BERKELEY, Calif. (April 5, 2019) – Washington State starter Brandon White struck out eight in five innings of work but California broke open a scoreless game with a run in the sixth and posted a 6-0 series-opening win Friday evening.
The freshman, White, was impressive working into the sixth inning, and held Cal scoreless while scattering seven hits and finished one off his season high for strikeouts. The Golden Bears used a bases loaded sacrifice fly to take a 1-0 lead in the sixth and added four runs off the Cougar bullpen in the seventh.
In the third, White ran into a little trouble after an infield single and a single threw the right side but buckled down to strike out the reigning Golden Spikes Award Winner Andrew Vaughn for the second out and ended the inning with a strike out of the three-hole hitter.
In the fifth, White again worked out of a jam by striking out the three-hole hitter to strand runners on first and second.
In the sixth, Cal chased White with a pair of infield singles to start the inning, the first deep in the hole to shortstop and the second a perfectly place bunt. Following a pitching change, a 3-2 pitch just missed low, loading the bases with nobody out. Sophomore lefthander Bryce Moyle got the first out with a strikeout but the next batter brought home a run with a sacrifice fly to centerfield for a 1-0 lead.
In the seventh, Cal used a leadoff single, a stolen base and a one-out RBI-single chopped over a drawn-in infield to make it 2-0 Bears. Cal added three more runs, all with two outs for a 5-0 advantage.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Kodie Kolden walked in the 2nd to extend his on-base streak to 8 games
Danny Sinatro singled in the 6th to extend his hitting streak to 6 games
NEXT UP
The series continues Saturday at 6:05 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks.
TOP MOMENTS
Impressive performance by freshman Brandon White who struck out 8 and allowed just 1 run in 5+ innings#GoCougs pic.twitter.com/GXE7xHwHkL
— Washington State Baseball (@Cougbaseball) April 6, 2019
Another one! @Brandon_white3 ends the 5th with his 8th K of the night! Wow, nice work by the big freshman!
— Washington State Baseball (@Cougbaseball) April 6, 2019
T6, 0-0#GoCougs pic.twitter.com/UgQT2bNoQW
The big fella @Brandon_white3 comes up with a couple clutch strikeouts to end the 3rd!
— Washington State Baseball (@Cougbaseball) April 6, 2019
T4, 0-0#GoCougs pic.twitter.com/3if0gIpxfu