Cal opens tourney with loss
California failed to take advantage of scoring opportunities in the middle innings, and Slippery Rock scored four times over the last two frames to pull away for a 6-3 victory over the Vulcans in the opening round of the 2007 NCAA North Atlantic Regional Baseball Championship Tournament at Kutztown University Thursday. The Vulcans (36-16), seeded third in the six-team regional, were unable to untie a 2-2 game by converting one out, bases-loaded opportunities in the fifth and seventh innings.
Cal, making its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in team history but first since 1983, suffered its fourth loss in seven meetings against The Rock this season.
Cal will try to avoid elimination at 12:30 p.m. today when the Vulcans challenge top-seeded Kutztown, a 4-3 first-round winner over sixth-seeded Shippensburg. The win puts SRU in Friday’s winner’s bracket game (4 p.m.) against fifth-seeded West Chester, a 2-0 winner over second-seeded West Virginia State.
Cal senior starter Chris Doerschner went seven innings, allowing two runs on 10 hits and no walks while fanning five. He left the game after a line-drive off his hip deflected to junior 3B Jeremy Potter, who alertly converted the play into an inning-ending double play.
Freshman reliever John Sklarsky was tagged for four runs, only two earned, on two hits and two walks. Sklarsky suffered his first collegiate loss in four decisions.
Senior LF Lee Rohan and freshman DH Sam DiMatteo each had two of Cal’s nine hits and scored a run. Rohan also had an RBI hit in the ninth inning. Potter and junior OF Alex Lefcakis also contributed RBI hits for the Vulcans.
Friday’s matchup will be the fifth time this season KU and Cal. Cal won the first of three games when the two teams competed in Savannah, Ga., during spring break, then handed the Golden Bears, then ranked No. 1 in the country, a 4-3 elimination-game setback May 4 during the PSAC Championship Tournament at Slippery Rock.