Cal Baseball: Hokies take Series in Berkeley
California and Virginia Tech faced off for the first time in program history, with the Bears dropping two of three to the Hokies
BERKELEY – For the first time in program history, the California Golden Bears and Virginia Tech Hokies faced off on the baseball diamond at Evans Diamond at Stu Gordon Stadium in Berkeley, CA. Cal and VT, now both full members of the ACC, did not meet last season for Cal’s inaugural year, but as season two comes along, and a Cal Bears baseball team that has improved, albeit lightly, rounded off their rotation of ACC regular season opponents with Virginia Tech, the two barely-above-.500 programs looked to secure a series win to improve their footing within the ACC standings, as Cal nears the bottom, and Virginia Tech fights for middle ground.
Game 1, Friday 5/1/2026: California 1 – Virginia Tech 9
To open up the weekend series at Stu Gordon Stadium, the California Golden Bears and Virginia Tech Hokies squared off on Friday night in Berkeley on Evans Diamond in front of a crowd of about 400 fans for a 6:05 PM first pitch. California’s Oliver de la Torre took the mound for the Golden Bears in his usual Friday opening start, while Virginia Tech’s Brett Renfrow, the No. 48 college prospect by D1Baseball in the 2026 MLB Draft, took the mound for the Hokies against the Cal offense.
Cal entered the game shorthanded, as they were without Jett Kenady, Jacob French, and Joshua Hanson in Friday night’s game, and saw Freshman shortstop Brady Errecart and Graduate Transfer second baseman Taichi Nakao fill in for the downed sluggers in the middle infield. VT would jump on the board first against the shorthanded Bears, as de la Torre worked through the first two innings with no issues – and got two quick outs in the top of the 3rd to begin the inning against the Hokies. Henry Cooke then lined a two-out single to left, and Ethan Ball followed with a two-run home run to right to give VT the first run of the game and a quick 2-0 lead. Hudson Lutterman then followed with a double in the next at-bat, and two throwing errors on the play by Carl Schmidt AND Daniel Murillo allowed him to score from second and make it 3-0 before de la Torre would get out of the inning.
De la Torre would last six innings in this game and give up just the three runs (two earned) as Jett Wright would come in to replace him in the top of the 7th. Wright would go on to give up a Leadoff single to Sam Grube before giving up back-to-back base hits to Henry Cooke and Ethan Ball to make it 4-0 VT, and Cal would finally respond with some offensive life in the bottom half of the inning as the two replacement players, Brady Errecart and Taichi Nakao would both collect a base hit in the inning, the latter of the two picking up an RBI on his to make it 4-1.
Cal would then bring in Take Kreis to relieve Wright in the 8th, and after getting a quick strikeout to begin the inning, he walked Owen Petrich and Pete Daniel in back-to-back at-bats, thus ending his night, and bringing Cade Colombara in to try and get Cal out of the inning. Colombara would surrender an immediate two-RBI base hit to Grube, and VT would finish the inning up 6-1. They would add three more runs in the 9th off of JJ Hollis on an RBI-single from Lutterman, and a two-run home run from Nick Locurto, and the Bears would end up stranding two runners on base in the bottom of the 9th to drop game one by a final score of 9-1. California picked up just five hits in this game as VT steamrolled them offensively and defensively. Renfrow dominated the shorthanded-Cal offense, going 7.0 IP and allowing just four hits while striking out nine Bears. VT won game one dominantly, while California came out flat and ended in the dirt. Game 1: Virginia Tech. WP: Brett Renfrow (4-4, 7.0 IP, 4 H, ER, 3 BB, 9 K). LP: Oliver de la Torre (4-5, 6.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 ER, BB, 3 K).
Game 2, Saturday 5/2/2026: California 2- Virginia Tech 6
Trying to bounce back from an embarrassing loss on Friday night, the California Golden Bears returned to Evans Diamond behind their most efficient pitcher this season, Gavin Eddy. Coming into this game, Eddy had not been charged with a loss since early April, and his coming off back-to-back starts where he completed eight innings of work.
Eddy was matched up against VT’s Logan Eisenreich, who made his third start for the Hokies on Saturday afternoon and his 14th appearance on the mound this season. Both the Bears and Hokies came out of the gates flat as the first six batters were retired on both sides of the dugouts, but it was Virginia Tech who got the scoring started once again, as Sam Gates led off the 3rd with a solo shot to right to make it 1-0, but that was not the only big hit of the inning, as Grube and Gibson would both reach base for Henry Cooke, who launched the first pitch he saw deep into left for a three-run home run to make it 4-0 Virginia Tech.
California would finally respond, albeit quietly, in the bottom of the 4th, as Lawson Olmstead lined an RBI-single to left to get the Bears on the board, but that would be all of the offense they would produce in the first half of this game as they would go empty handed until the bottom of the ninth, at which the Hokies had already added two more runs to their lead in the top of the 7th on an RBI-single from Ethan Gibson off of Cole Clark, and an RBI-triple from Sam Grube off of Ryan Spalliero to make it 6-1 Hokies. Cal’s two runs of offensive production would be as much as a little-to-nothing as far as contributions would go, and the Bears would be sent back to their dorms/apartments with another ACC-series loss to their record in 2026. Game three on Sunday would be a determining factor for Cal if they went into this week below .500, something they have not had to concern themselves with since early-April when Georgia Tech came to Berkeley and smoked Cal like the glade on 420. Eddy’s 10 K’s and just four hits allowed would not be enough juice for the Bears to win this game, and VT looked to finish the sweep on Sunday. Game 2: Virginia Tech. WP: Logan Eisenreich (1-2, 5.0 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 8 K). LP: Gavin Eddy (6-3, 6.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, ER, BB, 10 K).
Game 3, Sunday 5/3/2026: California 9 – Virginia Tech 4
California came out on Sunday in the hunt for a multitude of things. Number one, they did not want to get swept. A sweep from Virginia Tech would put the Bears back below .500, and in dead last behind Clemson in the ACC standings… not that that even matters anymore. Number two, California was looking for its first lead in the series. Cal had not once led in a single game over the weekend, and after having two decent/quality starts from their starters in de la Torre and Eddy, they just needed some offensive momentum to match the performances of their hard-fought pitching.
Getting the start for the Golden Bears on Sunday afternoon at Stu Gordon Stadium was Ethan Foley rather than Otto Espinoza, who has now been slated in the “TBA” Sunday spot for four straight starts for California. Foley and the Bears were up against Griffin Stieg, a junior RHP who had started in all 11 games he appeared in this season for the Hokies.
After getting nothing across in the 1st, Cal jumped on the board first for the only time this series with an RBI-single from Brady Errecart in the bottom half of the 2nd, which kick-started a five-run rally for the Bears that was fueled by a squeeze bunt RBI and a three-run blast from Hideki Prather. VT would immediately respond in the top of the 3rd with a two-run shot from Sam Grube, but the Bears added those two runs right back in the bottom of the 4th as Hideki Prather launched his second home run of the game, this time a two-run shot to deep left field over the RSF to make it 7-2 California.
Foley would pitch 6.0 innings for the Golden Bears in his stellar start where he allowed just three runs on seven hits, as Cal would give their pitcher some much needed offensive support and security with another two insurance runs in the bottom half of the 8th to make it 9-3, as VT would score once more in the top half of the 9th, but it was far too large of a lead in Berkeley for the Hokies to overcome and complete a sweep with. The Bears would get out of the series avoiding falling below .500, avoiding holding last place in the conference solely to themselves, and avoiding a sweep from the team from Blacksburg.
Game 3: California. WP: Ethan Foley (4-3, 6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, BB, 7 K). LP: Griffin Stieg (2-3, 4.0 IP, 5 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 2 K).
The California Golden Bears return to action tomorrow night with a midweek OOC game against the University of Pacific Tigers in Stockton, CA. First pitch will be at 6:00 PM on ESPN+, then California travels to Charlottesville, VA, to take on the No. 23 Cavaliers for the second-to-last ACC series of the season.