The Arizona baseball team continued to be plagued by a lack of offense in combination with defensive problems, as the Wildcats fell to California, 3-2, to open Pacific 10 Conference play yesterday at Evans Field in Berkeley, Calif.

The loss was Arizona’s (11-13, 0-1 Pac-10) eighth in the last nine games, and Cal improved to 15-11 on the year with a 3-1 mark in conference play.

Freshman right-hander Preston Guilmet should have been out of the fourth inning unscathed, but a throwing error by sophomore third baseman Colt Sedbrook allowed Golden Bears sophomore third baseman Josh Satin to reach base. After a walk to junior left fielder Chris Errecart, junior catcher Garrett Bussiere hit a fastball over the left field wall to give the home team a 3-0 advantage that stood up in the end.

The error was Sedbrook’s 10th on the year.

“”I still gave up the home run,”” Guilmet said. “”It was a tough one, and if we didn’t make the error, they wouldn’t have got on but they did. (It was a) bad pitch and bad location on my part.””

Not to be outdone, Arizona played some long ball of its own, as freshman center fielder Jon Gaston drove in two runs on a home run to right field.

Gaston went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored.

But two runs weren’t enough to salvage a win, and Guilmet (2-4) walked away as the tough-luck loser. Despite pitching on short rest, the Roseville, Calif., native threw seven innings in place of injured sophomore pitcher Eric Berger, giving up three runs – all unearned – while recording five strikeouts and allowing one walk.

“”It’s hard to be upset,”” said Arizona head coach Andy Lopez. “”The guy that we faced tonight is supposed to go in the first round (of the MLB draft). He’s going to be one of the higher picks in the nation.””

The Bears’ starter was junior right-hander Brandon Morrow (6-0), who put in eight innings of work and allowed two earned runs and three walks while striking out nine to get the win. The preseason All-American entered the contest 0.03 behind Arizona junior closer Mark Melancon for the top ERA in the conference.

It didn’t help that Arizona averages 5.8 runs per game this season, as only twice in the last 11 games have the Wildcats scored more than three runs.

“”I look forward to it, actually,”” Guilmet said about Arizona’s lack of run support. “”It just makes me know I need to go out there and throw better. We know that this year we’re going to have an offense like that. As pitchers, we got to step it up, and we got to do our job.””

The Wildcats, who have been hampered by the injury bug of late, had three starters return to the lineup. Senior left fielder Derek Decater, who injured his shoulder the first week of March, got some plate appearances as the designated hitter, while fellow senior Brad Boyer, who strained his hip flexor, was back to work at second base.

Gaston, who was listed day-to-day with a left wrist injury, was healthy enough to man center field.

“”We just came a little short, which has been a little bit of a routine here the last month or so,”” Lopez said.

Series pitching probables

Junior left-hander Brad Mills (2-1, 3.38 ERA) takes the mound today against Cal freshman right-hander Tyson Ross (4-2, 4.41) at 3 p.m, while sophomore lefty David Coulon (0-2, 9.24) gets the start in Saturday’s 2 p.m. series finale against Bears junior righty Michael Cooper (1-3, 5.50).