Cal Baseball: BEARS SWEEP STANFORD ON THE ROAD FOR THE FIRST TIME IN RIVALRY HISTORY

California sweeps No. 14 in the nation Stanford in a three-game series at Sunken Diamond for the first time in program history to improve to 5-4 in the ACC.

Let us go down a rather turbulent history with our bitter rival, the Stanford Cardinal. For starters, Cal has not swept Stanford since 1992, when they did so in Berkeley at Evans Diamond under head coach Bob Milano, and went to the College World Series that season. Stanford had a 50-16 record at home against Cal since 1999, with an 18-game win streak that lasted from March 10, 2002 - May 6th, 2005. Stanford in recent years, is a premier baseball program. Cal, on the other hand, has to rap to save theirs, while Stanford advocates for their rival’s existence.

Friday, 3/21: Cal Loves ACC Fridays.

Stanford entered Friday night at 15-3 and No. 14 in the nation on NCAA’s DI Baseball rankings, with back-to-back ACC series wins against No. 4 UNC and Duke via sweep. The Cardinal rotation has been dominant thus far this season, with game one pitcher Matt Scott beginning the year at 4-0 with a 3.08 in his five starts coming into his matchup against Bears’ ace Austin Turkington, who is 2-0 in his last two starts with 17 strikeouts in 13.2 innings. Sunken Diamond had 1,667 fans in attendance for a 66-degree night while the greatest university in the world faced off against Stanford.

The Golden Bears got game one of their first-ever Cal-Stanford ACC-based rivalry game underway with a one-out home run in the top of the 1st by Alex Birge for his sixth of the season to put Cal ahead early, and Scott’s first home run he has allowed this season. Turkington worked through a lone two-out single by D1Baseball Preseason ACC Freshman of the Year, Rintaro Sasaki, who set the Japanese high school record with 140 career home runs, As the Bears’ ace would get Cal back to the plate in the top of the 2nd not allow a base runner until the bottom of the 3rd inning.

Fun fact as well (just because I have been following his recruitment ever since Cal was in the running with UCLA, Vandy, and Furd); Rintaro’s father is the head baseball coach at Hanamaki Higashi High School where Shohei Ohtani played!

Moutzouridis and French got the 2nd inning started with lead-off singles to put runners on the corners for Seth Gwynn to bring PJ home on a sac fly, and a Smaldino double put runners in scoring position for Carl Schmidt, who was coming off of a six RBI evening against Saint Mary’s on Tuesday. Schmidt singled to center field to bring French and Smaldino home, and the Bears jumped ahead 4-0 early in the 2nd. With one out and Schmidt on first, Jarren Advincula connected for his second home run of the season to add two more runs for the Golden Bears. An Alex Birge walk and Ryan Tayman single would end Matt Scott’s night for the Cardinal, and bring in sophomore relief pitcher Ben Reimers to get Moutzouridis to pop up to Sasaki at first base to end the inning.

Stanford would get one across in the bottom half of the third inning as Tatum Marsh singled to left field with one out, and back-to-back singles with two outs by Brandon Larson and Rintaro Sasaki put the Cardinal on the scoreboard and brought Cal’s lead to 6-1. Turkington would give up one more run in the bottom of the 4th as Temo Becerra and Charlie Bates both reached on one-out singles, with Becerra scoring on a fielder’s choice, and one more in the bottom of the 5th as Larson and Sasaki again hit back-to-back one-out singles, with Larson scoring on an RBI base hit by Jimmy Nati to bring Stanford within three with plenty of innings left to play.

Advincula led off the top of the 6th with a pop fly to Brady Reynolds in right field, and Birge followed with his second walk of the night. Trevor Moore came into relief pitch for the Stanford bullpen, and on his second pitch of the night, Cade Campbell ripped a double down the right field line to put runners in scoring position for Ryan Tayman. Tayman brought Birge home on a double of his own to put the Bears up 7-3, and Jacob French followed with a two-RBI triple to score Campbell and Tayman and put the Bears up 9-3. Moore’s night would end there and Cohen Gomez would come in with French on third base, Gomez would allow French to score on a wild pitch before Seth Gwynn struck out looking to end the inning with Cal up 10-3 over Stanford.

Alex Birge Homers Twice Against Stanford (via Matthew Huang/ISI Photos)

Turkington quickly retired Becerra, Bates, and Marsh in order in the bottom of the 6th to get the Bears’ offense right back at the plate for the top of the 7th and for the rare chance to end the game early via mercy rule against their bitter rival. Dominic Smaldino led off the inning by reaching base via a throwing error by Becerra at short, and Carl Schmidt brought him home on an RBI double to left. Kodama came in to run for Schmidt at second, and Alex Birge hit his second home run of the game to put the Bears up 13-3, and in position to end the game via a 10-run rule. Birge went 2-2 on the night with three RBIs, three runs, three walks, and two home runs to bring his season total to seven.

With Cal in position to end the game early, Turkington returned to pitch the bottom half of the 7th and got the first out all by himself via a lineout directly back to him, and got Larson and Sasaki out via lineouts to first base and center field to end the game with his second 7.0 inning complete game victory to move to 4-2 on the season and an opponent’s BAVG of .214 while striking out 35. Cal is 3-0 on Friday nights against ACC teams this season and looked to win their first in-conference series of the season against their rivals across the bay the next morning.

Saturday, 3/22: Cal Wins a Series!

California has struggled thus far with keeping their momentum going into the next game of a series each weekend. They came out hot against Virginia with a win on Friday just to choke a four-run lead in the 9th on the Saturday game, and lose the Sunday game by six runs, as well as the Duke series where Cal won in seven innings via mercy rule, only to lose the Saturday and Sunday games 2-6 and 3-7.

Mike Neu looked to change that narrative for Cal over the weekend at Sunken Diamond on Saturday afternoon, where 2,147 fans from across the Bay Area came out to watch the Atlantic Coast’s most Pacific schools battle it out. Christian Lim got the start on the mound for the Stanford Cardinal, making his sixth appearance and start of the season. Last weekend against Duke, he went 6.0 innings in Stanford’s 11-1 victory over the Blue Devils and looked to continue that success against Cal, as the Bears offense would go down one-two-three to start the game off in the top of the first.

Cal pitcher Gavin Eddy also made his sixth start of the season. Last week against Virginia, he got a no-decision in his 5.0 innings pitched where he allowed two earned runs on four hits and has not pitched less than 4.0 innings in a game for the Bears thus far. Eddy worked through two base hits in the bottom of the 1st inning to retire Stanford without allowing any runs to score, and get the Cal offense back out to the plate while some of the prior night’s momentum can maybe still be there.

Tayman started the 2nd off for Cal with a leadoff triple and scored on an error by the shortstop that would put Moutzouridis on base. French would connect for a single of his own to put two runners on for Gwynn, who sacrifice bunted the runners into scoring position for Smaldino, who doubled to right center field to score both runners and put Cal ahead 3-0. Schmidt followed by getting hit by a pitch and Advincula then singled through the left side of the infield to score Smaldino and give Cal their fourth run of the inning.

Jacob French Rounding First on his Second Triple (via Fausto Ibarra)

Eddy settled in the Bears striking out Reynolds and getting Becerra to roll over to second base, before getting Bates to strike out looking and end the inning three up three down. Lim would have similar success in the top half of the 3rd, as he would retire Campbell, Tayman, and Moutzouridis in order, but a lead-off hit by pitch for Stanford in the bottom of the 3rd would be their only base runner, as Haskins, Larson, and Sasaki could not get anything going for the Cardinal.

Lim exchanged HBP back with Cal’s Jacob French to lead off the top of the 4th inning, and a Seth Gwynn double set up runners in scoring position for Smaldino once again. This time, Smaldino reached on an error by Haskins at third base, with both French and Gwynn scoring to give Cal a 6-0 lead heading into the bottom of the 4th.

Eddy gave up a leadoff single to Saum to start the inning before getting Nati to fly out to left field, but Reynolds and Becerra both got on base via a single and walk to load the bags for Charlie Bates, who would reach on a fielder’s choice as Saum would score Stanford’s first run of the ballgame. Cal would immediately respond in the top half of the 5th with Tayman and Moutzouridis to leadoff with back-to-back singles, and Jacob French to bring them both home with his second triple of the series. French would score on a sacrifice fly to left by Gwynn, and a single by Smaldino would end Lim’s afternoon and bring Northwestern transfer Sam Garewal into relief, making his fifth appearance out of the bullpen this season after missing all of last year due to injury.

Eddy worked through the bottom of the 5th getting Haskins and Larson to fly out to right and center field, but Japanese superstar Sasaki would hit a fly ball of his own, only this one would leave the yard for his fourth home run of the season to bring the score to 9-2 California. Birge would lead off the top of the 6th for Cal with another walk in this series, and Tayman would bring him home on a two-run home run to increase the score to 11-2. French would get another double before the inning would end and he would be stranded at second as Eddy returned for the bottom of the 6th and struck out Nati and Reynolds swinging while Becerra grounded out to Campbell to get his second three-up-three-down inning of the afternoon.

Garewal’s day was over after 1.2 innings as Kassius Thomas came in to pitch for Stanford, and threw 2.0 scoreless innings for the Cardinal and only allowed one baserunner when he hit the first batter he faced (Smaldino) with a pitch but got Schmidt to ground into a double play in the next at-bat. The Cardinal added one more on a Haskins two-out home run to left followed by a Larson walk to end Gavin Eddy’s night with 6.2 innings pitched, eight strikeouts, two walks, and three earned runs, bringing in Cole Clark to try and finish the game in a long-relief appearance for the Bears’ bullpen with a 11-3 lead. Nati homered in the bottom of the 8th to make it an 11-4 ballgame, but the Bears added those runs right back as Austin Steeves relived Thomas, and gave up a third triple to Jacob French this series, and he scored on a groundout to the right side of the infield. Smaldino followed with a solo shot home run to give Cal a 13-4 lead heading into the bottom half of the 9th, and Stanford’s three pinch hitters sent to the plate all struck out to end the game without a fight and give Cal the series heading into Sunday’s finale.

Eddy earned his second win of the season and Cal improved to 12-10 and 4-4 in the ACC. Ryan Tayman went 3-5 with two RBIs and Jacob French went 4-4 with two triples and four runs. Stanford committed three errors while stranding seven runners on base, as Christian Lim took the loss while allowing nine runs on 10 hits. Cal won their first ACC series and looked to Sunday to sweep the Cardinal on The Farm for the first time in their programs’ histories.

Sunday, 3/23: IT’S HAPPENING.

As mentioned above, The California Baseball program has never completed a three-game sweep of Stanford at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond. Cal looked to change that on Sunday, and the Bears and Cardinal do not meet again this season as they typically did in Pac-12 fashion, so their only lone chance for a sweep and season-long bragging rights laid on Sunday’s games’ fate. David Shaw made his second start for the Bears this season, going up against Stanford’s Joey Volchko, who is 2-0 this season with wins against Xavier and North Carolina.

Cade Campbell got it started for the Bears with a two-out home run to left in the top of the 1st inning and Shaw got Haskins, Sasaki, and Nati to all ground out to retire Stanford in order and keep the Cal pitching momentum going. Volchko bounced back with a one-two-three inning of his own, and the Cardinal bats got it going for the first time this series, as with one out in the bottom of the 2nd, Reynolds and Larson both walked and Becerra followed with a base hit to load the bases for Ethan Hott. Hott hit a hard single through the right side of the infield that scored Reynolds and Larson, giving Stanford their first lead of the series and knocking Shaw out of the game early, bringing in Spencer Dessart from the bullpen with one out in the 2nd. Dessart got out of the inning as Marsh flew out to Smaldino in foul territory, and Haskins rolled over to Dessart who threw the ball to first to end the inning and Stanford's rally.

Volchko and Dessart worked through the 3rd inning with not too much trouble, but Stanford was able to get two more runs across in the bottom of the 4th as Hott, Marsh, and Haskins hit consecutive one-out singles to get a run across, and Sasaki walked to load the bases and end Dessart’s day. Logan Piper made his eighth appearance of the season out of the bullpen and got out of the inning only allowing one run via a sacrifice fly as Reynolds struck out to end the inning and hold the Cardinal lead at 4-1 with the bases loaded.

Jacob French got the comeback started for the Bears as he singled to right field on the first pitch of the 5th, and Gwynn followed suit right behind him for Carl Schmidt to bring French home with a base knock. Advincula would reach on a fielder's choice that would get Schmidt out at second base but score Gwynn, and back-to-back singles by Birge and Campbell helped bring the Bears right back into the game and tie Stanford at 4-4, as Volchko’s day ended there, with 4.2 innings pitched, four earned runs, four strikeouts, and six hits allowed.

de la Torre relieved Piper in the bottom of the 5th, giving up a one-out double to Becerra before walking Hott and getting out of the inning via a double play, as Cal loaded the bases in the 6th with a Jacob French double and back-to-back Gwynn and Smaldino walks for Carl Schmidt, who struck out swinging in three pitches, but with two outs and a 0-0 count, Advincula was hit by a pitch, scoring French, giving Cal their first lead of the afternoon. The lead would not last long, as de la Torre struggled with his command in the 6th giving up a leadoff single to Haskins before hitting Sasaki with a pitch, and then dialed back in by striking out Nati and Saum to get two quick outs and appear like he would get out of the inning with no harm done, but Reynolds singled up the middle allowing Haskins to make the run from second base to home and tying the game at 5-5.

Cal and Stanford would get nothing across offensively for the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings, meaning that the game would go into extra innings, the day before both teams have a single game against local Bay Area schools before their flights across the country to Louisville (Cal) and Virginia (Stanford).

Cal would start the 10th inning off with a leadoff single up the middle by Moutzouridis, who would steal second (and be called safe after review) and instantly be in scoring position for the Bears’ offense to pull ahead. With two outs, Smaldino worked the count to 3-2 before reaching base via a walk, allowing Ethan Kodama to come to the plate, and single down the left-field line, giving Moutzouridis plenty of time to round third and score, giving Cal the 6-5 lead heading into the bottom of the 10th.

Cole Tremain pitched the bottom of the 10th inning for the Bears, slated to face the nine, one, and two batters in the lineup, and got Marsh to leadoff by grounding out to Advincula at second base, where Stanford's first base coach was adamant that Smaldino pulled his foot, but after further review, the out call was upheld, and Haskins came to the plate with no one on and one out. Haskins singled up the middle to try and keep something going for the Cardinal, but Sasaki and Nati both hit pop-ups to the corner infielders in foul territory to end the game, the series, and the season matchup for the Bay Area’s greatest rivals with Cal defeating Stanford 6-5.

Cal finally swept Stanford, at Stanford, for the first time, after not winning an ACC series so far this season. It took Cal’s main rival and No. 14 team in the entire nation for the Bears to win a series that is not Nevada, and California improves to 13-10 on the season with a 5-4 ACC record, while Stanford is still 15-6 but also falls to 5-4 in the ACC. Cal also sneaks into 64Analytics’ D1 Top 25, with Jacob French earning top DI hitter of the week after going 11-17 with two doubles, three triples, and a 1.118 SLG%.

By the time this is posted, Cal will most likely have just finished their matchup against the University of San Francisco, while Stanford is playing theirs against San Jose State. Cal travels to Louisville to take on the Cardinals (the birds with an “s” at the end, not the color we just faced) who are currently 18-5 with a 15-2 record at home.

Games will be streamed on ESPN+ through the ACC Network Subscription package. Game one will be on Friday, Mar. 28 (3:00 PM), Game two on Saturday, Mar. 29 (11:00 AM), and Game three on Sunday, Mar. 30 (9:00 AM).

Congrats California, 2025 Big Game Baseball Champions.