Baseball: Cal Golden Bears Fall To Tulane 10-5 In Opener Of Cal Baseball Classic

The Tulane Green Wave washed over Evans Diamond with a seven-run fifth inning and rolled over the Cal Golden Bears on Friday, 10-5, in the first day of the Cal Baseball Classic.

USF topped Arkansas 2-1 in the first game of the day.

The Golden Bears (8-4) got on the board first, pushing across three runs in the bottom of the second. Derek Campbell led off the inning with his second home run of the season and then the Green Wave (9-3) got generous with the defense and an alarming lack of control by Tulane starter Tyler Mapes.

Nick Halamandaris reached on an error by shortstop Stephen Alemais and moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt. Jacob Wark was hit by a pitch and one out later Mike Reuvekamp also got clipped by a delivery from Mapes to load the bases. That set the stage for Devin Pearson to pick up a bruising RBI as he was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Wark then scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0.

Cal added two more runs in the fourth. Reuvekamp yanked a two-out double down the left-field line and scored on Pearson’s single up the middle. Vince Bruno kept the rally alive with a base hit to right and Devon Rodriguez greeted reliever Corey Merrill with a single down the line in right to chase home Pearson and make it a 5-0 game.

That was when the veritable roof caved in on freshman starter Daulton Jefferies.

With runners at the corners and one out, Richard Carthon got Tulane on the board with an RBI single and Alemais followed with another run-scoring hit. With the bases loaded, after a walk, Garrett Deschamp tied the game with a bases-clearing double to right field and scored when Hunter Hope homered to left.

Tulane added three more in the seventh on an RBI double by Deschamp, an RBI ground out by Nick DiMaggio and a run-scoring single by Jake Rogers.

Jefferies (2-1) suffered the loss, allowing seven runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings, walking one and fanning three. Dylan Nelson was touched for three runs on four hits with two Ks in 1.2 innings and Alex Schick worked a scoreless 2.2 innings, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out two.

Pearson and Rodriguez had three hits apiece for the Golden Bears, while Campbell had a pair of safeties.

The Bears will be back at it Saturday when they play the USF Dons at 6 p.m. Arkansas and Tulane will meet at 1:30 p.m and the event wraps up Sunday with a doubleheader between the Razorbacks and Golden Bears.