High noon at FivePoint
The Cal Bears made the most of a rare appearance in Irvine.
The scene: an incredibly beautiful day at the baseball stadium located at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine. The area is also sometimes known as FivePoint in reference ro the community planners partially responsible for the park’s creation. I made the drive down to watch the USC Trojans host my alma mater, the University of California.
While USC normally plays at Dedeaux Field on their campus in Los Angeles, stadium renovations led them to play most 2024 home dates here in Orange County. As an aside, Dorina and I spotted the miniature baseball diamond pictured above in Chris Burden’s A Tale of Two Cities at the Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa.
The park’s hot air balloon, which has become something of a local landmark, was also on display. With USC winning 5-1 on Friday and Cal rallying for an 11-4 Saturday victory, Sunday’s contest would be the rubber match determining the series winner. A crowd of over 1,200 included supporters of both squads and first pitch was set for 12:00. Tickets at the Great Park are free and USC deemed it Hispanic Heritage Day on this Cinco de Mayo Sunday.
At the outset, things didn’t look auspicious for the sturdy Golden Bears from Berkeley. Starting pitcher Trey Newmann allowed a Ryan Jackson single and Austin Overn double before walking Kevin Takeuchi. The bases were loaded with nobody out, and it seemed that the game could get out of hand practically before it had begun. Jacob Galloway plated a run with a sacrifice fly and Ethan Hedges hit a ground ball to forge a 2-0 lead. After that, Newmann settled in and allowed the Cal offense a fighting chance.
In the fourth, things unraveled for USC starter William Watson. He hit Caleb Lomavita with a pitch and walked Rodney Green Jr., then Peyton Schulze stroked a run-scoring single. Seth Gwynn’s double plated two and a PJ Moutzouridis single brought home another, giving the Bears a 4-2 edge.
Austin Turkington relieved Newmann in the sixth but allowed the Trojans to make it 4-3. Jacob Galloway doubled, ultimately scoring on a grounder hit by Hedges. However, Cal would answer in the eighth inning. Xavier Martinez walked Jarren Advincula and exited the game in favor of Josh Blum. A fielding error gave Lomavita the chance to reach, then Green walked. Schulze came up and singled to right, scoring two and giving the Bears some breathing room at 6-3.
The stadium played music suited to the holiday during the seventh inning stretch, but it did nothing to rally the home team. Tyler Stasiowki registered his fourth save of the campaign and Golden Bears fans drove home happy. Cal improved its record to 28-17 while USC fell to 22-25.
After the game, several Cal players and coaches stayed on the field to chat. Gwynn certainly appeared relaxed after driving in three runs and sealing the series victory over a conference rival.
It’s fair to ask how much of a home field advantage USC team can have this far from Los Angeles. For me, it certainly beat having to practically circumnavigate their campus in order to reach Dedeaux Field from my car as I did two seasons ago. There are just too many fences around that place.
During the final Pac-12 baseball tournament before USC heads to the Big Ten and Cal joins the ACC, the Bears defeated Washington and Arizona. However, the Trojans ended up eliminating Cal from the tournament after a 7-4 contest. The next day, Arizona defeated USC to capture the tournament title and keep the Trojans out of the postseason. The College World Series is now underway and promises to deliver high drama. Exhibit A was UNC’s walk-off 3-2 win over Virginia on Friday.
Despite a great late season run, the Bears narrowly missed out on playoff baseball as well. Mike Neu and the Cal team should still be proud of their 36-19 record. Meanwhile, USC head coach and former Yankee Andy Stankiewicz can take heart in the fact that the average attendance at the Great Park actually exceeded that of campus games last season. He’ll have one more year of shuttling back and forth before their new home opens.
