win 3-2 Saturday night.

Both teams finished with 11 hits, but Cal was again plagued by errors, committing three errors, including an error in ASU's five run sixth inning.

The Bears started the game off with two runs in the top of the first inning off of Sun Devil starter Darin Gillies (5.0 innings, seven hits, three runs, two strikeouts). With one out, junior Mitch Delfino singled and advanced to third base on junior second baseman Renda's double through the left center field gap. Delfino then scored on senior catcher Chadd Krist's single down the left field line. Sophomore first baseman Andrew Knapp followed with an RBI single down the right field line, scoring Renda.

ASU came back with a run in the second inning when Mike Rossiter had an RBI single off of Cal sophomore left-hander Kyle Porter (3.0 innings, three hits, two earned runs, three walks). The Sun Devils added two more runs in the third inning on RBI groundouts by Joey DeMichele and Abe Ruiz.

Renda's solo home run in the fifth inning tied the contest, 3-3, and the Bears pulled ahead with three more runs in the sixth inning for a 6-3 lead. Senior center fielder Chad Bunting was hit by a pitch to start the inning, was sacrificed to second base by junior left fielder Darrel Matthews. Freshman Chris Paul's double then scored Bunting, and a RBI single through the middle of the infield by junior designated hitter Vince Bruno scored Paul. Bruno went on to steal second base and scored on Delfino's single to left field.

But the Sun Devils scored five runs off of four Cal pitchers in the sixth inning to take an 8-6 lead and ASU's DeMichele had a solo home run in the eighth inning for the final 9-6 margin.

Besides Renda's 3-for-5 day; Bruno, Delfino and Krist were all 2-for-5 with an RBI.

The Bears will next travel to Fresno State on Tuesday, March 27 for a 6:05 p.m. game at Bieden Field.