Cal Baseball: Bears Upset Ranked Virginia in Charlottesville with ACC-Series Win
Grand Slams, Dominant Pitching, and Timely Offense lead Bears to first ACC Series Win over a Ranked Opponent
CHARLOTTESVILLE – Closing out the final road trip of the 2026 regular season for the Golden Bears, California, a team sitting at 25-23 with a conference record of 8-16 coming into Friday evening, traveled to Davenport Field at Disharoon Park in Charlottesville, VA to take on the nationally ranked No. Virginia Cavaliers (“Wahoos”, “Hoos”, or “Omahoos”).
As mentioned, Virginia entered the weekend nationally ranked at No. 23 and are eyeing an invite to the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament, no matter what the result of the ACC tournament or conclusion of the regular season brings them. Last season, the Cavaliers were led by 5x ACC Coach of the Year Brian O’Connor, who high-tailed out of Charlottesville for Mississippi State after not making the College World Series for the first time since 2019. O’Connor finished 917-388-2 at Virginia with a national championship under his belt in 2015, and was replaced by former Duke HC Chris Pollard, who had been with the Blue Devils since 2013, where he had won two ACC Championships.
Once ranked as high as No. 9 in week six, Virginia has been on a downward spiral as of late, having lost two of their last four ACC series, with one of those losses being a sweep at the hands of Pitt. Cal, on the other hand, has been on an upward trajectory compared to last season but remains far out of the hunt for an invite to the postseason unless an ACC championship comes to fruition. At 8-16 at the bottom of the standings, a run seems far from likely.
The series between Cal and Virginia was one that the Bears could have… SHOULD have flown home with a sweep. Baseball games are stressful and unpredictable by nature, but the Bears strung together two explosive wins against what looked like a deflated Wahoos team, while their pitching, specifically the exceptional pitching from ACC player of the week Gavin Eddy, who did not even get a win, appeared composed and collected while facing off against a top offense in the NCAA that averages over 1.71 home runs per game.
Game 1, Friday 5/8/2026: California 7 – Virginia 4
The California Golden Bears got off to a hot start in Charlottesville, VA, as the Cavaliers’ Henry Zatkowski surrendered a one-out home run to Freshman breakout star Jett Kenady (his ninth of the season) to give the Bears a quick 1-0 lead, while Oliver de la Torre retired the first three UVA batters of the game. The Bears then put up a four-spot on the Hoos in the top of the 2nd, as Campbell reached on a walk, Kodama was hit by a pitch, and Snyder singled to third to load the bases for Hideki Prather. Hideki Prather launched his 12th home run of the season, a 404 ft grand slam to deep center field off Zatkowski, and California was quickly up 5-0 over the nationally ranked Virginia squad.
De la Torre then worked himself into a deep hole in the bottom half of the inning, giving up a leadoff single to Sam Harris, then a base hit to Jake Weatherspoon, and walking Zach Johnson to load the bases for Kyle Johnson. Johnson then took a page straight out of Prather’s book – and hit a grand slam to deep left field, putting Virginia right back into this game down by only one early on.
Zatkowski and de la Torre then both settled into this game and did not allow a run or extra base hit through the 6th – and after getting Kodama to strike out to lead off the top half of the 7th inning, Pollard brought in Lucas Hartman to pitch, who then surrendered a walk to Snyder and a one-out double to Kenady to put runners in scoring position for the Bears. Lawson Olmstead then walked to load the bases, and Daniel Murillo followed with a base hit to right to bring home two runs and make it a 7-4 ball game for California.
Cole Clark would replace de la Torre in the bottom half of the inning and would give up a lone single with two outs in the inning before retiring the next seven in a row to pick up a three-inning save and shut the door on Friday night’s game over Virginia. Cade Campbell went 2-3 on offense while Jett Kenady had two extra-base hits against the Cavaliers’ pitching. De la Torre went at least 6.0 IP for the fifth consecutive start and improved his season ERA to 3.75. Game 1: California. WP: Oliver de la Torre (5-5, 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K). LP: Henry Zatkowski (6-1, 6.1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, BB, 9 K).
Game 2, Saturday 5/9/2026: California 1 – Virginia 2
If there was ever a game that I wanted Cal to win more than anything, there would be a lot of games in a lot of different heartbreaking moments across multiple sports that eat up too much of my headspace. Added to that list of a lot of games was Saturday’s matchup between Cal and Virginia, which saw a spectacular pitching duel between UVA’s John Paone and Cal’s Gavin Eddy, where, truly, both pitchers deserved more support from their offenses.
In a game limited in production in the batter’s box, Cal got on the board first in the top of the 2nd with a Carl Schmidt solo-shot to right field for his ninth of the season to make it 1-0. Gavin Eddy would open this game for California by striking out the side, striking out two of three in the 2nd, not allowing an extra base hit, striking out two in the 5th, three in the 6th, and then finally surrendering his first run of the game in the 7th due to a passed ball from Prather on a dropped third strike, which allowed Kyle Johnson to score from third after he advanced there on a one-out double from Antonio Perrotta.
Cal then stranded two runners on base in the top of the 8th before Cade Colombara would replace Eddy in the 8th, and after getting a quick out to start the inning, Colombara walked Harrison Didawick, Sam Harris reached on an error, and then Jake Weatherspoon brought Didawick home on a fielder’s choice to give UVA a 2-1 lead on an unearned run.
Tyler Kapa would pitch for the Hoos in the 9th against the Bears, and after giving up a leadoff single and two-out walk, he got Brady Errecart to ground out to third to end the game with Virginia picking up just three hits in this game. Gavin Eddy pitched 7.0 innings and struck out a career-high 14 batters while only walking two on a total of 97 pitches. Eddy earned ACC pitcher of the week honors, but earned a no-decision in this contest, as the Bears fell 1-2 to Virginia. Game 2: Virginia. WP: Tyler Kapa (2-2, 1.1 IP, 2 H, BB, K) LP: Cade Colombara (0-2, 1.0 IP, R, BB, K)
Game 3, Sunday 5/10/2026: California 8 – Virginia 7
Down late in this Sunday morning game, the California Golden Bears came back to win and secure their first series win over a ranked opponent this season. Behind an arsenal of seven pitchers and explosive hits that included three home runs – one being another grand slam, California put up a crooked number in the top half of the 7th that put the Bears far enough ahead that any hint of a comeback from the Omahoos was simply not enough.
Getting the start for California was Ethan Foley, who has seen more action out of the bullpen late in games as of recently, as he faced off against Virginia’s Kyle Johnson, who followed his coach from Duke to Virginia and maintains a flex role as a left-handed starter and outfielder.
For the first time in this series, the Cavaliers got on the board first, scoring three runs in the bottom of the third against Foley as Joe Tiroly hit a two-out home run to left to make it 1-0, with Harrison Didawick following with a base hit while Sam Harris followed with a two-run shot that went 435 ft to deep left center field, giving Virginia an immediate 3-0 lead over the Bears. Cal would not respond any time soon, and Virginia would add one more run in the bottom half of the 3rd, as AJ Garcia led off the inning with a home run of his own to give the Cavs a 4-0 lead.
The Bears finally got some momentum going in the top half of the 5th, as Carl Schmidt doubled to lead off the inning and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Olmstead then walked before Errecart and Kodama surrendered two quick outs to Johnson, but Gannon Snyder then came to the plate and launched a three-run home run just over the wall in left field for his first of the season, and the Bears were immediately back in this game, down just one run. Though Virginia did respond quickly with another home run from Joe Tiroly to make it a two-run game, Cal responded right back with a solo shot from Daniel Murillo in the 6th to keep the back-and-forth going and keep the Bears in this game.
Lucas Hartman relieved Johnson in the 7th and surrendered two one-out singles to Errecart and Kodama before hitting Prather with an inside fastball to load the bases for Kenady. Jett Kenady then crushed a 1-0 high fastball to deep left-center field for a 430-ft grand slam, giving the California Golden Bears an 8-5 lead on the 10th home run of his freshman season in Berkeley.
The Cavaliers would plate across two more runs in the bottom half of the inning on the THIRD home run of the game from Joe Tiroly, this time a two-run home run to left. Still, even with Tiroly’s offensive masterpiece, the Bears clawed back at this game and series to win and take down a top-25 team in the nation, and ultimately knock them out of the national rankings (outside of the coaches poll). The Bears win their first series against a ranked opponent this year and end their travels for the regular season. Game 3: California. WP: Cole Clark (3-3, .1 IP) LP: Lucas Hartman (9-2, 0.2 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, K)
The 27-24 (10-17 ACC) California Golden Bears will wrap up the regular season with the rivalry series against Stanford at home this weekend, with game one on Thursday at 7:05 PM, game two on Friday at 6:05 PM, and game three on Saturday at 3:05 PM at Evans Diamond – all games will be streamed on ACCNX/ESPN+.