2005 Season in Review Four senior standouts from the 2005 squad who helped the Golden Bears produced one of the top seasons in recent Cal baseball history. 2006 CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEAR BASEBALL 33 2005 SEASON IN REVIEW a lot for the 2005 Bears to be proud of. Cal featured three players – BEARS DO NOT RECEIVE sophomore center fielder Brennan Boesch, freshman second baseman Josh POSTSEASON BID DESPITE Satin and senior left-hander Travis Talbott – who were selected to the 2005 Pacific-10 All-Conference Team. Satin also became the first Cal freshman IMPRESSIVE SEASON to earn both Freshman All-America and All-Pac-10 honors since Xavier It almost seemed criminal that the California baseball program did not get Nady in 1998. a chance to compete in an NCAA Regional in 2005. The Golden Bears had Boesch, who was on the watch list for both the Golden Spikes and Brooks a fine season, finishing 34-23 overall and 13-11 (fifth) in the Pac-10, Wallace Award as the nation’s top collegiate player, batted a team-leading notching 13 wins over teams that advanced to the postseason. Cal had swept .355 with 21 doubles, two triples, seven home runs and 33 RBI. He also ranked Long Beach State on the road and won tough Pac-10 series against had a .567 slugging percentage with 77 hits and 123 total bases. Boesch’s ranked Arizona State, Stanford and Arizona. 21 doubles were third on the Cal all-time single-season doubles list, and he The season-ending series win at No. 7-ranked Arizona was especially hit .367 with runners in scoring position. impressive as the Bears captured two-of-three games against the Wildcats A redshirt freshman, Satin was second on the team with a .348 average in harsh conditions in Tucson. Each of the three games was delayed due to and 40 RBI. He also had 77 hits, 15 doubles, a triple and five home runs. rain and thunder and lightning, but Cal won the first and third games to finish Satin was the team-leader with 26 multiple-hit games, had a team-high 15- with a 13-11 league mark. Unfortunately, the Bears became the first Pac- game hitting streak from Mar. 6-Apr. 2, and hit a team-best .434 with 10 school not advance to NCAA postseason play with an over .500 record runners in scoring position. in the conference. Left-hander reliever Talbott was spectacular in 2005, finishing 6-1 with “I hope that the disappointment we all have right now won’t overshadow a 1.18 ERA and was fourth in the Pac-10 with nine saves in 30 appearances. the feelings we had in the dugout at Arizona and what we accomplished there Opponents only batted .185 against him and he recorded 36 strikeouts with and during the entire year,” said head coach David Esquer following the only six earned runs in 45.7 innings. Talbott was named the May 24-29 Pac- announcement that Cal was left off the NCAA tournament field. “The 10 Pitcher of the Week after picking up a win and a save at Arizona. His decision to leave us out of the tournament set a precedent within our nine saves placed him second on the Cal all-time single-season save list, and conference, and it is unfortunate that Cal is the school this happened to. his 84 career appearances is ninth on the Bears’ all-time list. Talbott signed However, I hope by working with the Pac-10 and the NCAA committee with the Florida Marlins after being drafted in the 14th round. that this will be a situation that we, or any other Pac-10 school, will not be The Bears had three more players named honorable mention All-Pac-10 in again.” – junior left fielder Allen Craig, senior right-hander Eric Dworkis and senior Despite the disappointment of not making an NCAA Regional, there was right-hander Matt Swanson. Josh Satin became the first Golden Bear to earn All-Pac-10 and Brennan Boesch had a stellar 2005 campaign, earning first-team All- freshman All-America honors since Xavier Nady was the National Pac-10 honors after leading Cal with a .355 average and 21 doubles. Freshman of the Year in 1998. 34 2006 CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEAR BASEBALL Adam Gold, here pitching against Stanford in the Bears’ Pac-10 series victory over the Cardinal, led Cal with seven wins in 2005 and signed with the San Diego Padres. in the 33rd round and signed with the San Diego Padres. 2005 also marked the end of a fine career of senior first baseman James Holder, who hit .294 overall and .361 versus the Pac-10. Holder played in 153 games for the Bears, recording 27 doubles, a triple, 14 home runs and 73 RBI. Cal’s 2005 team award winners in- cluded Boesch as the recipient of the Robert A. Roos Batting Cup as the team’s leading hitter (.355). He also shared the Clint Evans Award as the team’s most valuable player with Josh Satin, who was the team’s Freshman of the Year as well. Swanson was the winner of the Edwin E. Lord, Jr. Award as the Bears’ most inspi- rational player, while Einspahr was the recipient of the George Wolfman Award as the team’s most improved player. Talbott was the recipient of the team’s Craig batted .307 overall with a .358 average versus Pac-10 competition. Most Valuable Pitcher Award, and Dworkis was the winner of the Coaches’ He added 14 doubles, eight home runs and 35 RBI, and three times led-off Award. a game with a home run. Craig now owns a .292 career batting average as a Bear with 33 doubles, a triple, 16 home runs and 72 RBI in three seasons. Dworkis was extremely valuable as a senior transfer from Gonzaga, finishing the year 6-5 with a 3.41 ERA and a team-high 71 strikeouts in 105.7 innings. He was spectacular versus Stanford on May 7, throwing a career- high 10.0 innings with six hits, one run, no walks and five strikeouts. Dworkis was named the Apr. 26 Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week after throwing a complete game shutout versus USC, and also pitched a complete game with six hits, one run, one walk and a season-high 10 strikeouts at Saint Mary’s on Feb. 26. He was drafted in the 45th round and signed with the San Francisco Giants. Finishing his college career in fine fashion, Swanson was 6-3 with a 1.66 ERA and two saves in 30 appearances. He had 37 strikeouts and only nine earned runs in 48.7 innings, and twice earned wins in relief against Stanford. For his career, Swanson owns an 11-5 mark with three saves in 71 appearances and a 2.99 ERA. He was drafted in the 13th round and signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Another success story in 2005 was senior captain Matt Einspahr. A first- team Pac-10 All-Academic selection, Einspahr was also named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine’s District 8 All-Academic Baseball First-Team. He batted .313 with seven doubles, a triple, four home runs and a team-leading 41 RBI. He hit .337 against Pac-10 competition, including knocking in the game-winning RBI against Arizona State and going 5-for-5 at Arizona on May 28. Three additional Bears were among the Pac-10 honorable mention All- Academic list – Craig, junior right-hander Alex Trafton and sophomore infielder Brett Munster. Another notable accomplishment was sophomore outfielder Chris Errecart earning the Feb. 15 Pac-10 Player of the Week honor after going 7-for-13 (.538) with a double, two home runs and six RBI at Loyola Marymount, including a game-winning three-run homer on Feb. 13. Freshman first baseman Mike Van Winden had several clutch hitting performances during the year, including three game-winning hits and a perfect 4-for-4 performance with a triple and four RBI in the season final Mike Van Winden had several key hits for the Bears in 2005, at Arizona. Junior right-hander Adam Gold finished with a team-high seven including game-winning RBI against Long Beach State, Washington wins and was tied for the team-lead with 71 strikeouts. Gold was drafted State and Washington. 2006 CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEAR BASEBALL 35 2005 FINAL STATISTICS OVERALL BATTING Player AVE GP-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB SLG% BB HBP SO GDP OB% SF SH SB-ATT PO A E FLD% 20 Jordan Karnofsky .667 3-1 3 0200 01 2.667 1 1 1 0 .800 0 0 0-0 0 0 0 .000 32 Brennan Boesch .355 57-57 217 36 77 21 2 7 33 123 .567 26 6 27 7 .436 1 1 6-8 106 5 2 .982 3 Josh Satin .348 57-57 221 39 77 15 1 5 40 109 .493 27 1 29 4 .420 1 1 7-7 108 183 9 .970 14 Matt Einspahr .313 56-56 192 30 60 7 1 4 41 81 .422 12 2 30 3 .352 4 20 2-4 27 104 14 .903 4 Allen Craig .304 57-56 214 40 65 14 0 8 35 103 .481 23 4 28 4 .374 5 3 13-16 66 13 4 .952 22 Chris Errecart .298 57-57 238 35 71 15 0 8 35 110 .462 16 5 38 7 .355 0 3 6-6 109 6 2 .983 42 Mike Van Winden .296 54-52 199 30 59 11 2 1 31 77 .387 29 3 37 6 .386 5 5 3-6 498 40 2 .996 44 James Holder .294 49-37 143 26 42 6 1 1 11 53 .371 11 10 30 2 .384 0 1 4-4 53 1 1 .982 33 Jeremy Burchett .266 25-16 64 11 17 4 0 2 10 27 .422 10 1 15 1 .368 1 6 3-4 20 3 1 .958 34 Garrett Bussiere .262 44-38 141 22 37 4 0 5 21 56 .397 11 3 29 4 .327 1 3 2-2 238 32 5 .982 2 Taylor Grigsby .250 8-0 4 1100 00 1.250 0 0 3 0 .250 0 0 0-0 2 0 0 1.000 6 Kyle Spraker .218 48-44 147 26 32 6 0 3 15 47 .320 11 2 37 1 .278 2 13 3-7 66 109 7 .962 11 Jason Corder .200 14-9 40 6810 1612.300 1 0 12 0 .220 0 0 0-0 24 1 0 1.000 10 Stephen Carlson .200 12-4 20 3400 01 4.200 5 0 5 0 .360 0 0 0-0 0 3 2 .600 28 Travis Howell .188 28-20 69 9 13 3 0 0 9 16 .232 10 2 17 2 .298 3 6 1-3 150 15 2 .988 5 Brett Munster .179 23-9 39 5730 0310.256 7 0 9 1 .304 0 3 0-1 16 44 1 .984 23 Rob Nesbitt .000 15-0 12 0000 00 0.000 0 1 4 0 .077 0 4 0-0 4 0 0 1.000 51 Ben Liepman .000 1-0 1 0000 00 0.000 0 0 1 0 .000 0 0 0-0 0 0 0 .000 Totals .291 57-57 1964 319 572 110 7 45 292 831 .423 200 41 352 42 .365 23 69 50-68 1516 666 59 .974 Opponents .279 57-57 1912 270 533 83 17 28 249 734 .384 188 52 372 46 .356 18 55 37-64 1514 618 79 .964 LOB - Team (465), Opp (441).