The California baseball team has a full slate this week playing five games in six days including four at home at Stu Gordon Stadium. The Golden Bears will visit Saint Mary's in Moraga on Tuesday before returning to Berkeley to host UC Davis on Wednesday and Virginia Tech in a weekend series that begins Friday.
 
Cal (22-20, 7-14 ACC) has won eight of its last 12 games but is coming off its first conference-series loss since early April dropping two of three games on the road at Miami last weekend. Before getting to their next ACC series the Bears will have to face a pair of tough Northern California teams as the Gaels (25-18, 10-8 WCC) are coming off a solid series win on the road at San Diego and the Aggies (19-23, 9-15) are 4-1 in midweek games this season.
 
The Bears won their first meeting with the Aggies this season 7-2 on Feb 25 and their first scheduled game with the Gaels was canceled due to rain.
 
The Hokies (22-20, 11-13) struggled out of the gates in ACC play but found their stride as of late taking two of three from a pair of NCAA Regional hopefuls in Pitt and NC State. Both of those weekends were played at home in Blacksburg, Virginia – the Hokies have yet to win an ACC road series this year.
 
Game Information      
 
Saint Mary's
·       Date and Time: Tuesday, April 28, at 6 p.m. PT
·       Location: Moraga, California | Louis Guisto Field
·       Live Stream: ACCNX/ESPN+
·       Live Stats: Statbroadcast
 
UC Davis
·       Date and Time: Wednesday, April 29, at 6:05 p.m. PT
·       Location: Berkeley, California | Stu Gordon Stadium
·       Live Stream: ACCNX/ESPN+
·       Live Stats: Statbroadcast
 
Virginia Tech
Game 1 | Trading Card Giveaway
·       Date and Time: Friday, May 1, at 6:05 p.m. PT
·       Location: Berkeley, California | Stu Gordon Stadium
·       Live Stream: ACCNX/ESPN+
·       Live Stats: Statbroadcast
 
Game 2 | Presented by Sutter Health | Postgame Autographs
·       Date and Time: Saturday, May 2, at 2:05 p.m. PT
·       Location: Berkeley, California | Stu Gordon Stadium
·       Live Stream: ACCNX/ESPN+
·       Live Stats: Statbroadcast
 
Game 3 | Cal Kid's Day | Reading Challenge Day
·       Date and Time: Sunday, May 3, at 1:05 p.m. PT
·       Location: Berkeley, California | Stu Gordon Stadium
·       Live Stream: ACCNX/ESPN+
·       Live Stats: Statbroadcast
 
Promo Schedule
The 2026 Cal Baseball promotional schedule features several theme days, giveaways and discounts. Single-game tickets can be purchased on CalBears.com.
 
Probable Weekend Starters
Game 1: RHP Oliver de la Torre vs RHP Brett Renfrow
Game 2: RHP Gavin Eddy vs TBA
Game 3: TBA vs RHP Griffin Steig
 
Rotation Remains Hot
Despite only getting one win at Miami last weekend, the Cal starting rotation was incredibly effective as it combined for a 2.70 ERA with 15 strikeouts in 20.0 innings. Friday starter Oliver de la Torre allowed just two runs on five hits and a walk in 8.0 innings while striking out seven on a career-high 110 pitches and was given plenty of run support to help secure Cal's third straight series-opening win. Gavin Eddy was equally effective on Saturday with an identical seven Ks in 8.0 innings, as after allowing a three-run homer in the first inning hung seven straight zeroes on the scoreboard to give his team a fighting chance. He appeared to only get stronger as the game went on, striking out the side in the seventh inning and getting a scoreless eighth as he spun a career-high 120 pitches. Freshman Otto Espinoza was effective in his second straight Sunday start allowing just one run in his four innings of work.


Walk-Off Walk
Cal picked up its first extra-inning win of the season last Tuesday to sweep its season series with San Francisco. After tying the game at 3-3 with a run in the ninth inning, the Dons were on the verge of taking the lead in the top of the 10th putting two runners in scoring position with just one out. Ethan Foley took over on the mound for the Bears in his new bullpen role and did not disappoint, striking out a batter and getting a weak ground ball that third baseman Cade Campbell made a big-league play to save a run and end the frame. Cal's offense rewarded Foley with his first relief win of the season in the bottom half as it loaded the bases and second baseman Taichi Nakao drew a four-pitch walk to walk it off.
 
Bears > Birds
Cal topped Louisville last weekend taking two of three games, all of which were close, competitive contests, to win its second straight ACC series. The Bears' two wins both came in comeback fashion, winning Game 1 8-5 after trailing 4-0 in the fifth inning and taking Game 2 6-5 after going down a run in the second inning. The Cardinals gave Cal a taste of its own medicine coming back from down 4-0 to win Game 3 8-5 and avoid the sweep. First baseman Daniel Murillo led the way offensively slashing .455/.538/1.091 with six RBI. He hit two go-ahead home runs in game two to give him a team-best nine on the season. On the pitching side, righty Gavin Eddy was impressive in his Saturday start tossing eight innings of three-run ball with seven strikeouts to improve to 6-2 this year.
 
Perfect At Pitt
The Bears picked up their first road sweep at Pitt (April 10-12) where they outscored the Panthers 39-9 and picked up run-rule wins in the first two games of the series. Cal hit .432 as a team while holding Pitt to a .258 average with the Bears' pitching staff posting a 3.52 ERA. It was the Bears' first series win of the year and just their second ACC sweep ever. Six Cal hitters posted batting averages of .429 or better including second baseman Jacob French, who slashed .538/.600/.923 for a 1.523 OPS in his first series back since going down on March 20 in the team's first game at Boston College. The bottom third of the lineup was particularly impressive with Cade Campbell, Ethan Kodama, and Joshua Hanson combining for a .486 batting average and .727 OBP while scoring 17 runs. Cal only used seven pitchers in the whole series with Oliver de la Torre pitching a seven-inning complete game Friday, the first by a Bear this year. He allowed just one run on three hits while striking out four.
 
Streaks + Multis
Junior catcher Hideki Prather leads the team with a reached-base-safely streak of 21 games and first baseman Daniel Murillo (12) and center fielder Joshua Hanson (11) join him in double figures. A freshman leads the way in multi-hit games with shortstop Jett Kenady collecting 17 of those so far and four others join him in double figures.  Murillo leads the way with 13 multi-RBI games.
 
Midseason Watch Lists
Several Bears were named to the different midseason watch lists April 15. Prather was named to the Midseason Buster Posey Award Watch List as one of the top catchers in the country. Cal's starting shortstop Kenady was named a Perfect Game Midseason Freshman First-Team All-American and to the Baseball America Freshman Player of the Year Watch list. Pitcher Otto Espinoza was named a Perfect Game Midseason Freshman Second-Team All-American.
 
Bears Named To Midseason D1Baseball Position Rankings
After not being ranked during the preseason, both Prather and Kenady were ranked 20th in their positions in the country on D1Baseball's Midseason Top 50 Catchers list. Jacob French checked in as the No. 25 second baseman and Cade Campbell was named the No. 32 third baseman.
 
On the pitching side Gavin Eddy went from unranked to 43rd on the starters list and Oliver de la Torre moved up from 97 on the preseason list to 60. Cole Clark made his debut on the reliever list at No. 47.
 
Top-50 National/ACC Rankings (As of 4/26)
Double Plays – 12th/3rd – 40
Double Plays Per Game – 12th/2nd – .95
ERA – 37th/5th – 4.33
Home Runs Per Game – 47th/9th – 1.38
 
11 Straight Ws
The Golden Bears' streak of 11 straight wins that spanned five different opponents from Feb. 21-March 8 tied for the second longest win streak in program history. It was the longest streak since 1989 and second only to a 14-game win streak by the 1931 team. The run started with Cal taking the final two games of its road series with UC Irvine, a team that reached an NCAA Regional Final last year, and included a three-game sweep over Sacramento State and a four-game sweep over reigning WCC regular-season champion San Diego. In those 11 games the Bears outscored their opponents 93-33, outhit them .343-.198, hit 21 home runs to their six, and won the team ERA battle 2.20-8.15. Cal's starting rotation had an ERA of 2.21 in 61 innings of work and its bullpen carried a 2.34 ERA in 34.2 innings.
 
San Diego Sweep
Cal swept its four-game series with San Diego with a run differential of 40-13 with the Golden Bears outhitting the Toreros .392 to .208 and winning the team ERA battle 2.06 to 11.08. The Bears' bullpen allowed just one earned run the entire weekend and the starting rotation had an ERA of 2.45 led by freshman Otto Espinoza, who in his first collegiate start went seven full innings and allowed just one run while striking out 10 batters, the most by any Bear this season. A freshman led the way on offense too with shortstop Jett Kenady hitting .467 with a 1.133 slugging percentage. He recorded two home runs, a triple, a double and four RBI and scored seven runs.
 
Sac State Sweep
The Bears earned their second straight series win and first sweep of the year after winning all three games with Sac State from Feb. 27-March 1 in Sacramento. After falling behind 4-0 in Game 1, the Bears used four solo home runs to come back and walk off the Hornets. It was sophomore Jordy Lopez who collected his first career homer in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth to get the series started with a win. From there the tone was set as starting pitchers Ethan Foley and Gavin Eddy went deep into Games 2 and 3 to ensure the Bears could bring out the brooms. Cal's pitching staff had a 1.33 ERA in the series and the offense doubled up the Hornets with a run differential of 16-8. Third baseman Cade Campbell led the Bears with a slash line of .583/.615/1.250 to go with two home runs, two doubles, four RBI and four runs.
 
Rotation + Prather Lead Bears To Series Win
Cal's 2-1 road series win over UC Irvine, a team that was receiving votes in multiple polls, was heavily influenced by its starting rotation and its new starting catcher, Hideki Prather. The weekend rotation of Oliver de la Torre, Ethan Foley and Gavin Eddy combined for 14 innings and allowed just four runs (2.57 ERA), two walks and a .241 batting average to the Anteaters while striking out 14. Foley earned his first win of the season with five innings of two-run ball and Eddy picked up his first win as well, spinning five full scoreless innings with a career-high tying eight strikeouts.
 
Prather, who had four collegiate plate appearances to his name at Clemson, emerged as one of the top bats in the lineup for the Bears. In addition to catching all three games, the junior went 6-for-13 (.461) with two home runs, three doubles, five runs and four RBI at the plate. In the leadoff spot, he had a slugging percentage of 1.154 and only struck out once. He jumped on the very first pitch of the game on all three days, falling just feet short of a home run in Game 1 on Feb. 20, crushing his first collegiate home run to the same part of the field in Game 2 on Feb. 21 and roping a double down the left field line in the Feb. 22 series finale.
 
Walk-Off Déjà Vu
The Bears' first two wins of the season both came in walk-off fashion on the same day. Due to an inclement weather forecast, Cal and Santa Clara played a Feb. 14 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 1, 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 2 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 1, who slashed a walk-off double of his own.
 
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 freshmen while the others came over through the transfer portal. Cal returns 17 letterwinners from 2025, including 12 pitchers and three starting position players.
 
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, respectively, in their first two contests. The performance in Durham, North Carolina, capped a strong final month that also included a 5-0 shutout victory over a No. 2 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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