Cal Baseball: Irish Sweep Bears, ACC Losing Streak Extends to 12 for California

Cal sits dead last in the ACC standings at 6-18 and 18-25 overall after Notre Dame sweeps the Golden Bears.

The California Golden Bears traveled to South Bend, Indiana, over the weekend to face off against the University of Notre Dame. The Bears came into game one with a 10-game losing streak against ACC opponents, and have struggled in late innings with 12 games this season being decided by two runs or less, going 3-9 in that span.

Cal and Notre Dame’s series was the first matchup between the two schools in over 64 years, as the Irish and Bears last faced each other on March 29, 1961, when California won 5-1, but this time the two faced off as members of the ACC, with Notre Dame currently sitting 12th in the conference standings while the Golden Bears sit dead last at 16th- but also on the first year that all 16 schools will play in the ACC tournament.

Friday, April 25th: Cal Drops Series Opener 8-1 to Irish.

Cal and Notre Dame got the series started with a Friday night game in South Bend, Indiana, in front of a small crowd of 357 fans at Frank Eck Stadium. The ballgame was delayed an hour due to the rain, and the temperature stayed within the 40s for the duration of the night.

Notre Dame’s Jack Radel made his 10th start of the season for the Irish, after going 6.0 innings against Stanford last week in ND’s 9-3 win over the Cardinal, while Austin Turkington made his 11th start for the Golden Bears, with Cal losing the last four games he has pitched in.

The Irish got on the board first in the bottom of the 1st with a base hit up the middle by catcher Carson Tinney, who would score on a two-run home run by DH Davis Johnson. Cal would get a run back in the top of the 4th on a lead-off home run by Carl Schmidt, his fourth on the year, to bring the Bears within one.

Cal Baseball during the National Anthem (via @CalBaseball on Instagram)

Notre Dame would score one more run against Turkington in the bottom half of the 4th, as .308 hitting Freshman Parker Brzustewicz led off the inning with a single to left center, while the .338 hitting Senior Nick DeMarco reached on a four-pitch walk to put two runners on for DM Jefferson. Jefferson, who is batting .182 on the year, doubled to right center field, with the ball hopping over the fence for a ground rule double, allowing only Brzustewicz to score and the Irish to take a 3-1 lead.

Turkington would return for the bottom of the 6th inning and strike out Brzustewicz swinging to record the first out, but would be replaced by Logan Piper after going 5.1 innings, giving up six hits, three earned runs, one walk, and striking out seven to keep Cal within a fighting chance for this game. Piper would give up a base hit to Connor Hincks, followed by a two-run home run by Estevan Moreno to give the Fighting Irish a 5-1 lead heading into the 7th.

Piper continued to struggle in the bottom of the 7th as Notre Dame led off the inning with a single up the middle by Jared Zimbardo, who was thrown out at second stealing, but the runner at first was immediately replenished as Tinney was hit by a pitch, and Bino Watters singled to center field to advance Tinney to second. Davis Johnson came to the plate with two runners on and hit his second home run of the night, this one to right field, giving the Irish an 8-1 lead that they would carry through the 9th and take game one of the series with ease.

Cal’s Jacob French (2-4) and Seth Gwynn (2-4) made up more than half of Cal’s six hits on the night, as Austin Turkington (4-5) picked up his fifth loss of the season while the Bears dropped to 18-23, and 6-16 in the ACC, with a conference losing streak of 11 games.

Saturday, April 26th: Notre Dame Sends Cal back to their Hotel Early in a 7-inning Mercy Rule.

Saturday’s 2:00 p.m. game kicked off in front of a crowd of 637 fans at Frank Eck Stadium with Notre Dame’s Rory Fox, making his 10th start of the season after going 7.0 innings in a dominant 11-0 victory over Stanford last weekend, going up against Cal’s Oliver de la Torre, who made his 12th appearance and 5th start of the season for the Golden Bears. de la Torre has done decent as of late, having given up three or fewer earned runs in his last five appearances, having only given up three earned runs to NC State and one to Georgia Tech in games the Bears would both lose.

Fox retired the Bears in order to start the game in the top of the 1st inning, while Notre Dame got on the board against de la Torre in the bottom half of the inning on a Parker Brzustewicz base hit up the middle to score Bino Watters, who reached base via a double one batter prior.

The Irish came back out in the bottom of the 2nd, scoring seven runs, as Jayce Lee hit a solo home run to right field with one out, with DM Jefferson reaching on a two-out base hit, and Davis Johnson getting hit by a pitch to put two runners on base for Carson Tinney. Tinney launched a three-run home run to center field, giving the Irish a 5-0 lead with two outs in the second, but the rally did not end there, as Watters singled to left field on a 2-0 count, followed by Brzustewicz doubling against the wall in left center to put both runners in scoring position for Connor Hincks, who singled to left center field with both runners scoring to give Notre Dame a 7-0 lead. Estevan Moreno followed with a double to score Hincks from first, ending de la Torre’s night and bringing in David Shaw to record the third out of the 2nd and finally stop the two-out rally murder.

Cal finally got their first base runner in the top of the 3rd, as Dominic Smaldino walked with one out before Gwynn and Advincula would end the inning, and the Bears would record their first hit of the ball game off of Fox in the top of the 5th, as Alex Birge singled up the middle on a 3-2 pitch, followed by a two-out double by Smaldino to put both runners in scoring position for Seth Gwynn. Gwynn would ground out to third base, and these would be the only two hits Cal would get in the afternoon.

Alex Birge breaks up Fox’s no-hitter (via @CalBaseball on X)

David Shaw returned to the mound in the 5th for the Golden Bears, hitting DM Jefferson with the first pitch of the inning and walking Johnson and Tinney right after to load to bases for Watters. Watters grounded out to PJ Moutzouridis at shortstop, but a runner scored to make it 9-0 before Brzustewicz would pop up to Smaldino, and Hincks struck out swinging to strand two runners on base.

Jake Guardiancic relieved Shaw in the bottom of the 6th, and struck out Moreno for his first batter faced in the inning before Lee singled to center field and DeMarco walked, ending his night and bringing Jordy Lopez in to face DM Jefferson. Jefferson flew out to Schmidt in left field, but Davis Johnson followed with a single to right to score Lee, and now Cal was three outs away from being 10-run-ruled in a shortened 7-inning game.

Keenan Mork relieved Rory Fox in the top of the 7th for the Irish to try and steal game two via mercy rule, with Fox finishing the afternoon going 6.0 innings, allowing only two hits, one walk, and striking out six in 93 pitches. Mork faced the heart of the Bears’ lineup, but got Campbell to ground out to third, Birge to strike out on three pitches, and Smaldino to ground out right back to him at the mound to end the game and comfortably take the series from California. Ugly game.

Sunday, April 27th: Bears Battle, But the Luck of the Irish Prevails

Cal and Notre Dame wrapped up their 2025 season series with a 1:00 p.m. ball game in front of 667 fans in South Bend, as Cole Tremain and the Golden Bears tried to leave Indiana with a win and avoid a fourth consecutive sweep against an ACC opponent. Notre Dame went with starting pitcher Jackson Dennies for Sunday’s series finale, as he made his eighth start for the Irish and ninth appearance on the season.

Pitchers had a grasp on the start of this game, as the Bears got on the board first, but not until the top of the 3rd inning, when Dominic Smaldino led off with a double down the left field line, and Freshman Kalen Applefield hit his first career home run to right field to put the Bears ahead 2-0, and even had his moment almost taken away as Notre Dame challenged if he had touched home plate or not when running the bases, as he barely clipped the bag with his heel while eagerily crossing home plate and headed towards the Cal dugout to celebrate his accomplishment. Jacob French tripled to left with two outs in the inning, but was stranded at third as Cal took their first lead of the series into the bottom half of the inning.

Kalen Applefield connects for his first NCAA home run (via @CalBaseball on X)

The lead did not last long, as Johnson and Tinney reached on back-to-back one-out walks, and Watters was hit by a pitch to load the bases and end Tremain’s afternoon. Ethan Foley came in and surrendered an immediate double to Brzustewicz, which scored Johnson and Tinney and tied the game at 2-2. Hincks followed by striking out swinging, but Moreno then walked, and Lee reached on a throwing error by Moutzouridis at short, which allowed Brzustewicz and Watters to score. DeMarco followed with a single to left center to score Moreno, and Notre Dame had a 5-2 lead just like that.

Cal got a run back in the top of the 6th as Schmidt led off the inning with a single up the middle, and Tayman singled to left to put two runners on for Dominic Smaldino. Smaldino doubled to right to score Schmidt and make it a 5-3 ballgame, but that was all Cal could get across then as Applefield and Advicula would be retired to end the inning. The Bears would make it a one-run game in the top of the 7th, as Oisin Lee came in to pitch for the Irish, and gave up a back-to-back singles to Moutzouridis and French to put runners on the corners for Max Handron, who hit a sac-fly deep enough to left field to score Moutzouridis and make it 5-4 Irish.

Notre Dame would get that run back as Brzustewicz would reach on the second error by Moutzouridis in the afternoon, and he would score as Hincks tripled down the right field line on a 3-2 pitch to make it a 6-4 game for Notre Dame heading into the 8th.

Smaldino would hit his third double of the game to put a runner in scoring position for Cal in the top of the 8th inning, and Kalen Applefield singled through the middle to bring him home and bring the Bears back within a run headed into the last inning. Cal led off the 9th with Moutzouridis grounding out to third base, but Jacob French subsequently reached after being hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Handron grounded out to first base, but by keeping the ball on the ground and the right side of the infield, French was able to advance to third, and Cal had the tying run within 90 feet of scoring. Sadly, Carl Schmidt would ground out to short, and Notre Dame would sweep the Bears in three games, as Cal’s struggles and losing streak continue to plague what was supposed to be a very promising 2025 season.

Cal drops to 18-25, 6-18 ACC, while Notre Dame improves to 24-17, 10-14 ACC and jumps Boston College in the ACC standings. Cal currently sits below Pitt as the bottom seed in the ACC Baseball tournament, and will host San Francisco (19-25, 7-11 WCC) in a nonconference game at Stu Gordon Stadium tonight on ESPN+/ACCNX.