Cal Visits SJSU, Opens ACC Play With UNC

The red-hot California baseball team is set for another four-game week visiting San Jose State on Tuesday before hosting No. 15 North Carolina this weekend to open its ACC schedule.

The Golden Bears (12-3) are coming off a four-game sweep of San Diego and have won 11 straight games for the first time since 1989. It is tied for the second-longest win streak in program history with the record being 14 games in 1931. The Spartans (4-11) enter the week having lost five straight and the Tar Heels (13-3-1) opened conference play last weekend by losing two of three to Virginia at home.

San Jose State

Game 1

·       Date and Time: Tuesday, March 10, at 6:05 p.m. PT

·       Location: San Jose, CA | Excite Ballpark

·       Live Stream: MW Network

North Carolina

Game 1

·       Date and Time: Friday, March 13, at 6:05 p.m. PT

·       Location: Berkeley, CA | Evans Diamond at Stu Gordon Stadium

·       Live Stream: ACCNX/ESPN+

Game 2

·       Date and Time: Saturday, March 14, at 2:05 p.m. PT

·       Location: Berkeley, CA | Evans Diamond at Stu Gordon Stadium

·       Live Stream: ACCNX/ESPN+

Game 3

·       Date and Time: Saturday, March 15, at 1:05 p.m. PT

·       Location: Berkeley, CA | Evans Diamond at Stu Gordon Stadium

·       Live Stream: ACCNX/ESPN+

Promo Schedule
The 2026 Cal Baseball promotional schedule is now available and features several theme days, giveaways and discounts. Season tickets and single-game tickets can be purchased on CalBears.com.

Probable Starters

SJSU
RHP Trent Roach (1-0) vs TBA

UNC

Game 1: RHP Oliver de la Torre (1-2) vs RHP Jason DeCaro (3-1)

Game 2: RHP Ethan Foley (2-0) vs RHP Ryan Lynch (1-1)

Game 3: RHP Gavin Eddy (3-0) vs LHP Folger Boaz (2-0)

Streaks
Cade Campbell had recorded a hit in every game until last Sunday when his 15-game hit streak ended, but the Cal third baseman has still reached base safely in all 16 games. Hideki Prather (14) and Daniel Murillo (12) lead the team with active double-digit hit streaks.

San Diego Sweep
Cal swept its four-game series with San Diego with a run differential of 40-13 with the Golden Bears out-hitting the Toreros .392 to .208 and winning the team ERA battle 2.06 to 11.08. The Bears’ bullpen allowed just one earned run the entire weekend and the starting rotation had an ERA of 2.45 led by freshman Otto Espinoza, who in his first collegiate start went seven full innings and allowed just one run while striking out 10 batters, the most by any Bear this season. A freshman led the way on offense too with shortstop Jett Kenady hitting .467 with a 1.133 slugging percentage. He recorded two home runs, a triple, a double, four RBI and scored seven runs.

New Bear Production
Much of Cal’s success so far this season can be attributed to its freshmen and transfers as that group has combined for 105 of the Bears’ 172 hits, scored 68 of their 111 runs, and hit 15 of their 24 home runs. On the mound, the newcomers accounted for 46 of the team’s 54 innings pitched in relief, with seven Bear arms making their collegiate debuts during the opening weekend of the season. Freshman Otto Espinoza leads that group tied for the most strikeouts on the team with 24 in 18 innings of work and has only allowed two earned runs for a 1.00 ERA.

Sac State Sweep

The Bears earned their second straight series win and first sweep of the year last weekend after winning all three games with Sac State. After falling behind 4-0 on Friday, the Bears used four solo home runs to come back and walk off the Hornets. It was sophomore Jordy Lopez who collected his first career homer in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth to get the series started with a win. From there the tone was set as starting pitchers Ethan Foley and Gavin Eddy went deep into Saturday and Sunday’s games to ensure the Bears could bring out the brooms. Cal’s pitching staff had a 1.33 ERA in the series and the offense doubled up the Hornets with a run differential of 16-8. Third baseman Cade Campbell led the Bears with a slash line of .583/.615/1.250 to go with two home runs, two doubles, four RBI, and four runs.

Rotation + Prather Lead Bears To Series Win
Cal’s 2-1 road series win over UC Irvine, a team that was receiving votes in multiple polls, was heavily influenced by its starting rotation and its new starting catcher, Hideki Prather. The weekend rotation of Oliver de la Torre, Ethan Foley and Gavin Eddy combined for 14 innings and allowed just four runs (2.57 ERA), two walks, and a .241 batting average to the Anteaters while striking out 14. Foley earned his first win of the season with five innings of two-run ball and Eddy picked up his first win as well, spinning five full scoreless innings with a career-high tying eight strikeouts.

Prather, who had four collegiate plate appearances to his name at Clemson, emerged as one of the top bats in the lineup for the Bears. In addition to catching all three games, the junior went 6-for-13 (.461) with two home runs, three doubles, five runs and four RBI at the plate. In the leadoff spot, he had a slugging percentage of 1.154 and only struck out once. He jumped on the very first pitch of the game on all three days, falling just feet short of a home run on Friday, crushing his first collegiate home run to the same part of the field Saturday and roping a double down the left-field line on Sunday.

Walk-Off Déjà Vu
The Bears’ first two wins of the season both came in walk-off fashion on the same day. Due to an inclement weather forecast, Cal and Santa Clara played a Saturday doubleheader, which boded well for the Bears as they collected two come-from-behind wins. Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning of Game 1, the Bears put up a two-spot and scored a single run in the eighth to tie the game at 4-4 before junior transfer Hideki Prather roped a walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth to give his new team its first win of the season. Cal trailed early once again in Game 2 but found itself tied 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth. This time it was graduate transfer Daniel Murillo, who scored the game-winning run in Game 1, that slashed a walk-off double of his own.

D1Baseball Preseason Positions List

Three Bears were named to D1Baseball’s preseason positions lists, with Jacob French checking in as the 13th-ranked second baseman in the nation and sixth in the ACC. Third baseman Cade Campbell was ranked 31st nationally and fifth in conference while starting pitcher Oliver de la Torre came in at 97th on the list of 200.

The 2026 Roster
This year’s team features several new faces, with 14 new pitchers and 14 new position players making up over half of the dugout. Eighteen of those 24 first-year Bears are freshmen while the others came over through the transfer portal. Cal returns 17 letterwinners from 2025, including 12 pitchers and three starting position players.

Second Time Through
This will be Cal’s second ACC campaign after joining one of the top conferences in the sport last year. The Bears went 9-21 in conference in 2025 but picked up five nationally ranked wins, including a 5-0 shutout over No. 2 Florida State. This year, the Bears will face five ACC opponents that were ranked in D1Baseball’s preseason top-25 poll, including conference favorites No. 5 Georgia Tech and No. 1 North Carolina.

Head Coach Mike Neu
Mike Neu is in his ninth season at the helm and has led the Golden Bears to winning campaigns in five of his first seven seasons, excluding the shortened 2020 season. Neu is only the third Cal head coach since 1977 (Bob Milano 1977-99, David Esquer 2000-17, Mike Neu 2018-present).

2025 Recap
A young 2025 Cal baseball team came on strong at the end of the campaign by reaching the quarterfinals at the ACC Championship as the Golden Bears knocked off No. 9 and No. 8 seeds Miami and Wake Forest, respectively, in their first two contests. The performance in Durham, North Carolina, capped a strong final month that also included a 5-0 shutout victory over a No. 2 Florida State squad and a series victory against Boston College. The win over the Seminoles was one of four over ACC teams that reached the NCAA Super Regionals (Duke, Florida State, Louisville, Miami), with the Cardinals also a College World Series participant. In addition, the 2025 campaign featured a 7-2 record on a season-long nine-game road trip that was highlighted by a historic series sweep of then No. 14 Stanford that was Cal’s first three-game road sweep of the Cardinal in recorded history. Third-Team All-ACC selection Jacob French (.390) had the team’s highest batting average and Cal pitchers spread the wins around with 11 recording at least one victory apiece.