OSU, Cal favorites in Pac-12 baseball – The Register-Guard

California messed with Texas.

The Golden Bears lived up to their hype when they became the first team to ever sweep a four-game baseball series against the Longhorns earlier this month. Cal outscored Texas 24-11 during the series including rallying from a 7-0 deficit to win the finale 10-7 in 11 innings.

The Bears (10-4) moved up to No. 9 in the Baseball America poll, trailing only third-ranked Oregon State in the Pac-12 as conference play gets started this weekend.

Cal coach David Esquer is hoping that the historic sweep at Texas is not the high point of the season.

“If we can’t get better, we leave ourselves vulnerable,” said the 17th-year coach who led Cal to an NCAA Regional last season and hopes to get to the College World Series for the first time since 2011. “We’ve got tough opponents and tough games ahead of us and we have to continue to grow as a team. We need to stay consistent and do the things we did well and do them both at home and in the Pac-12. We are not nearly the team we need to be, but we need to just move forward to the next game.”

Cal features one of the top starting pitchers in the conference in junior Daulton Jefferies, a first-team, all-conference selection last season who played on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team last summer. Jefferies, who is considered one of the top prospects in the June baseball draft, is 4-0 with a 1.04 ERA in four starts this season.

Senior Ryan Mason, who is 2-0 with a 2.13 ERA, gives the Bears a solid No. 2 starter and Cal also has one of the top closers in the nation as Erik Martinez is 1-0 with four saves and a 1.90 ERA. Sophomore catcher Brett Cumberland is hitting .395 with three home runs this season.

Oregon State looks to move back to the top of the conference after finishing second to UCLA last season. The Beavers (12-2) had an 11-game winning streak snapped Sunday against San Francisco.

OSU, which opens conference play at home against Arizona State this weekend, is batting .335 as a team led by catcher Logan Ice at .467 with four home runs. Freshmen Nick Madrigal and Cadyn Grenier are batting .383 and .373, respectively, while Trever Morrison is at .377 and Kyle Nobach is hitting .365.

Sophomore first baseman K.J. Harrison, a preseason All-American, is batting .309.

Sophomore Drew Rasmussen heads up the weekend rotation at 3-0 with a 3.20 ERA while Siuslaw High School graduate Jake Thompson is 1-1 with a 3.44 ERA. Closer Max Engelbrekt missed all last season due to injury but is back with six saves this season.

Oregon fell to No. 19 in the rankings this week after being swept at No. 15 Mississippi State. The Ducks started the season with five straight wins, but have lost five of their last eight games.

Oregon is batting .206 as a team with only catcher Tim Susnara (.333) and outfielder Austin Grebeck (.273) hitting over .250.

Starting pitchers David Peterson and Cole Irvin have an ERA of 1.40 and 1.65, respectively, while Matt Krook has struggled with control and has a 4.08 ERA. Closer Stephen Nogosek has not allowed a run in 10 innings and has four saves.

UCLA is ranked No. 14 despite an 8-7 record including wins over two ranked teams, Mississippi State and North Carolina. USC has fallen out of the polls after a 7-7 start.

Arizona has won seven straight games to improve to 12-4 under new coach Jay Johnson. Arizona State is 13-3 after winning eight straight games, including four in extra innings.