Last season, Daulton Jefferies showed the promise of being a star. This season, he’s cemented that notion. As a sophomore, Cal’s No. 1 starter (3-1, 2.45 ERA) has shown some lights-out stuff this season and good command of all his pitches. And, perhaps more importantly, he’s finally getting the run support he desperately needed last season.

The rest of the Bears’ (13-3) rotation has also been performing well, with junior Ryan Mason (2-0, 3.13 ERA) and freshman Matt Ladrech (3-1, 2.05 ERA) turning in quality starts for Cal, as has freshman Jeff Bain (2-0, 0.60 ERA), closer Dylan Nelson, despite giving the team a couple of scares with bases-loaded situations.

Cal suffered a tough early-season series loss to Duke — the Bears dropped the first game, 7-1, eked out the win in the second game, 3-2, and couldn’t hold onto a lead in the third game, letting a 7-6 lead slip to a 12-7 loss. But, after that, Cal seemed to regroup, destroying rival Stanford the day after, 11-1. The Bears just missed out on a four-game series sweep of UC Irvine, losing the last game, but came away with a sweep of Kansas State.

The bats have been rolling for the Bears, especially with the roster’s youth. Centerfielder Aaron Knapp, who has been batting leadoff, leads the team in runs (18) and has a .354 batting average. Third baseman Lucas Erceg has team-bests in batting average, hits, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. Senior Chris Paul, the team’s first baseman, brings veteran experience to the team — which graduated a lot of seniors last season.

The question for the Bears remains whether this level of play can be maintained, but things seem to be looking up. If there continues to be stellar pitching with timely hits and key run support, this could be a dangerous team.