BERKELEY – The California baseball team (20-28, 7-19 ACC) evened a three-game ACC series against No. 2 Florida State (35-11, 15-8 ACC) with a 5-0 shutout victory over the Seminoles in front of 992 on a warm sun-splashed afternoon Saturday at Stu Gordon Stadium. Cal starter
Oliver de la Torre (4.0 IP, 3 H, 6 SO) and reliever
Gavin Eddy (5.0 IP, 3 H, 7 SO) combined on a six-hitter with 13 strikeouts and no walks. Eddy (4-4) was credited with the victory.
Ryan Tayman and
Dominic Smaldino keyed the offense with home runs.
Tayman got the Cal on the board when he blasted a one-out solo homer off the top of the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning and Cal held on to its slim 1-0 lead until adding four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Smaldino capped the fifth with a two-run shot over the left wall on a full count with two outs.
Cade Campbell had started the fifth-by drawing a leadoff walk and moved to second base two batters later when
PJ Moutzouridis drew the second free pass of the frame.
Jarren Advincula then singled up the middle to score Campbell before Moutzouridis stole third on the next play and came all the way around to score when the Joey Volini's wild pitch on the same play bounced away from catcher Jaxson West. Two batters later, Smaldino went deep for the first time since April 15 with his team-leading 11th home run of the campaign.
De la Torre retired the first 10 batters he faced before working his way out of a one-out bases loaded jam in the fourth after he was reached for consecutive one-out singles by Alex Lodise, Max Williams and Myles Bailey. De la Torre struck out Cal Fisher for the second out of the inning before retiring Drew Faurot on a ground ball to Advincula at second base.
Eddy came on to start the fifth and retired the first seven batters he faced before being touched for a one-out single in the top of the seventh by Fisher. In the eighth, he had to work out of a jam after the Seminoles had put runners on first and second with out before retiring the side in order in the ninth.
Advincula (3-3, R, BB) and Smaldino (2-4, R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) were the only Cal players with multiple-hit games and combined for five of the Bears' seven hits, while six different Florida State players had one single each to account for the Seminoles' six hits.
Voliini (5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO, WP) took the loss to fall to 8-3, while reliever John Abraham struck out five and walked two in 3.0 innings of scoreless and hitless work.
The rubber match of the series is slated for Mothers' Day on Sunday with first pitch at 1 p.m. PT. A live stream of the series finale will be available on ACCNX/ESPN+.
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