The talk and hype are over. Virginia's thrilling Game 3 win over UC Irvine in the Charlottesville Super Regional is in the rearview mirror. Now the Cavs turn their attention to another California school, UC Berkeley, in their opening game of the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
Cal is an interesting story and will have lots of fans behind them, both ardent supporters and people that like the underdog story. Cal was going to cut its baseball program before the beginning of this season, but alumni raised enough money to resuscitate the program and what did they do? Got to Omaha.
Cal has the worst record of all the CWS teams and was a No. 3 seed in the Houston Regional, where the Golden Bears lost their first game to No. 2 seed Baylor 6-4, but then ran off four straight wins over Alcorn State (10-6), Rice (6-3), Baylor (8-0) and Baylor (9-8) to win the region. In the super regional, Cal drew Dallas Baptist and won in two games, 7-0 and 6-2.
A quick look at Cal:
Record: 37-21, 13-13 in the Pac-10
Last season: Cal went 29-25, made the NCAA tourney and lost two straight games in the Oklahoma Regional
Notable games: Cal beat Coastal Carolina 17-0 in February while Virginia beat Coastal 8-7 in April. In the same early season tournament, Cal beat N.C. State 4-0. UVa beat N.C. State twice in a three game series this year. Cal lost to super regional participant UConn in March. In addition to beating Rice in the Houston Regional, Cal also beat the Owls 7-6 in a marathon 15-inning game in March. Cal went 0-4 this season against Stanford, whom UNC swept in the Chapel Hill Super Regional. Cal took one game of a three-game series from UCLA in May. UCLA hosted the L.A. Regional in the NCAA tourney but UC Irvine came out of that region.
Coach: David Esquer (12th season at Cal); overall record is 316-290-2
Top hitters: Tony Renda (.335), Austin Booker (.319), Chadd Krist (.304), and Vince Bruno (.301) all hit over .300 and have started lots of games. Cal has hit 31 HRs as a team (Virginia has 24) with Devon Rodriguez and Marcus Semien leading the Bears with five each. Krist leads the team in RBI (45).
On the basepaths: Cal doesn't seem to have many strong base stealers. The Bears have stolen just 46 bases on the year, compared to the Cavaliers' 87.
Defense: Cal has committed 59 errors this season for a .974 fielding percentage. Virginia is at .980 with 47 errors.
Pitcher: Cal is sending Erik Johnson to the mound vs. Virginia. Johnson is 7-4 with a 2.91 ERA on the season.
Virginia is countering Johnson with Danny Hultzen. The winner of this game faces the winner of South Carolina-Texas A&M (7 p.m. tonight) at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The loser play the loser of that game in an elimination game at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Cal is an interesting story and will have lots of fans behind them, both ardent supporters and people that like the underdog story. Cal was going to cut its baseball program before the beginning of this season, but alumni raised enough money to resuscitate the program and what did they do? Got to Omaha.
Cal has the worst record of all the CWS teams and was a No. 3 seed in the Houston Regional, where the Golden Bears lost their first game to No. 2 seed Baylor 6-4, but then ran off four straight wins over Alcorn State (10-6), Rice (6-3), Baylor (8-0) and Baylor (9-8) to win the region. In the super regional, Cal drew Dallas Baptist and won in two games, 7-0 and 6-2.
A quick look at Cal:
Record: 37-21, 13-13 in the Pac-10
Last season: Cal went 29-25, made the NCAA tourney and lost two straight games in the Oklahoma Regional
Notable games: Cal beat Coastal Carolina 17-0 in February while Virginia beat Coastal 8-7 in April. In the same early season tournament, Cal beat N.C. State 4-0. UVa beat N.C. State twice in a three game series this year. Cal lost to super regional participant UConn in March. In addition to beating Rice in the Houston Regional, Cal also beat the Owls 7-6 in a marathon 15-inning game in March. Cal went 0-4 this season against Stanford, whom UNC swept in the Chapel Hill Super Regional. Cal took one game of a three-game series from UCLA in May. UCLA hosted the L.A. Regional in the NCAA tourney but UC Irvine came out of that region.
Coach: David Esquer (12th season at Cal); overall record is 316-290-2
Top hitters: Tony Renda (.335), Austin Booker (.319), Chadd Krist (.304), and Vince Bruno (.301) all hit over .300 and have started lots of games. Cal has hit 31 HRs as a team (Virginia has 24) with Devon Rodriguez and Marcus Semien leading the Bears with five each. Krist leads the team in RBI (45).
On the basepaths: Cal doesn't seem to have many strong base stealers. The Bears have stolen just 46 bases on the year, compared to the Cavaliers' 87.
Defense: Cal has committed 59 errors this season for a .974 fielding percentage. Virginia is at .980 with 47 errors.
Pitcher: Cal is sending Erik Johnson to the mound vs. Virginia. Johnson is 7-4 with a 2.91 ERA on the season.
Virginia is countering Johnson with Danny Hultzen. The winner of this game faces the winner of South Carolina-Texas A&M (7 p.m. tonight) at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The loser play the loser of that game in an elimination game at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
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