Cal Baseball: Tar Heels Hand Bears First Sweep of 2026

The No. 15 North Carolina Diamond Heels made it look too easy against California

BERKELEY – The Golden Bears may have been brought back to reality. Calling the ACC schedule brutal is almost an understatement, as Cal began ACC conference play by hosting the No. 15 team in the nation, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. UNC won the ACC tournament in 2025 while Cal tried for a miraculous push but was stopped short by Georgia Tech. Cal also lost its core players to the portal, while UNC bulked up from its No. 8 team in the nation last year.

Bear Stretches - Pic via Rob Hwang

Coming into this series, UNC and Cal had last faced off in March of 2002, with the Tar Heels holding an all-time matchup record of 5-3 against the Golden Bears. Cal and UNC are in very different places now as programs, but not so much. UNC was and still is an ACC powerhouse, while Cal was/is still is fighting for recognition and a sense of belonging as a baseball program, having to fight an uphill battle against powerhouses such as UNC, which remain in the top 25 year in and year out for college baseball.

There was no question of the better team, and the uphill battle that the Cal Bears will be facing this season as their first introduction to that of this season was getting easily swept by Scott Forbes’ Diamond Heels to begin ACC conference play for 2026.

Game 1, Friday 3/13/2026: California 1 – North Carolina 8

California opened conference play in their second season as a member of the ACC with their first series of the season against the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. UNC, having lost their first ACC series of the season to Virginia in the South’s Oldest Rivalry, bounced back against the Golden Bears, taking advantage of the walks, errors, and free bases given away by California.

Oliver de la Torre got the start for Cal against the Tar Heels to open up the series and overall looked great from the get-go, holding UNC to just one hit through four innings. North Carolina’s Jason DeCaro got the start for the Tar Heels after posting a 9-3 record with the 11^th-best ERA in the ACC at 3.78 in his 16 starts in 2025. DeCaro held Cal to just five hits through 6.0 IP, allowing one earned run while striking out and walking two.

De la Torre retired the first nine batters he faced for the third time this season, but UNC struck first in the top half of the 5^th as Owen Hull hit a one-out double to the right field fence and scored on a two-out RBI-single from Tyler Howe to give the Tar Heels a 1-0 lead. UNC then blew the score wide open in the 6^th as Cal’s pitching and defense began to crumble on a sequence of events that saw four runs on three hits, an error by Cade Campbell at third base for his eighth of the season already, and three batters reaching via walk or hit by pitch. De la Torre’s night was over after 5.1 IP, where he was responsible for the two runners left on base when Garrett Mackowiak came in to relieve him, but Mackowiak faced just one batter, walking him, before Quinn Larson came in to close out the inning with Cal down 0-5.

Oliver de la Torre - Pic by Rob Hwang

Cade Campbell tried to get the Cal offense back in motion with his fourth home run of the season, but his solo shot would be the only run for the Golden Bears in Friday night’s game, as UNC would add on three more insurance runs to take California down 8-1 to open the series. Cal nearly matched Carolina as far as hits go in this game (UNC 10 - Cal 8), but Cal’s inability to get free bases via walks or errors against a top 25 team, while UNC took advantage of many situations, can/will be a glaring gap in Cal’s production against ACC powerhouses this season.

Game 1: North Carolina. WP: Jason DeCaro (4-1) (6.0 IP, 5 H, ER, 2 BB, 2 K). LP: Oliver de la Torre (1-3) (5.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K).

Game 2, Saturday 3/14/2026: California 2 – North Carolina 6

The Bears dropped their first series of the season with Saturday’s loss to the Tar Heels, which also saw the first time Cal has lost three in a row this season.

Cal had won in each of Ethan Foley’s last four starts, going at least 5.0 innings in his last three. Foley returned to his role as the game two starter for Cal in this series against UNC, and matched up against North Carolina’s Ryan Lynch, who was named a Freshman Second Team All-American by both D1Baseball and Baseball America last year after appearing in 27 games.

The Diamond Heels got on the board first against Foley with three consecutive hits in the top of the 1^st and took a 3-0 lead in the top half of the 3^rd on a two-RBI single from Owen Hull. Carolina never gave up the lead in this game, as Foley managed to hold UNC to just three runs in 6.0 IP, 6 H, and 5 K. Cal only managed to salvage two runs in the bottom half of the 6^th against Lynch, as Jacob French led off the inning with a base hit to left and Jett Kenady plated him home on a two-out two-run home run to bring Cal within one.

Otto Espinoza was brought in for Foley in the 7^th and after working two quick outs, surrendered a sequence of a walk, single, RBI-infield-single, and another RBI-single before finally getting Winslow to fly out to Hanson in center to end the inning with Cal down 2-5. UNC added an insurance run in the 8^th when Owen Hull stole third base, and Olmstead airmailed the throw, allowing him to score and make it 6-2, the final score in Saturday’s game. Game 2: North Carolina. WIP: Ryan Lynch (8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, BB, 7 K) LP: Ethan Foley (6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, BB, 5 K).

Game 3, Sunday 3/15/2026: California 2 – North Carolina 10

California extended its losing streak to four games with another loss on Sunday, thus allowing UNC to sweep the series and force Cal to begin ACC play at 0-3 after starting the season at 13-4. Cal’s weekend rotation was capped off with Gavin Eddy getting the start for the Golden Bears in the series finale, with Eddy coming into this game with a 3-0 record and 1.57 ERA after having back-to-back starts with 7.0 IP and less than 2 ER.

Eddy started off hot, retiring the first three Tar Heel batters he faced, but UNC struck first in the top of the 2^nd on a deep home run to center field from Colin Hynek to make it a 1-0 game for Carolina. North Carolina came right out swinging again in the 3^rd with a two-out two-RBI double from Macon Winslow, ending Eddy’s Day and bringing in Cole Clark, but the Diamond Heels then added three more runs in the 4^th on a two-RBI triple from Carter French, who would later score on a ground out-RBI from Jake Schaffner. A leadoff home run from Erik Paulsen would make it a 7-0 game for UNC in the top of the 5^th.

Jacob French - Pic by Rob Hwang

The Golden Bears did add one of their own on a ground out-RBI from Hideki Prather that would bring Joshua Hanson in to make it a six run ball game, but Macon Winslow would add another leadoff home run on the day for North Carolina in the top half of the 7^th to make it an 8-1 game, and Cal would end up giving away two more runs in the 8^th as UNC scored on a wild pitch and walk with the bases loaded to make it 10-1.

A Tyler LeRoy solo shot to left in the bottom of the 9^th would not keep the Bears anywhere near close in this game or series, as Cal would go down stranding two runners on base while down by eight to the No. 15 team in the nation. The Tar Heels led by a lot in this series, and it did not feel close. Game 3: North Carolina. WP: Walker McDuffle (1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 K) LP: Gavin Eddy (3.1 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K)

California drops to 13-7 on the season and opens ACC-play winless as they move on to a midweek matchup against UCONN before traveling east to Chestnut Hill, MA, to take on Boston College.