California Golden Bears Baseball: A Way-Too-Early 2025 Season Preview

A look into the transfers, losses, and upcoming season in the Atlantic Coast Conference after narrowly missing the post season.

Fall ball is back at Evans Diamond in Stu Gordon Stadium, which means the California Golden Bears are preparing to bring the East Bay’s university to THE powerhouse baseball conference. While the schedule for the Atlantic Coast Conference’s 2025 baseball season has yet to be announced, Cal, along with rival Stanford (SMU does not field a baseball program), will have to be ready to step up to the plate against a rigorous travel schedule, and a whole new level of competition- with a total of 15 of top-100 teams in Division 1 baseball coming from the ACC. A link to Cal’s remaining Fall Ball scrimmage games against teams such as Saint Mary’s, and the legendary intrasquad World Series between ‘‘Grey v. Navy’’ schedule can be found here. Cal defeated the University of the Pacific in a doubleheader, winning both games 7-2 and 6-0. Canadian secondary institution Okanagan College’s baseball team made the trip down to Berkeley as well- with the Bears defeating them 13-6.

Head Coach Mike Neu enters his 8th season with California, who begins the 2025 season nationally ranked at #82 by d1baseball after narrowly missing the postseason as members of the “First Four Out” club when the field of 64 teams was chosen for the regional college world series tournaments, at number 65. Cal had missed out on the opportunity to automatically qualify for the NCAA Regional tournament after losing 7-4 to USC in the semifinals of their last Pac-12 Baseball Tournament. Notable moments of the season included a 22-7 home record at the Stu, a three-game sweep of ranked #5 Oregon State, winning 20 of the last 25 games, and FOUR players drafted to the Major Leagues: including C Caleb Lomavita (R1, 39OVR), OF Rodney Green Jr. (R4, 104OVR), P Christian Becerra (R12, 368OVR), and P Andres Galan (R17, 516OVR). Other notable signees include P Tyler Satsiowski, who signed with the Minnesota Twins as an undrafted Free Agent.

(Mike Neu via. Rob Edwards/ klcfotos)

The Golden Bears will be without notable names and faces of the last few seasons in Berkeley, as Ian May (UCLA), Carson Crawford (Washington), Robert Aivazian (Santa Clara), Peyton Schulze (Texas Tech), Oliver Boone (Kentucky), Trey Newmann (TCU), Garrett McGuigan (Golden West), Finley Buckner (Pepperdine), Arthur Liu (Long Beach St.), and Carter Bailey (Georgia St.) all hit the transfer portal after last season. Jack Kirrer has also medically retired and will not be returning for the upcoming season.

All-Pac-12 Infielders Jarren Advincula and PJ Moutzouridis and Pac-12 Honorable mention outfielder Seth Gwynn will return and headline the Golden Bears squad on their journey from sea to shining seas. The Golden Bears’ reliance on the transfer portal has made headlines in college football and basketball, so the baseball program’s key offseason transfer additions should be of no shock to anyone, as Cal filled holes in infield depth with the additions of (R)Fr. INF Carl Schmidt; the No. 103 national prospect of his class, Sr. INF/RHP Jacob French- an All-CCAA Second Team recipient, Sr. INF Jeff Hoffman who batted .344 with a .459 OBP last season, ASU-de-commit RHP Ryan Spalliero, (R)Jr. Alex Birge, So. RHP JJ Hollis, Sr. RHP/OF Cole Tremain, Jr. RHP Cole Clark, who is expected to be fully recovered after Tommy John surgery at LMU, Jr. INF Luke Giotta, So. RHP Ethan Foley, Sr. LHP David Shaw, and Jr. RHP Spencer Dessart. Incoming Freshmen Elijah Clayton, Miles Tenscher, Jake Lavin, Kalen Applefield, Roman Trinidad, Max Murray, Jordy Lopez, Kyle Connelly, Gavin Eddy, and Dylan Green join the Golden Bears as well this season.

Baseball in the Atlantic Coast Conference will be a whole different ball game for California. Beyond the travel and expenses, the South Atlantic states are an entirely new recruitment ground for the University of California, Berkeley in all ACC-participating sports, as baseball players here are where many of the nation’s best grow up and play. Notable ACC nationally-ranked teams include No. 6 Virginia, No. 10 FSU, No. 11 Stanford, No. 12 North Carolina, No. 14 NC State, No. 18 Louisville, and No. 24 Wake Forest. If Cal can keep the momentum and culture alive from last season’s momentous, yet heartbreaking and rejecting finish, then winning games against the much stronger conference schedule of the ACC would position them immensely for playoff consideration- though Evans Diamond will still not be considered for hosting any NCAA tournament events. The Golden Bears have upped their efforts in practice and dedication for longevity this season by adding two new tech/data-oriented student managers, Emily Doami and Philip Liu- and adding Lucas Anderson as the team’s new bullpen catcher.

Follow along and subscribe to Write For California as we continue to cover the California Golden Bears’ 2025 ACC Baseball season!