BERKELEY – The California baseball team (9-10, 2-4 ACC) was defeated by No. 23/19/14 Virginia (12-6, 3-3 ACC) on Sunday in the rubber game of a three-game series at Stu Gordon Stadium. Cal got on the board first when Ryan Tayman doubled home Jarren Advincula in the bottom of the first inning, but the Cavaliers answered with nine runs in a top of the second that featured Henry Ford's leadoff home to start the rally and Henry Godbout's grand slam to cap it.

Advincula (3-5, R, RBI) and Tayman (2-4, R, 2B, RBI) were the only Cal players with more than one hit, while all nine Virginia starters had at least one hit with Chone James (2-4, R, RBI) and Aidan Teel (2-4, R, 2B, RBI) picking up two apiece.

Virginia starter Evan Blanco (1-0) earned the victory as he limited the Bears to three runs (two earned) on six hits. Blanco did not walk a batter and struck out four. Three Virginia relievers – Wes Arrington (1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO), Matthew Buchanan (0.1 IP, 1 H) and Jack O'Connor (2.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 SO, 1 WP – helped the Cavaliers hold on to the lead.

Cal used eight pitchers with starter Ethan Foley (2-1) taking the loss. Foley allowed seven runs (four earned) on seven hits in 1.2 innings. He did not walk or strike out a batter. Lucas Alaniz (1.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB) gave up the final two runs in the second and another in third on Walker Buchanan's leadoff homer before the final six Cal relievers – Logan Piper (1.0 IP), Kaden Taque (1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB), Jordy Lopez (1.0 IP), Miles Tenscher (1.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 WP), Jake Guardiancic (1.0 IP, 1 H) and Tucker Bougie (1.0 IP, 1 BB) – allowed just one run and two hits over their 6.1 innings of work to help the Bears stay within striking distance.

Cal got a little closer with a pair of runs in its half of both the fourth and seventh innings. The Bears scored in the fourth on a Cavalier throwing error and Carl Schmidt's RBI single before Dominic Smaldino hit into an inning-ending double play.

Alex Birge walked to start Cal's two-run seventh before moving to second on a wild pitch and scoring on pinch-hitter Jeff Hoffman's bad hop RBI single. Advincula's one-out single two batters later plated Hoffman with the game's final run.

After Ford's leadoff homer started the second, Foley would retire two of the next three hitters allowing only a one-out single to James Nunnallee in between the two outs. Jacob Ference kept the inning alive with single to move Nunnallee to second before James singled home Nunnallee and Teel doubled home Ference. Virginia got another run on a wild pitch by Foley to make it 4-1 but the Bears had a chance to get out of the inning without further damage before Smaldino's two-out fielding error allowed Teel to score and scored and Becker to reach safely. Chris Arroyo then singled to chase Foley and Alaniz walked Ford before giving up Goudbout's grand slam over the left field wall on a 1-2 offering.

Virginia's lone run after the third came without a hit in the top of the seventh off Tenscher, who walked Ford to lead off the inning before moving him to third on a pair of wild pitches. Ford scored on an RBI groundout from Nunnallee.

Cal begins a nine-game road trip Tuesday at Saint Mary's (3 pm) with a three-game ACC series at No. 18/NR/17 Stanford on deck for Friday-Sunday (6 pm, 2 pm 1 pm), A live video stream of all four games will be available on ESPN+, while the three contests at Stanford can also be viewed on ACC Network Extra.
 
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MORE NOTES

• Jarren Advincula extended his string of consecutive games reaching base to 14 games
• Jordy Lopez made his debut as a pitcher (Lopez had played previously as an outfielder and pinch runner)