BERKELEY— The California baseball team dropped its Opening Day game to Santa Clara 13-2 in seven innings at Stu Gordon Stadium on Friday.
 
Junior right-hander Oliver de la Torre earned the nod for the Golden Bears in game one of the 2026 season and had a solid outing allowing just one run on two hits. He had four strikeouts in his four innings of work but was charged with the loss.
 
After allowing a lead-off walk in the top of the first inning, de la Torre settled in and retired the next three batters and used back-to-back strikeouts to retire the side. He would go on to send the Broncos down in order over the next two innings retiring nine straight.
 
Cal second baseman Jacob French led off the game and the season by roping a double off the left field wall on the second pitch he saw. After a groundout by Daniel Murrillo put French at third, the Bears attempted to bring him home on a delayed steal but the Broncos squandered the opportunity and tagged out Carl Schmidt just before French hit home plate.

After scoring a run in the top of the fourth inning to take the lead, Santa Clara put up a crooked number in the fifth inning scoring seven runs on just two hits with four free passes issued. The Broncos added four more in the sixth and another in the seventh to go up 13-0 and put the run rule into effect. 
 
Cal got on the board in the bottom of the seventh with freshman designated hitter Kevin Jeon collecting an RBI double for his first collegiate hit and French bringing in a run on an RBI groundout.

French and third baseman Cade Campbell accounted for four of Cal's seven hits. Another pair of Bear newcomers recorded hits in their Cal debuts with SF State transfer Daniel Murillo collecting a double and freshman Jett Kenady posting a single.
 
The Bears were only outhit 9-7 but walked eight Broncos. Cal threw five different pitchers including Georgia Southern transfer Garret Mackowiak and freshman Cade Colombara who made their Stu Gordon Stadium debuts.
 
Cal and Santa Clara are back in Berkeley tomorrow for a double header with game one set to start at 2:05 p.m. Sunday and Monday's games scheduled to take place in Santa Clara remain on the schedule but are subject to cancellation due to the inclement weather forecast.
 
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