BERKELEY – The California baseball team (4-2) received a standout pitching performance from Gavin Eddy and Cole Clark in a 5-1 victory over Houston on Saturday at Stu Gordon Stadium to even a three-game nonconference series with the Cougars. Eddy (1-0) pitched a career-high 5.0 hitless innings to earn his first win at Cal. Clark struck out six while allowing one run and two hits over 4.0 dominant innings of relief to earn his first save for the Bears.

Eddy and Clark came within two outs of recording the sixth no-hitter in school history and the first since 1978 before a one-out line drive single to center field by pinch-hitter Xavier Perez in the top of the ninth broke up the no-hit bid. Clark recorded the second out of the inning on a fielder's choice before hitting Evan Haeger and allowing an RBI single to Anthony Avalos that also ended Cal's bid for a second shutout in the last three games. Clark retired Kenneth Jimenez on a line drive to centerfielder Chris Gwynn to end the game after the tying run had moved into the on-deck circle.

"It was pretty exciting to have the no-hitter going for a while," Eddy said. "It would have been kind of cool."

"Pitching is contagious," Clark added. "Coming in after Gavin has been shoving all day, it's pretty easy to keep it going."

Eddy retired 15 of the 18 batters he faced including 10 in a row at one point. He struck out four and walked three over an efficient 66 pitches.

"These guys were hitting their spots all day," catcher Ryan Tayman said. "It was easy for me."

The Bears did all their scoring in a pair of frames with two runs in the third and three in the sixth.

Cade Campbell started the bottom of the third with a single before Ryan Tayman walked to give the Bears runners at first and second with no outs. Seth Gwynn moved the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt before Jarren Advincula singled home Campbell and Tayman scored on an RBI groundout from PJ Moutzouridis.

Advincula got the Bears sixth inning going with a leadoff infield single, moved to second on Moutzouridis' ground out, stole third and scored two batters later on Max Handron's RBI single. Cal picked up two more runs in the inning on an RBI single by Campbell and a throwing error.

Handron (2-3, 2B, RBI), Advincula (2-4, RBI, SB) and Campbell (2-4, RBI) each had a pair of hits and drove in a run for the Bears.

Houston starter Paul Schmitz (1-1) took the loss, giving up four runs (all earned) on four hits and two walks with three strikeouts over 5.1 innings. Schmitz left the game in the bottom of the sixth trailing 2-0 with one out and runners on first and third base. Houston's bullpen allowed both inherited runners to score and gave up another run of its own in the frame.

Bears Win! ??

Stand out pitching performance from Gavin Eddy and Cole Clark propels the Bears to 5-1 victory! #GoBears pic.twitter.com/aOtsHBAk5e

— Cal Baseball (@CalBaseball) February 23, 2025

"It was a great rebound from yesterday," head coach Mike Neu said. "We finished yesterday's game strong, and we can kind of picked up where we left off. We have an opportunity to win the series tomorrow. The goal for today was to win the game so we have an opportunity to win the series tomorrow."

"This was an important win," Clark added. "They're a Big 12 opponent and a good team. We're one step closer to winning the weekend. That's the goal we've been talking about since the beginning of the year. If we can every weekend, we'll be in a pretty good spot. It's a big win today and let's see if we can carry it home tomorrow."

Cal and Houston conclude their three-game series with a rubber match Sunday at Stu Gordon Stadium with the first pitch at 12 p.m. PT. The Bears are scheduled to start RHP Ethan Foley (1-0, 0.00 ERA) on the mound while Houston is slated to go with RHP Graysen Drezek (0-0, 6.75 ERA).

Sunday is Cal Kids' Day and this year's initial post-game run of the bases.

Tickets for all 2025 Cal baseball home games are on sale at CalBears.com.
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Brian Duffy and Steve Kaia combined on Cal's most recent no-hitter in a 12-0 home victory over Hayward State on Feb. 11, 1978, while the first of five in school history was 
  thrown by Robert Jordan in a 9-1 home win over Loyola Marymount on Mar. 14, 1908
• Cal improved to 3-0 this season when scoring first
• Advincula's two-hit game was his team-leading fourth of the season
• Cal will be looking for its fifth consecutive series win on Sunday dating back to the last three series of 2024

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