The California baseball team heads to UC Irvine this weekend for its first road series of the 2026 season. The Golden Bears and Anteaters will face off in the series opener on Friday night at Anteater Ballpark before playing afternoon games on Saturday and Sunday to wrap up the three-game weekend.
 
After dropping its series finale with Santa Clara on Monday, Cal sits at an even 2-2 while UC Irvine swept Sacramento State on the road 3-0. The Anteaters are scheduled to face San Diego State tonight in their home opener.
 
Game Information                                                                                                                                           
UC Irvine
Game 1
·       Date and Time: Friday, Feb. 20, at 6:00 p.m. PT
·       Location: Irvine, CA | Cicerone Field at Anteater Stadium
·       Live Stream: ESPN+
·       Live Stats: Sidearmstats
Game 2
·       Date and Time: Saturday, Feb. 21, at 1:00 p.m. PT
·       Location: Irvine, CA | Cicerone Field at Anteater Stadium
·       Live Stream: ESPN+
·       Live Stats: Sidearmstats
Game 3
·       Date and Time: Sunday, Feb. 21, at 1:00 p.m. PT
·       Location: Irvine, CA | Cicerone Field at Anteater Stadium
·       Live Stream: ESPN+
·       Live Stats: Sidearmstats
 
Promo Schedule
The 2026 Cal Baseball promotional schedule is now available and features several theme days, giveaways and discounts. Season tickets and single-game tickets can be purchased on CalBears.com.
 
Probable Starters (Cal/UC Irvine)
Game 1: RHP Oliver de la Torre vs RHP Trevor Hansen
Game 2: RHP Ethan Foley vs LHP Ricky Ojeda
Game 3: RHP Gavin Eddy vs RHP Cade Castles
 
Series History
The Anteaters, who are receiving votes in several polls this season, own the all-time record against the Bears 19-16. This will be the first meeting between the two teams since 2015, when the Bears won a four-game series at Evans Diamond 3-1, and it will be Cal's first trip to Anteater Ballpark since 2013.
 
Walk-Offs Only
The Bears' two wins this season both came in walk-off fashion on the same day. Due to an inclement weather forecast last weekend, Cal and Santa Clara decided to play a Saturday doubleheader which boded well for the Bears as they collected two come-from-behind wins. Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning of game one, the Bears put up a two-spot and scored a single run in the eighth to tie the game at 4-4 before junior transfer Hideki Prather roped a walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth to give his new team its first win of the season. Cal trailed early once again in game two but found itself tied 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth. This time it was graduate transfer Daniel Murillo, who scored the game-winning run in game one, that slashed a walk-off double of his own.
 
New Bear Production
Much of Cal's weekend success can be attributed to its freshmen and new transfers as that group combined for 18 of the Bears' 30 hits, scored nine of their 15 runs, and hit nine of their 11 doubles. On the mound, the newcomers accounted for 15 of the team's 33 innings pitched, with seven Bear arms making their collegiate debuts last weekend.
 
D1Baseball Preseason Positions List
Three Bears were named to D1Baseball's preseason positions lists, with Jacob French checking in as the 13th-ranked second baseman in the nation and sixth in the ACC. Third baseman Cade Campbell was ranked 31st nationally and fifth in conference while starting pitcher Oliver de la Torre came in at 97th on the list of 200.
 
The 2026 Roster
This year's team features several new faces, with 14 new pitchers and 14 new position players making up over half of the dugout. Eighteen of those 24 first-year Bears are freshman while the others came over through the transfer portal. Cal returns 17 letterwinners from 2025, including 12 pitchers and three starting position players.
 
Second Time Through
This will be Cal's second ACC campaign after joining one of the top conferences in the sport last year. The Bears went 9-21 in conference in 2025 but picked up five nationally-ranked wins, including a 5-0 shutout over No. 2 Florida State. This year, the Bears will face five ACC opponents that were ranked in D1Baseball's preseason top-25 poll, including conference favorites No. 5 Georgia Tech and No. 1 North Carolina.
 
Head Coach Mike Neu
Mike Neu is in his ninth season at the helm and has led the Golden Bears to winning campaigns in five of his first seven seasons, excluding the shortened 2020 season. Neu is only the third Cal head coach since 1977 (Bob Milano 1977-99, David Esquer 2000-17, Mike Neu 2018-present).
 
2025 Recap
A young 2025 Cal baseball team came on strong at the end of the campaign by reaching the quarterfinals at the ACC Championship as the Golden Bears knocked off No. 9 and No. 8 seeds Miami and Wake Forest in their first two contests. The performance in Durham capped a strong final month that also included a 5-0 shutout victory over a No. 2 nationally-ranked Florida State squad and a series victory against Boston College. The win over the Seminoles was one of four over ACC teams that reached the NCAA Super Regionals (Duke, Florida State, Louisville, Miami), with the Cardinals also a College World Series participant. In addition, the 2025 campaign featured a 7-2 record on a season-long nine-game road trip that was highlighted by a historic series sweep of then No. 14 Stanford that was Cal's first three-game road sweep of the Cardinal in recorded history. Third-Team All-ACC selection Jacob French (.390) had the team's highest batting average and Cal pitchers spread the wins around with 11 recording at least one victory apiece.
 
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