Cal Baseball: Bears Split Opening Series With Santa Clara
After getting blown out via mercy rule on opening day, the Golden Bears split the series with the Broncos with the help of two mid-series walk-off victories, as they drop the finale.
BERKELEY/SANTA CLARA – The California Golden Bears returned to Evans Diamond at Stu Gordon Stadium for another season of Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball in the San Francisco East Bay. Last season, Mike Neu’s Golden Bears finished last in the ACC standings behind Pitt and Boston College and had the lowest overall winning percentage of any team in the conference at .436.
This year, Cal hoped to bounce back with an opening that would split two games at home and two on the road in the South Bay at Santa Clara, but the weather did not agree with these plans. The Bears and Broncos worked out a three-game series in Berkeley that saw opening night happen as intended on Friday under the lights, while Sunday’s game in Santa Clara was moved to Saturday as a doubleheader on Evans, and Monday’s game was finally determined to be playable early in the morning for a 5:00 PM start time.
Coming into this series, Santa Clara had the prior edge, as they had won three out of four against the Bears last year in a similar scheduling format, but the two universities across the bay have a long history that has favored Cal 166-100 (via Cal Athletics).
With 14 pitchers and 14 position players taking their first steps out in a California uniform on Friday night in Berkeley, 18 of those players being freshmen, a new season of Cal baseball begins, and a lot of new challenges are ahead.
Friday 2/13/26 (Game 1): Santa Clara 13 – California 2
Mike Neu gave the opening day nod to Cal RHP & D1Baseball top 100 player Oliver de la Torre, and he looked very comfortable early on after walking his first batter of the season. He went on to retire nine straight, striking out three in that span.
The Golden Bears offense looked like it was rolling right where it left off with the hot bat from 2025 All-ACC Third-Team 2B Jacob French, who hit a leadoff double to start the bottom of the 1st and would go 2-4 with an RBI in his season debut. After advancing to third on a fielder’s choice and Carl Schmidt reaching first base on a walk, French attempted to score on a strike three throwdown to second, where Schmidt was called out before French crossed the plate – thus being ruled no run for the Bears.
Santa Clara’s offense started to get going in the top of the 4th as Ben Clearly led off the inning with a base hit and scored on a double from Mateo Garcia. Cal could not respond, and in the top of the 5th, the Broncos offense quickly piled on after de la Torre was replaced by Quinn Larson. De la Torre finished the game with 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, and 4 Ks. Larson would go on to give up a one out single to Camden Sos, then hit Andrew Rayment with a 1-1 inside fastball, and then walked three straight batters to bring in two runs for the Broncos before Luke Devine hit a SAC-Fly to bring in a third and put Santa Clara up 4-0. Larson then walked one more batter before Neu made the call to the bullpen and brought in Garrett Mackowiak from Georgia Southern University, who gave up a three-RBI double to the first batter he faced, Johnny Luetzow. Will Anderson then reached on an error by Jacob French, and Santa Clara was then up 8-0 before Camden Sos went down on three strikes to end the top of the 5th.
The Broncos added four more runs on four hits in the top of the 6th with three consecutive hits to lead off the inning, followed by a HBP to load the bases, two wild pitches to score the 10th and 11th runs for SCU, succeeded by a base hit up the middle by Luetzow to make it a 12-0 ball game. The Broncos, of course, added one more run in the top of the 7th off of Cal reliever JJ Hollis on a sacrifice fly to make it 13-0.
Cal went into the bottom of the 7th now with their backs pinned against the wall, but still went down fighting hard (way too late) and put across two runs off a Kevin Jeon double to left center field that allowed Cade Campbell to score from first, and a Jacob French RBI fielder’s choice to make it 13-2, but that would be all for the Bears as Graduate Transfer Daniel Murillo would strike out looking to end the game early as the Broncos mercy ruled the Bears via the 10-run rule. Game 1: Santa Clara. WP: Max Bayles (4.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 K, 2 BB, 3 H) LP: Oliver de la Torre (4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K)
Saturday 2/14/26 Doubleheader Game 1 (Game 2): California 5 – Santa Clara 4
After getting blown out on opening day, the California Golden Bears looked to bounce back in front of a home crowd of 728 fans in Berkeley who were in for a doubleheader at the Stu, as the weather projections made Monday’s matchup of the four-game series unlikely, causing a cramped schedule to get even more cramped on a busy opening weekend.
Cal’s bounce back plan was behind starting pitcher Ethan Foley, returning for his Junior year with the Golden Bears against Santa Clara’s Junior RHP Jace Gillmore. The two seemed solid in their first two innings, until the top of the 2nd, when the Broncos offense led off the inning with a Single past second base from Andrew Rayment, followed by a base hit to center field from Thomas Ferroggiario, and a SAC-Fly from Clearly to put the Broncos on the board up 1-0 over the Bears. Ferroggiaro would then score on a fielder’s choice, and Foley would load the bases with two outs before finally getting out of the inning with just two runs allowed.
Otto Espinoza, the freshman reliever from Huntington Beach, was then brought in for Cal in the top of the 4th, and besides giving up two hits, one being an RBI-double, he looked really confident and solid for the Bears out of the pen, pitching 4.0 innings and striking out three in his NCAA debut. Carl Schmidt was also able to help keep the Bears in the game in the bottom half of the 4th, leading off the inning with his first home run of the season to put the Bears on the board and within three.
Gillmore pitched great in his 2026 debut, going 4.0 innings and allowing just one run on three hits while striking out four before being subbed out in the bottom half of the 5th inning, which is where the Cal offense finally caught a break, and put up two runs on a Daniel Morillo base hit to the left side of the infield that allowed French to advance to second for Hideki Prather, the former Clemson catcher from Oakland, CA, who ripped a 2-RBI single to right to bring the Bears within one and make it a 4-3 ball game.
With Cal down by one late in the game, Cole Clark replaced Espinoza out of the bullpen to hold onto the one-run deficit while heading into the final two innings, and hold on he did. Clark allowed just two hits in 2.0 innings in his 2026 debut, striking out two and walking none as Cal came to the plate in the bottom of the 8th, eager to reset the score in this game. Prather led off the inning with a double to left and was quickly moved over to third by a wild pitch from Santa Clara’s Lanz Cooper. Kevin Jeon then came to the plate with one out and hit a line drive base hit to right field to bring Prather home and tie the game at 4-4. The Cal offense did not score again in the 8th, but the bottom half of the 9th was another opportunity for the hungry Golden Bears.
After Clark worked through a two-out single in the top of the 9th to keep the game tied at four, Cal came to the plate in the 9th and led off with a leadoff ground out from Jacob French, but his former SFSU teammate Daniel Murillo followed with a double down the left field foul line, that was followed by a double to left from Oakland’s Hideki Prather, sending the Bears home with a walk-off 5-4 win over the Broncos.
Game 2: California. WP: Cole Clark (2.0 IP, 2 K, 2 H) LP: Cooper Lanz (1.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K)
Saturday 2/14/26 Doubleheader Game 2 (Game 3): California 4 – Santa Clara 3
Coming off of the high of a come-back walk-off victory just hours prior, the Golden Bears looked to win the assumed pseudo “rubber match” of the series against the Broncos behind returning R-Sophomore Gavin Eddy, who went 4-4 with a 5.74 ERA in 58.0 IP and 50 Ks last season, while Santa Clara brought out Freshman RHP Jackson Cook for his collegiate debut against the Bears.
Eddy and Cook were controlling the narrative of this game for the first three innings, but the Broncos once again got on the board first in the top of the 4th when Ferroggiaro hit a leadoff double and scored on a subsequent base hit from Clearly to make it a 1-0 ball game. Eddy would work his way out of the inning and finish his day with a line of 4.0 IP, 5 K, 0 BB, 1 ER, and 3 H. Cook was even more dominant, as the Cal offense could only generate one hit off the rookie pitcher in 3.0 innings, where he struck out four and walked just one.
Cal was able to tie the game up in the bottom half of the 6th as Carl Schmidt hit his second home run of the day opposite field towards left, and the Bears took their first mid-game lead of the series in the bottom half of the 7th as the Cal offense generated two walks to lead off the inning, advanced both runners into scoring position on a wild pitch, and then scored one on another wild pitch before Murillo doubled USC transfer and San Francisco native center fielder Joshua Hanson in to put the Bears up 3-1 heading into the 8th.
Jordy Lopez held the Broncos to no runs in the 8th, but after Luetzow reached base on a throwing error by Cade Campbell at 3B in the top of the 9th, Camden Sos came to the plate and smashed a deep home two-run home run to straight away center field to tie the game with one out away from defeat.
Trying to keep this game alive and played into extra innings, SCU stuck with Sebastian Schreiber on the mound to try and hold the Cal offense in the bottom half of the 9th with the game tied at three a piece, and the momentum for that looked great in Santa Clara’s favor, as Hanson and Tyler LeRoy both struck out to put the Bears down two quick outs in the inning. Jacob French then worked a crucial full count walk before stealing second base, and his former Golden Gator teammate, Daniel Murillo, followed with a double off the right field wall to bring Jacob home from second and give the Golden Bears a 4-3 walk-off win, the second of the night. Game 3: California. WP: Jordy Lopez (2.1 IP, 1 K, 2 ER, 2 H) LP: Sebastian Schreiber (1.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 K)
Monday 2/16/26: Santa Clara 10 — California 4
Baseball is an all-weather sport, apparently. 55 mph winds and rain across the nine Bay Area counties, as well as some low-elevation snow, simply cannot stop the journey to Omaha, no matter how early in the season it may be.
Early in the morning on Monday, Cal and Santa Clara decided to play the fourth and final game of the series at Stephen Schott Stadium, even with the persistent rain across the state, putting Cal’s Trent Roach, the freshman RHP out of Hollister, against the Broncos’ Nick Chow, a freshman RHP from Redwood City, before the Bears take three days off in preparation for their first away series against the UC Irvine Anteaters.
The Golden Bears got on the board immediately in the top of the 1st on a leadoff home run by Jacob French, but the Broncos bounced back with a two-out double by Johnny Luetzow. Roach would get out of his first NCAA inning on a great play in foul territory from Hideki Prather. Cal would have a couple of great plays early in the game as Joshua Hanson fully laid out for a carrying fly-ball out to left center to make a spectacular catch.
Roach’s debut for the Bears would end after 2.0 innings, and Mike Neu would bring in the Berkeley native/Freshman RHP, Duncan Russell. Russel struggled in his debut inning for the Golden Bears, surrendering back-to-back-to-back hits to the Broncos, and threw a wild pitch to give Santa Clara their first lead of the evening — all before recording his first collegiate out. Russell was finally able to get a ball in the dirt for a potential groundout at third base, but Campbell airmailed the throw to first (they are playing on wet turf), allowing one more to score, thus bringing Tanner Grove in for the Golden Bears.
Tanner Grove pounded two quick fastballs for strikes to Max Ross, who then sat on a hanging change-up and drove it over the right field wall for a three-run home run to give the Broncos a 6-1 lead in the bottom of the 3rd. Rusty Filter then went to the bullpen, ending Chow’s night with a final line of 3.0 IP, 5 K, 2 BB, 2 H, 1 ER.
The game remained quiet as far as runs go for both sides of the dugouts, but Cal’s defense showed clear cracks and weaknesses on the left side with three of the four errorscommittedd by Campbell at 3B (2) and Kenady at SS (1). The Broncos added one more run in the bottom of the 7th,h thanks to a pair of singles to lead off the inning and a fielder’s choice, putting Santa Clara ahead 7-1 going into the top half of the 8th.
The Golden Bears responded with a coupleof runs in the top of the 8th due to the wet field conditions playing a role in a throwing error by Broncos shortstop Ben Clearly, but Santa Clara responded right back with three runs of their own against Cal’s Ryan Spalliero. Cal managed to load the bases with no outs in the top of the 9th as the rain began to come pouring down for the first time since before the ballgame. Filter went to veteran transfer reliever Hunter Hargett to try and close the door on the Golden Bears with such stressful conditions, and he did just that by getting Murillo to pop up to short, followed by Prather and Schmidt striking out on pitches outside of the zone.
The Bears and Broncos thus split the opening series, and Cal begins the 2026 season 2-2. Game 4: Santa Clara. WP: Nick Chow (3.0 IP, 5 K, 2 BB, 2 H, 1 ER) LP: Duncan Russell (0.0 IP, 4 R, 3 H, 1 WP)
Cal looks to build some momentum against a fellow UC, this time at Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark in Irvine, CA, where the Bears will take on the 2025 Big West regular season champions and No. 25 team in the country last season, UC Irvine. All three games will be available on ESPN+.
Game 1: Friday 2/20 - 6:00 PM (ESPN+)
Game 2: Saturday 2/21 - 1:00 PM (ESPN+)
Game 3: Sunday 2/22 - 1:00 PM (ESPN+)
Is Austin Turkington still on the roster?