Cal Baseball: Bears Sweep Hornets in I-80 Series
A Friday night Walk-off home run from Jordy Lopez, a blowout victory on Saturday at Hornet Field, and a close Sunday win at home gives Cal its first sweep of the season.
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California and Sacramento State have a lopsided all-time head-to-head record. The Golden Bears entered this weekend with a 47-16 record against the Hornets since 1957, having not lost a game to Sacramento since March of 2019 – the last time the Bears were in the NCAA tournament.
The California Golden Bears added three more wins to that all-time matchup against the Hornets with a series sweep over the weekend, featuring offensive and pitching production that will be essential to build off of going forward in the regular season, especially against much more difficult opponents in the ACC and the California-loaded out-of-conference schedule.
Game 1 – Friday, 2/27/2026: California 5 – Sacramento State 4
The California Golden Bears got their first Friday night win of the 2026 season over the Sacramento State Hornets, after dropping their series openers against Santa Clara and UC Irvine over the past two weekends. The Golden Bears came into Friday night at 5-3 after taking a commanding victory over the UC Davis Aggies on the road, while Sac State entered the night on the opposite end at 3-5.
Mike Neu’s weekend rotation started with Oliver de la Torre once again. De la Torre has started the year off 0-2 but entered the game with a 3.38 ERA and has been a victim of Cal’s offense falling flat on Friday nights. Sacramento State’s Reggie Christiansen, who is in his 16th season as head coach of the Hornets, gave the start to Senior Chico State-transfer Ethan Lay, who finished the 2025 season with a 5-3 record, 66 K, 16 BB, and a 3.55 era, and threw 8.2 innings against Saint Joseph’s last weekend, striking out 13 in a no-decision.
De la Torre started by retiring the first nine Hornets batters, making it three straight games where he got all nine batters out in order. The Hornets did get on the board first in the top of the 4th against de la Torre, as Brett Ott reached second base on a throwing error to first from Prather at catcher on a ground ball out in front of the plate. Ott advanced to third on a SAC-Fly from Sam Harry on the next play, and then scored on a ground ball to second to put the Hornets ahead 1-0 with two outs. Jakob Poturnak then reached on an error by Cade Campbell at third, and Luis Pimentel-Guerrero. Was hit by a pitch to put two runners on for Jace Jeremiah. Jeremiah then hit a deep opposite field home run over the “I FLY OAK” sign in right to put Sacramento ahead 4-0. Cameron Swell then followed with a strikeout on a dropped third strike, but Prather committed his second throwing error of the inning to extend de la Torre’s inning before Jacob Cortez went down swinging.
Ethan Lay was very solid for the Hornets, allowing no Cal runs through the first four innings. The Bears finally got on the board in the bottom half of the 5th on a two-out solo-shot from Hideki Prather to make it a three-run ball game. Daniel Murillo led off the bottom half of the 6th with a home run to left field for his first of the year, with Cade Campbell following with a double and eventually scoring on a fielder’s choice to put the Bears within one. Lay’s night would end with 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 3 K, 1 BB.
Quinn Larson relieved de la Torre and pitched 3.0 innings of shutout ball, allowing just two hits while striking out three of the 11 batters he faced to keep the Hornets at four runs. Cal tied the game in the bottom half of the 8th against Sacramento’s Kurt Marton, on a Cade Campbell home run to left towards the RSF building to make it a 4-4 game heading into the top of the 9th.
Mike Neu went to Cole Clark to try and hold the Hornets’ offense in the top half of the 9th, and Clark managed to retire all three batters in order on balls hit towards center and left field. The Golden Bears sent one single batter to the plate, Jordy Lopez, who drove a 0-1 off-speed pitch over the right field wall for a walk-off solo shot to send the Bears home for the night with a 5-4 victory. The Golden Bears won on their third walk-off of the season, and it took four solo home runs to get there in this game. Game 1: California. WP: Cole Clark (2-0, 1.0 IP) LP: Kurt Marton (2.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 K)
Game 2 – Saturday, 2/28/2026: California 8 – Sacramento State 2
An untraditional “home & home” series for sure, but out-of-the-ordinary is how I picture the ordinary when it comes to college baseball, and especially everything Cal. The Bears and Hornets played a “home & home” … and home series that saw Cal host and defeat Sac St. on Friday night in Berkeley, then take the I-80 to Sacramento State’s John Smith Field on Saturday afternoon, and then finish the weekend series back in Berkeley on Sunday.
Cal has not lost on a Saturday thus far, having claimed two wins against Santa Clara in the opening series with two wins in a doubleheader, and an 11-2 upset over UCI on the road in front of nearly 1,000 people at Anteater Ballpark. To try and recapture that ongoing success, Mike Neu went back to the normal day-two starter in Ethan Foley, who pitched 5.0 innings, allowing 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, and 2 K in his last start and win against the Anteaters. Foley matched up against Sacramento’s Trevor Wilson, who made his fifth appearance of his freshman season and first career NCAA start against the Golden Bears.
In front of a crowd of 591 at John Smith Field, California got on the board first as Hideki Prather led off the game with a single to left and was put into scoring position on a balk from Wilson. Jacob French then singled to put runners on the corners for Daniel Murillo, who singled to left to make it 1-0 with no outs. Cade Campbell then walked to load the bases, and Gannon Snyder skied a fly-ball to foul territory in right, allowing French to score from third on the wild throw into home to make it a 2-0 game.
The Hornets got on the board in the bottom of the 2nd against Foley with a couple of runs on hits that came with two outs. Ryan Ellis got the Hornets’ first run with an RBI-single up the middle to bring home Jace Jeremiah, followed by an RBI-double down the right field line from Cameron Sewell to put runners in scoring position for Brett Ott, who was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Luis Pimentel-Guerrero. Pimentel-Guerrero then hit a shot toward Cade Campbell at third, who tried to make a play at his own base, but Sewell beat him to the bag, allowing Ellis to score and make it 2-2 before Dessens grounded out to Murillo at first.
Cal did grab the lead for what would inevitably be the winning runs of the game in the top half of the 3rd as Murillo led off the inning with a base hit through the middle of the infield, and Cade Campbell followed with a home run to center field to make it a 4-2 ball game. The Bears added one more in the 5th on a lead-off single from Jacob French, who scored on another RBI from Cade Campbell to make it 5-2.
Foley’s afternoon ended after 6.0 IP, where he allowed 8 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, and 3 K, and was relieved by Otto Espinoza, who had 4.0 IP out of the bullpen against UCI last weekend, where he did not allow a run or hit while striking out six. Espinoza would pitch the remaining three innings for the Golden Bears in this game against Sacramento, looking to showcase his immediate potential in the California bullpen and pitching rotation with 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, and another 5 Ks on the afternoon.
Cal would add three more insurance runs in the top half of the 8th as Jordy Lopez led off the inning with a walk and kept moving along the bases due to a balk, a stolen base, and an airmailed throw to third to make it a 6-2 game, followed by French and Murillo going back-to-back with RBI-doubles to put the Bears ahead 8-2 in what would be the final score in this game. Cade Campbell finished the game going 3-4 with three RBIs and his second home run of the season, after picking up his first the night prior. Game 2: California. WP: Ethan Foley (2-0, 6.0 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K) LP: Trevor Wilson (0-2, 1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB)
Game 3: Sunday, 3/1/2026: California_ – Sacramento State _
Gavin Eddy started on Sunday once again for the Golden Bears to make it three consecutive starts on the day of the sun. Pitching for the Hornets to try and avoid their second sweep of the season was Carson Timothy, a redshirt Sophomore and transfer from Woodland, CA, who appeared in two games out of the bullpen for the Gauchos in 2025 at UCSB.
As game three returned to Berkeley in front of a crowd of 601 fans, Sacramento got on the board first in the top of the 2nd when Sam Harry led off the inning with a base hit to left and was brought in on an RBI-double from Jace Jeremiah to make it a 1-0 ball game for the Hornets. Cal’s offense could not get anything going against Timothy until the bottom of the 4th, when Cade Campbell and Gannon Snyder traded places on back-to-back doubles to put the Bears on the board and tie the game at one a piece.
Timothy returned to the mound for the bottom half of the 5th, b. Still, after rendering a base hit to Friday night’s hero, Jordy Lopez, and allowing Joshua Hanson to reach on an error, Reggie Christiansen went to the bullpen and brought in Junior reliever Sean Carey. Carey would strike out Kodama, looking to get the first out of the inning, but Prather followed with a single to center field to bring home Lopez, and French followed by reaching on a fielder’s choice that brought in Hanson, putting Cal ahead 3-1.
Gavin Eddy had one of, if not his best start in a Golden Bears uniform on Sunday afternoon against the Hornets, pitching 7.0 innings, giving up just 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, and 5 K. Eddy was subbed out of the game in the top of the 8th inning by Georgia Southern transfer, Garrett Mackowiak, who got two out of the three batters he faced out while walking one before Mike Neu brought in Cole Clark. Clark surrendered back-to-back base hits to the first two batters he faced, allowing Sacramento to come within one run in the 8th – but that would be as far as they got, as the Hornets would leave a runner stranded on first in the 9th to end the game with Cal winning 3-2 and sweeping the series. Game 3: California. WP: Gavin Eddy (2-0, 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K) LP: Carson Timothy (0-1, 4.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 K).
Next up:
California wraps up the series and returns to action on Wednesday against the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners in Berkeley. California is 8-3 while CSUB is 5-7, but is coming off a 15-8 victory over Texas Tech to avoid a sweep. CSUB @ California will be streamed on ACCNX/ESPN+ on Wednesday at 6:05 PM.
Go Bears. The solid pitching gives me hope for a better record this season. Avoid injury, and the Fri./Sat./Sun rotation should hold its own.
Justin…..really appreciate your detailed but not too detailed summaries. And you are certainly right…..against tougher ACC opponents we are going to have to hit better and play better defense. The pitching has been stellar (aside from too many walks to open an inning) but the tests will come when facing lineups filled with good and some great hitters. I was surprised how weak the UC Irvine hitters were, but great to take 2 of 3 at their place. Go Bears.