June 21, 2011
COLLEGE PAGE
Update: South Carolina defeated Virginia 7-1 Tuesday evening, setting up a rematch between Cal and Virginia that is scheduled for Thursday. Virginia defeated Cal 4-1 in their first matchup.
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CSNBayArea.com staff
Cal defeated Texas A&M 7-3 Tuesday to stave off elimination in the College World Series.
The Bears, on the heels of coach David Esquer being named National Coach of the Year, rallied from a 1-0 deficit.
"I'm happy our guys kind of grinded it out, because that's kind of how we do it. We don't do it easy," Esquer said.
Cal's No. 9 hitter, Derek Campbell, was 2-for-4, driving in a pair of runs.
Cal took the lead off Aggies starter Michael Wacha after leadoff batter Chad Bunting reached on a throwing error. Darrel Matthews and Austin Booker followed with singles for a 2-1 lead.
It was 6-1 after six innings. Marcus Semien's single set up Mitch Delfino's RBI double. Bunting and Campbell followed with run-scoring singles. Wacha (9-4) was tagged for seven runs, four earned, in 6 2-3 innings.
The win was Cal's first College World Series triumph since 1980. Freshman left-hander Kyle Porter (6-0) pitched six strong innings for the victory.
"The left-hander did an amazing job for them," said Aggies coach Rob Childress. "He got them off to a really good start. The guy hadn't had a lot of starts. He matched Michael pitch for pitch. He made one mistake against Adam and wasn't fazed by it."
Closer Matt Flemer delivered three scoreless innings to preserve the win.
The Bears will face the loser of the Virginia-South Carolina game, which begins at 4 p.m. Tuesday. That game will take place on Thursday.
California needs three more wins to reach next week's best-of-three championship round.
Last fall, Cal announced plans to eliminate baseball, along with four other sports, due to a budgetary shortfall. An initiative by boosters and alumni raised 9 million, opening the door for a reinstatement announcement in April.