Baseball thumps Cal in another slugfest

Dan Hoffman Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior right fielder Colin Porter (20) makes a running catch during Arizona's 17-11 win over California yesterday. Porter had six stolen bases over the three game series which the Wildcats swept.

A pitching duel broke out in a Pacific 10 Conference Southern Division baseball game.

For at least the first 5 1/2 innings anyway.

Eighth-ranked Arizona (22-2 overall, 4-2 Six-Pac) rolled past California (3-11-1, 0-7) by the score of 17-11, completing a three-game series sweep.

The Wildcats won Friday's contest 8-3 and Saturday's 12-7.

"Taking advantage of the mistakes we made," Cal head coach Bob Milano said was the reason his team was swept. "They executed their hit-and-run (plays) very well.

"They're a good team and I don't want to take anything away from them, but we really beat ourselves this weekend."

The game looked like it would be a blow-out early, as Arizona jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first on senior right fielder Colin Porter's bases-clearing triple.

Then Cal starter Ryan Drese settled down and limited the Wildcats to only one hit over the next four innings.

"He had a real hard fastball," Porter said. "But as soon as we all caught up to it we just got going."

Arizona erupted for five runs in the bottom of the sixth, all coming on singles plus an error by Golden Bear right fielder Aaron Gordnier.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 9-2 lead, but Cal wasn't out of it just yet.

UA junior left-hander James Johnson limited Cal to only two runs over the first six innings, though he was not impressed with his own performance after the game.

"The cupboard was empty today," Johnson said. "I was struggling up there."

Johnson was chased from the game in the top of the seventh after giving up the second home run of the day to Cal center fielder Juan Hernandez, a three-run shot that cut the lead to 9-5.

But Arizona wasn't done ripping through Cal's overworked bullpen, posting another six runs in the bottom of the seventh, with senior second baseman Erik Mattern's two RBI single being the big blow.

For the day, Mattern was 4 for 5 at the plate with a triple, four runs scored and four RBI.

Cal was able to add six more runs, but it was nowhere near enough to catch Arizona.

This year Cal was at least able to score against the Wildcats. The Bears were shut out last year 19-0 in the three games in Tucson.

"This is a much better team than last year," Milano said. "Once these guys get more experience payback's going to be a bitch."