California Sports Journal

One pitch later, there was Van Winden rounding third and the California Golden Bears’ bench urging him home. And there was Holder, alone on first base, his arms raised.

Cal 5, St. Mary’s 4.

Holder’s single to right was the final act in a 3 hour, 31 minute match of back-and-forths that lifted Cal (7-4) to its sixth-straight win yesterday in a non-conference game. The Bears scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie and surfed a no-hit, no-run relief gem by closer Travis Talbott to win just moments before sunset and the likely suspension of the game.

"You just have to remind (the players) that tough games are played this way," said Cal head coach David Esquer. "You’ve gotta find a way to win this game."

Cal won it with the basics. Van Winden led off the 12th with a sharp single off the glove of St. Mary’s second baseman Bryan Byrne. A Chris Errecart bunt moved Van Winden into scoring position and, after Brennan Boesch struck out swinging, Holder lined a Bryan Oland fastball into right.

Holder was told to swing at the first pitch, to be eager, to avoid a deep count.

"This shows you have to stay into every moment of every game because you just don’t know what’s going to happen," Holder said.

"I just happened to be the lucky one at the end of the game to get the glory," he added.

As for Talbott, the Pac-10’s leader in saves, it was another strong performance in a season in which his earned run average has dipped to 0.64 in 14 innings. His velocity is climbing into the high 80s and his curveball is sharp.

But it was Talbott’s glove that got him going early on. He entered the game in the top of the 10th with runners on first and second and one out. The Gaels’ Adam Thompson popped up a bunt, and Talbott made a diving catch, jumped up and doubled off Mike Sansoe at first.

"I’m surprised we didn’t win it on the very next pitch," Talbott said.

Oland, who worked 4.2 innings, retired the next six batters before Van Winden’s infield single. Talbott, meanwhile, had every answer, striking out two and allowing one walk.

After falling behind 2-1, St. Mary’s took the lead in the fifth on a Byrne solo home run to left and an RBI single up the middle from Delaney Gallagher. The Gaels (2-6) added one more in the seventh to go up 4-2.

The lead seemed in hand with St. Mary’s starting pitcher Kevin Trochez going seven innings, allowing no earned runs on three hits. Trochez, a location specialist whose hardest fastball was an 87-mile-per-hour strike in the third, kept the Bears guessing with change-ups and curveballs. But for the second time this year, he left with a short-lived lead, only to see this one evaporate in the ninth on RBI singles by Van Winden and Errecart that made it 4-4.

"The important thing for Kevin is to keep his perspective," Gaels head coach Jedd Soto said.

Despite Cal’s winning streak, Esquer is trying to do the same.

"It’s too early to say (if they’ve turned an early-season slump around)," he said. "But we’re on a good run."