Cal Baseball: Bears Win Weekend Series Over Anteaters in Irvine
California improves to 4-3 to begin the season after upsetting UC Irvine on the road behind dominant pitching performances and an awakened offense.
IRVINE – The California Golden Bears looked to bounce back from an open split series against the Santa Clara Broncos with a trip down south to Irvine, CA, to face off against the Anteaters, who have been at the forefront of Big West and California baseball for the 2020s. The Anteaters, coming off a weekend sweep over Sacramento State and a mid-week victory over San Diego State, rolled into 2026 as hot as they were in 2025 – where former Anteater and current head coach Ben Orloff led the Irvine squad to the NCAA Division I baseball tournament at the Los Angeles Super Regional with a 43-17 final record.
he Anteaters threw two of their best arms at the Golden Bears, with Junior Trevor Hansen earning the Friday night starting role after earning All-Big West First Team and Big West All-Tournament Team honors last season, where posted a 9-3 record with 3.30 ERA while striking out 95 in 95.1 innings – and Junior Lefty Ricky Ojeda earning the Saturday afternoon start, even though his success as a Sophomore came as a reliever, where the Valencia-born pitcher tossed 66 innings while striking out 83 to finish 13-1 with two saves.
Mike Neu’s Golden Bears went back to a weekend rotation of starters with Oliver de la Torre, Ethan Foley, and Gavin Eddy. de la Torre got the loss in last Friday’s game against Santa Clara after pitching 4.0 innings and allowing just 1 ER. At the same time, Foley and Eddy both earned ND (no-decisions) in their starts against Santa Clara on Saturday’s double-header.
Game 1 – Friday, 2/20/2026: California 3 – UC Irvine 5
The California Golden Bears could not get the upper hand in the series opener over the Anteaters, as UC Irvine’s Trevor Hansen was utterly dominant in his second start of the 2026 season. The third-year starting pitcher has not missed a game since being elevated to his role as a freshman, and last season he started every weekend for the Anteaters.
To open up the three-game series at Anteater Ballpark, Hansen retired the Bears in order, on just five pitches. de la Torre had a solid bottom half of the 1st for himself, getting the UCI offense out in order on just 12 pitches.
Cal had no response to Hansen, as their only early offense was quickly shut down after Carl Schmidt ripped a lead-off single in the 2nd, but was immediately doubled-up on a line-out to first base to allow Hansen to retire nine-straight batters to start the game. de la Torre was keeping Cal just as competitive, retiring the first nine batters he faced in the UCI lineup before allowing his first hit in the 4th.
The bottom half of the 4th is where the Anteaters scored first and took the lead in this game, as Frankie Carney led off with a base hit and advanced to third on a double from Zach Fjelstad. Carney would score on a SAC-Fly from Tommy Famer, while Fjelstad would be brought home on an RBI-single from Alonso Reyes to give the Anteaters a 2-0 lead before de la Torre could get out of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts to Felsch and Hilman.
Quinn Larson would come in to relieve de la Torre in the bottom half of the 5th, and the first batter he faced would reach base on an error by Carl Schmidt in LF on a dropped fly-ball. Larson would then give up a double to Zach Doyle to put runners in scoring position for Carney, who grounded into a fielder’s choice, allowing the unearned run to score and giving UCI a 3-0 lead. Reyes would also hit a 2-RBI single to shallow center field to make it a 5-0 game, before Castagnola struck out swinging to end the inning.
Hansen would not allow a run against the Golden Bears until the top of the 8th inning, after Cade Campbell hit a one-out single, Jett Kenady hit a double down the 3B line, and Ethan Kodama was HBP to load the bases for Gannon Snyder, who hit a deep-enough line-drive to left for Campbell to score. Hideki Prather then followed with a base hit to left to bring in Kenady, but he was thrown out at 2B trying to extend his hit into a double, thus ending the rally for the Bears, down three.
Cal was able to get Hansen out of the game in the 9th with a one-out triple down the right field line from Daniel Murillo, and Peyton Rodgers came in from the bullpen giving up an immediate RBI-double to Joshua Hanson to make it 5-3, but that would be it for the Bears under the lights on Friday night, as they would go down swinging with a ground-out to short and a line-out to left. Game 1: UC Irvine. WP: Trevor Hansen (8.1 IP, 3 ER, 9 K, 0 BB, 6 H). LP: Oliver de la Torre (4.0 IP, 4 K, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB).
Game 2 – Saturday, 2/21/2026: California 11 – UC Irvine 2
Covering my first in-person game of the 2026 season, California handed UC Irvine a brutal beating in front of a crowd of 984 fans at Anteater Ballpark. Seated in my section were scouts from teams as far east as the New York Mets, and as close to the University of California, Irvine as the Los Angeles Angels. With my laptop in my lap and cold water in my hands, my partner and I were seated between 15-20 people there to watch UCI’s Ricky Ojeda take on the California Golden Bears as a starting pitcher for the Anteaters.
Ojeda, a lefty reliever in 2025, was the first ever reliever to win the Big West Pitcher of the Year award. Ojeda is a NCBWA and Perfect Game Third Team All-American, a two-time First Team All-Big West selection, and a College Baseball Foundation National Pitcher of the Year Semifinalist, while also representing the US Collegiate National team. At 5’11” and 185 lbs., the Junior lefty sits at the low-mid 90s with this fastball and throws a high-arching curveball. Dare I say, I was ill-prepared for the hype of this afternoon's game.
The hype was just noise for the California Golden Bears, as Hideki Prather got Cal on the board on the first pitch of the game with a leadoff home run to pick up the first collegiate home run of his career. Daniel Murillo continued to show how well he has adjusted to the NCAA Division I level by picking up a triple and was brought in on a base hit from Kevin Jeon to make it 2-0 Bears in the top of the 1st.
The Anteater offense was able to get one back against Foley with a string of runners put on base with a hit, walk, and one-out RBI-single, but Foley worked through some deep at-bats and pitch counts to get out of the inning after just the one run with a strikeout and pop-fly to left.
Ojeda was able to settle in for a quick one-two-three top of the 2nd, but Foley was even quicker with the Anteaters going down in order on just seven pitches. Prather came out swinging again at the top of the 3rd, picking up a lead-off double to get a rally started for the Bears, where Jacob French reached on a walk, and Kevin Jeon hit a single to left that rolled underneath the glove of Felsch to the 335-wall, allowing Jeon to reach third and both runners to score. Prather would score on a SAC-fly from Campbell, and the Bears took a 5-1 lead in the 3rd.
The Anteaters added one back after Foley worked two quick groundouts towards the right side of the infield, but after allowing a base hit to Farmer, and working a deep pitch-count to Reyes, Reyes then sliced a line-drive towards left on a 3-2 pitch that would bring Farmer home on a hit-and-run, cutting the Bears’ lead down to 5-2.
Ojeda’s day was done in front of a disappointed section of scouts who all packed up and left shortly after, as I sprawled out in the sun. Danny Suarez came in for the Anteaters at the top of the 4th and immediately surrendered a base hit to Joshua Hanson, who advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Ethan Kodama. Hideki Prather than homered again for the second time in this game to make it a 7-2 ball game, and Jacob French followed with a solo shot of his own to make it 8-2.
Ethan Foley would be relieved by Otto Espinoza in the bottom half of the 6th, after going 5.0 innings and allowing just 4 H, 2 ER, and 2 K. Espinoza worked himself into a jam by walking his first batter and then hitting his second with a curveball that did not curve before getting James Castagnola and Kai Smith to strike out looking. Espizona would then walk Oretga to load the bases with two outs, but a third strikeout in the inning got him out of the bases-loaded jam with an excited Cal-bench waiting for him.
Cal would add three more runs in this game in the top half of the 9th with Murillo reaching base after getting hit by a pitch and scoring on a Cade Campbell base hit up the middle, a fielder’s choice RBI to bring home Campbell, and an RBI-single from Ethan Kodama before Otto Espinoza would return to the mound for the 9th for California.
Espinoza would retire all three Anteaters on just 12 pitches, giving Cal the 11-2 win with a relief performance that had 4.0 innings pitched, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, and 6 K. Game 2: California. WP: Ethan Foley (5.0 IP, 2 K, 2 BB, 2 ER, 4 H) LP: Ricky Ojeda (3.0 IP, 3 K, 4 ER, 5 R, 6 H, 1 BB)
Game 3 – Sunday, 2/22/2026: California 4 – UC Irvine 2
Gavin Eddy took the mound for the Golden Bears in the rubber match of the series against the UCI Anteaters, and with an opportunity to take the series against one of the nation’s top teams, California shocked the nation and weekend predictions.
Cal got on the board early in the 1st against Freshman RHP Cade Castles with a lead-off double from Hideki Prather, who would score on a fielder’s choice to put the Bears ahead. Cal would also add one more in the top of the 3rd on an RBI-single to right from Daniel Murillo, making it 2-0 Bears. Eddy would retire the first eight Irvine batters he faced in this game.
Cade Castles would end up going 4.0 innings in the second start of his rookie season before being relieved by Tim Grack, who would get Freshman Jackson Norum to fly out to right, but then walked Kodama and allowed him to advance to second on a wild pitch. Grack was able to strike out Prather to get two outs in the inning, but he then hit French with a pitch to put two runners on for Murillo, who hit another RBI-single to make it 3-0. French would then score on a botched pick-off attempt at first base to get Murillo, and Cal had their four runs of the day secured in the 5th.
Gavin Eddy’s day would end after 5.0 innings 8 K, 0 BB, 0 ER, and 5 H with Dallas, TX Freshman Jett Wright coming in to relieve Eddy in the 6th, but his day would be short after surrendering a quick hit and walk to his first and only two batters before Cole Clark came in to get Gaz to ground into a double play, and struck out Crandall to end the inning.
UCI did get a run on the board in the 7th after Cole walked back-to-back batters and threw a wild pitch to give each one a free 90 feet on the bases. Fjelstad would bring Gutierrez in from third on a SAC-Fly to make it a 4-1 ball game – and the Anteaters added one more in the 8th on a lead-off triple and a fielder’s choice to make it 4-2.
Cal would stick to Pleasanton, CA native, Take Kreis to close out the game and series for the Bears with a win, but the Anteaters would not go down without a fight in this Sunday afternoon rubber match. Gutierrez led off the inning with a single to left and advanced on a wild pitch while Carney reached on a walk to put two runners on. Fjelstad then laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners into scoring position, before Farmer struck out to get the first out of the inning. Reyes then walked to load the bases with two outs, but a ground ball to French for a 4-3 putout ended the game and gave the Bears the win and series. Game 3: California. WP: Gavin Foley (5.0 IP, 8 K, 0 BB, 5 H, 0 R) LP: Cade Castles (4.0 IP, 1 K, 0 BB, 2 ER, 4 H)
California advances to 4-3 on the season and heads back north for a mid-week home & home slate against UC Davis at Evans Diamond at Stu Gordon Stadium and Dobbins Stadium in Davis, and then a weekend series at home against Sacramento State.
Great series. It was definitely fun seeing the offensive barrage on Saturday.
“I sprawled out in the sun.” Yes! A glorious way to spend a Saturday in February.