College Preview Capsules: No. 8 California

No. 8 California

2015 Record (Ranking): 36-21 (22). RPI: 30.

Coach (Record at school): David Esquer (468-417, 15 years).

Postseason History: 13 regionals (active streak: 1), 6 CWS trips (last in 2011), 2 national titles (last in 1957).

As California coach David Esquer peered out across Blue Bell Park in College Station, Texas, last June, he felt an enormous sense of pride.

His team had just gutted through a 14-inning game, then a 12-inning game on back-to-back nights, and though Cal would eventually fall to Texas A&M in their third matchup of the College Station Regional, Esquer knew there wasn’t better baseball being played anywhere.

2016 Lineup
Pos.	Name, Year	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI	SB
C	Brett Cumberland, So.	.254	.405	.429	7	32	0
1B	Nick Halamandaris, Sr.	.207	.254	.288	1	13	1
2B	Robbie Tenerowicz, Jr.	.182	.236	.220	0	8	0
3B	Mitchell Kranson, Sr.	.273	.303	.467	6	21	0
SS	Preston Grand Pre, So.	.264	.287	.327	1	26	2
LF	Brian Celsi, Sr.	.278	.328	.364	3	31	4
CF	Aaron Knapp, Jr.	.310	.376	.375	0	23	12
RF	Devin Pearson, Sr.	.355	.413	.558	4	22	5
DH	Brenden Farney, R-Sr.	DNP—Injured
Pos.	Name, Year	W	L	ERA	IP	SO	SV
RHP	Daulton Jefferies, Jr.	6	5	2.92	80	74	0
RHP	Ryan Mason, Sr.	6	3	2.98	100	41	0
LHP	Matt Ladrech, So.	7	4	2.67	88	28	0
RP	Tanner Dodson, Fr.	HS—Elk Grove, Calif.

“I thought that weekend was as high a level as baseball as was being played in the nation, but we came up a little short,” Esquer said. “But as I was looking across the field at our lineup, what made me excited was there wasn’t one player out on the field that couldn’t be better.”

And most of those players, he knew, would be returning this year. In fact, few teams in the country return as much high-quality talent as the Golden Bears do.

“We like the players that we have back,” Esquer said. “Even if I wanted to downplay it, we have our starting rotation back, and we expect them to be better.”

Junior righthander Daulton Jefferies, who starred for USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team last summer, is where it all starts. Jefferies features a four-pitch mix and his fastball sits in the low 90s. He earned all-Pac-12 honors last year and should be even better as a junior, as he missed four weeks last season with bicep tendinitis but is heathy this year, Esquer said. His brief absence in 2015 allowed freshman lefthander Matt Ladrech and righthander Jeff Bain to blossom, and both should factor into the equation this year. Meanwhile, senior righthander Ryan Mason should provide sinkerballing stability as the Saturday starter.

The biggest question mark on the staff is closer, a role that junior righthander Alex Schick was expected to fill before injuring his knee at the end of fall. With Schick likely to miss some time, Esquer said electric freshman righthander Tanner Dodson could be the man for the job.

On the offensive side, Cal will miss the 20 home runs first baseman Chris Paul (draft) and third baseman Lucas Erceg (transfer) provided in the middle of the order, but the Bears will benefit from the return of redshirt senior Brenden Farney, who led the team in hitting (.308) in 2014 and missed all of last season with Tommy John surgery.

He’ll hit in the middle of the order with powerful sophomore catcher Brett Cumberland and senior outfielder Devin Pearson. Junior center fielder Aaron Knapp, the younger brother of former Bears standout and current Phillies prospect Andrew, is an igniter at the top of the order. Senior Mitchell Kranson, who went 8-for-18 with a pair of homers in the regional that made “El Gaucho” a college baseball folk hero, will likely occupy the two-hole.

This accumulation of depth and experience hasn’t been easy for Esquer and the Cal program, which was slated to be disbanded after the 2011 season until a late push saved the team. But the Bears have climbed back to national prominence, and Esquer hopes to stay there.

“It took us a couple of years to recover from the two years of recruiting that we missed out on,” Esquer said. “I took even more pride last year to getting back to a national stage and a national level. That was harder than I thought it was going to be. I knew we would get there, but there were some experiences and things that happened with that transition, and that rebuilding was even more difficult than what I had imagined.

“And that was extremely gratifying to me as a coach.”