MATT HEISTAND/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA sophomore Brian Anderson follows through on a swing last month against Arizona State at Sancet Field. The Wildcats won their first Pac-10 series of the year this weekend, beating California Friday and Saturday and losing yesterday in Berkeley.

Arizona relied on its two best attributes - pitching and defense - to take two out of three from California in Berkeley over the weekend.

In the Wildcats' lone loss of the series yesterday, Cal left fielder Justin Nelson's solo home run down the right field line gave the Bears a 2-1 victory. Cal pitcher Matt Brown threw a complete game and struck out 10 Wildcat batters to salvage a win for the Bears (23-17 overall, 6-5 in Pacific 10 Conference).

UA senior shortstop Brad Hassey homered in the sixth, giving the Wildcats their only run of the game, and went 2-for-4 on the day.

Arizona sophomore pitcher Joe Little went 6 2/3 innings with five strikeouts before he was removed from the game after Nelson's home run.

Little, normally UA's Saturday starter, made his first start on Sunday of the season.

"One pitch made the difference today," said UA pitching coach Jeff Morris. "The change was done with Kaiser hitting and playing in the field. To me, all three of our starters could pitch on any day."

UA won its first multiple-game series on the road, as well as its first Pac-10 series.

"I was pleased with the fact that we took two out of three here on the road. We had talked about how, as a team, we needed to compete," said sophomore pitcher Sean Rierson, Friday's winning pitcher.

On Saturday, Arizona (23-15 , 4-7 Pac-10) scored 10 runs in the top of the first inning and coasted to an 18-9 win.

Sophomore center fielder Brian Anderson's grand slam capped the scoring for the Wildcats.

Starting pitcher Marc Kaiser led off the second with a solo home run to left but was ejected after he exchanged words with Cal catcher Jon Baker.

"We don't know what exactly what went on, but nothing's going to happen to Kaiser (by our team),"Morris said.

Sophomore Chris Goodman allowed five runs on seven hits in four innings of relief to earn his second victory of the year. Freshman Jason Synder came on in the sixth and gave up one run with four strikeouts.

Anderson finished the day 3-for-6 with two RBIs and hit his fourth home run on the season. First baseman Pat Reilly went 3-for-6 with two doubles and two RBIs while third baseman John Hardy hit his third homer of the year.

UA won the opening game of the series 8-4 as Rierson gave up two runs on five hits over seven innings Friday to improve his record to 6-2.

"I seemed to get the Cal hitters on their front feet. I just needed to start mixing my (pitch) speeds better," he said.

In the game Hassey singled home right fielder Justyn St. Clair to break a scoreless tie in the fifth inning. Hassey then scored on catcher Chris Cunnigham's single.

Arizona added four insurance runs in the ninth inning with four RBI singles to increase the lead to 8-2.

Anderson allowed four consecutive Golden Bear hits in the ninth, yielding two runs. He settled down and retired the next three to earn his third save of the season.