MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's Baseball was out slugged by the Cal Bears on Tuesday afternoon, dropping the non-conference match up 9-3.
 
The Gaels struck first on Coleman Schmidt's towering, solo home run (8) to left field to start the bottom of the second inning and tie Christian Almanza for the team lead. But every time SMC struck offensively Cal would answer back with authority.
 
The Bears responded with back-to-back long balls in the top of the third. The first was a three-run blast from Rodney Green Jr. that followed by a solo shot, and it was 4-1 Cal.
 
Gavin Napier made an over-the-shoulder, sliding grab in foul territory up against the fence in front of Candiotti corner to end the top of the fourth. Often in baseball when a player makes a great defensively play and then comes up to bat, they tend to have a big hit, many times a home run.
 
Napier would do just that with a solo blast (3) to left to cut it back to a 4-2 game, and the Gaels felt like they had a little momentum going. But a triple from Green Jr. drove in a run in the top of the fifth and a single plated him for a 6-2 Bears lead.
 
Saint Mary's would get a run back in the bottom of the fifth when Jared Mettam's single up the middle scored Blake McDonald to make it a 6-3 game, but the Gaels' would only score one run at time on the afternoon compared to the Bears scoring in bunches.
 
Cal would answer with another run in the sixth and Green Jr. hit a two-run blast in the ninth to close out the 9-3 win.
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels will host the Pacific Tigers April 14-16 at Louis Guisto Field.