California Sports Journal

The proof of his statement came in a 13-2 dusting of UNLV Friday at Evans Diamond, the Bears’ 11th victory in 13 games. It can be difficult to get a baseball man like Esquer to look beyond the next game, but there was something about this victory that had the sixth-year coach smiling.

Maybe it was the 119-pitch, confidence-building performance of starting pitcher Adam Gold. Or perhaps it was the continued production of center fielder Brennan Boesch and second baseman Josh Satin, who combined for eight hits and five runs. More likely, it was all of that and more.

Asked if his team, now 12-6, is on the same elite level as PAC-10 rivals Stanford and Arizona after finished up last season at the bottom of the conference, Esquer was quick to answer.

“I think we’re on our way to that,” he said.

This is a young team and it is a cohesive team, which is an about-face from the squad that went 25-31 a year ago. Some call it “chemistry.” Esquer called it “the last step” toward success.

“We just all get along,” said Boesch, who raised his team-leading batting average to .423. The sophomore pointed to the bench, which, unlike last year, “(now) has guys to cheer for.”

“This year, it’s a whole different scene,” he said. “Lots of guys are playing like they have something to prove.”

If there was anyone on this team that had something to prove, it was Adam Gold. The team’s designated No. 1 starter, the junior has been mediocre at best this year, and was coming off an outing against Stanford last Saturday in which he gave up four runs in less than two innings.

The story was different against the Rebels (3-14). After giving up a run in the first, Gold settled in with sliders and curveballs he kept low in the strike zone, and a tailing fastball that reached the upper 80s. He tossed seven innings, giving up two runs on three hits and striking out five.

“This was definitely one to build on,” said Gold, who improved to 2-2 and lowered his earned run average to 6.19. “In future games I’ll look back on it to see how I felt.”

The decision to push Gold to his highest pitch count of the season was purely psychological.

“He needed a high-count day, he needed to be out on that mound to get that feel,” Esquer said.

The Bears certainly have that feel at the plate. They pounded out 18 hits, including a towering two-run homer to left by Matt Einspahr. Satin’s four hits were a season best and he now leads the Bears in both runs (16) and RBI (15).

With the conference schedule two weeks away, Esquer knows that hitting alone won’t carry the Bears.

“We’ll go as far as our pitching will take us,” he warned.

He followed that with another bold statement.

“There’s someone out there who’s going to step up big for us, someone we haven’t heard that much from yet,” he said.

His first reaction was to point to Jason Corder, a freshman out of Mission Viejo who has played seven games in the outfield but entered Friday’s blowout as a relief pitcher. Corder pitched a scoreless eighth, his second run-free relief appearance of the season.

It gave the bench something else to cheer for.

“The little pieces will need to come up big for us,” Esquer said.