Bears Open Up 2026 Season Tonight at Home vs Santa Clara
When Cal baseball takes the field Friday night at Stu Gordon Stadium for its 6 pm season opener against Santa Clara, the Golden Bears will look dramatically different from the team that closed last season at the ACC Championship in Durham, North Carolina.
Sixteen players who wore the Blue and Gold in 2025 are gone, scattered to rival programs through the transfer portal or departed through graduation. In their place, head coach Mike Neu has assembled a roster loaded with 18 freshmen and several key transfers, betting that a blend of youth, hunger, and a few returning veterans can push Cal back toward the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019, though they certainly should have made it in 2024 in one of the more ridiculous postseason slights in years after their 36-19 season that included a multitude of victories over NCAA Regionals and Super Regionals programs.
The four-game home-and-home series against the Broncos was originally set to split between Berkeley and Santa Clara’s Stephen Schott Stadium, but weather forecasts have reshuffled the weekend. Friday’s opener goes as planned, but Saturday will now feature a doubleheader at Stu Gordon Stadium starting at 2:05 pm, with the status of the originally scheduled Sunday and Monday games in Santa Clara still to be determined. All three confirmed games can be viewed on ACCNX and ESPN+.
Cal’s inaugural ACC season was a bumpy ride. The Bears finished 24-31 overall and 9-21 in conference play, entering as the #16 seed in the ACC tournament. But the record only told part of the story. The Bears compiled five wins over nationally ranked opponents, including an impressive 5-0 shutout of #2 Florida State. They also knocked off teams that went on to reach the NCAA Super Regionals, including Duke, Louisville, and Miami, with the Cardinals advancing all the way to the College World Series.
Cal’s late-season surge was an encouraging sign. The Bears won six of their final ten games, including a historic three-game road sweep of #14 Stanford - the first time Cal had swept the Cardinal in a road series in history. At the ACC Championship, Cal defeated #9 Miami and #8 Wake Forest before falling 10-3 to top-seeded Georgia Tech in the quarterfinals.
The offseason exodus hit Cal’s infield particularly hard. Three quarters of the starting infield from 2025 is gone. Second baseman Jarren Advincula, who batted .342 transferred to Georgia Tech. 1st baseman Dominic Smaldino, who led the team with 11 home runs, and shortstop PJ Moutzouridis (.270) both landed at Arizona State. Those three players represented some of the most productive bats in the lineup and their departure left significant holes on the left side of the infield and in the middle of the order.
The losses extended beyond the infield. In total, 16 players who saw meaningful playing time in 2025 will not return. Pitchers Jake Guardiancic and JJ Hollis departed through the portal, along with several role players who contributed depth across the roster. The turnover has been sweeping enough that Neu has described the rebuilding process as a “next man up” approach, emphasizing that the program is entering year two in the ACC with higher standards and its sights set on competing for a spot in Omaha.
Amid all the change, Cal retained two critical returning players who will anchor the 2026 roster. Shortstop Cade Campbell, a redshirt senior from Lodi, California, has been with the Bears his entire collegiate career. Now one of the team captains, Campbell brings a steadying presence to a roster full of new faces. He is the emotional heartbeat of the team, and his experience navigating the rigors of ACC play will be invaluable for the freshmen and transfers around him.
The other essential returnee is junior utilityman Jacob French, who was Cal’s best hitter in 2025. French earned Third-Team All-ACC honors after posting a team-leading .390 batting average. He closed the season on a 13-game hitting streak and was ranked the No. 31 second baseman in the nation by D1Baseball entering 2026. French’s ability to hit for average and get on base gives Cal a proven commodity at the top of the lineup in a year when so many other positions are being filled by newcomers.
If Cal is going to compete in the ACC’s second tier this season, its pitching staff will need to lead the way. The Bears return a starting rotation that ranks among the tallest in college baseball. Right-hander Oliver de la Torre, a 6-foot-4 junior, will start things off in Friday’s opener against Santa Clara’s Max Bayles. He will be followed by 6-foot-3 junior Ethan Foley on Saturday and 6-foot-5 redshirt sophomore Gavin Eddy in the second game of the rescheduled doubleheader. Each of the three starters threw at least 46 innings in 2025 and averaged roughly a strikeout per inning. D1Baseball ranked Eddy at #97 among the top 100 starting pitchers in the nation heading into 2026.
Behind the starters, Cole Clark, Garrett Mackowiak (3.86 ERA at Georgia Southern) and sophomore Jordy Lopez are expected to anchor the bullpen, with Clark likely to close. Talented reliever Quinn Larsen is also making a return from Tommy John surgery and looks to be healthy. Neu also has 11 freshman arms to mix in and he indicated at the Bay Area college baseball media day that some of those younger pitchers will get extended opportunities early in the season during the four-game weekend series format. As conference play approaches, the roles will crystallize and the most reliable arms will be elevated into higher-leverage situations. Some of the young pitching prospects include 6-4/225 RHP Trent Roach, 6-4/185 Cade Colombara, 6-2/180 RHP Otto Espinoza, 6-1/190 LHP Tanner Grove, 6-7/195 RHP Jett Wright and local 6-7/235 Bishop O’Dowd righty Duncan Russell.
One of Cal’s most interesting newcomers may be Joshua Hanson, a utility player likely to play outfield who transferred from USC. Hanson was on the Trojans’ roster as a freshman last season but did not see game action. Neu talked about Hanson’s tools, particularly his natural ability to track fly balls in the outfield and his power potential at the plate. The bay area native is expected to start in center field on opening night, getting a fresh start close to home.
Another key addition is Daniel Murillo, a graduate transfer who came to Berkeley after San Francisco State shuttered its baseball program. Murillo was a force for the Gators in 2025, hitting .384 with 13 home runs. His proven production gives Cal a bat with immediate impact potential. The Bears also added infielder Tristan Head from Georgetown, who batted .277 with four home runs, 26 RBIs, and eight stolen bases in limited action due to a hamate bone injury. Andre Modugno, a 6-foot-5 infielder from Alabama with an exit velocity topping 105 mph and a fastball that reaches 97, adds both offensive pop and pitching depth. Transfers Gannon Snyder from Wichita State and Hideki Prather from Clemson round out a group of newcomers vying for playing time. Prather starred at nearby Campolindo High School in Moraga.
The Broncos are not a team Cal can overlook. Santa Clara won the 2025 series between the two programs 3-1, and they return several key contributors. Infielder Ben Cleary batted .302 while starting 48 games and right-hander Max Bayles, who started 12 games and threw nearly 70 innings, provides a reliable arm at the top of the rotation. The Broncos will be looking to build on their momentum against a Cal team still figuring out its identity. Cal holds the all-time series lead 166-100, but that recent history gives Santa Clara plenty of confidence heading into Friday night.
The 2026 schedule will be more than challenging. Cal will face seven 2025 NCAA Regionals teams, four Super Regionals teams, and Louisville, which reached the College World Series semifinals. The ACC schedule includes home series against #1 North Carolina, #5 Georgia Tech and #6 Louisville, all making their first trips to Berkeley. A road trip to Miami in late April will mark Neu’s return to his alma mater, where he won the 1999 College World Series.
Cal has won each of its last five season openers, a streak dating back to a 2021 home win over Pacific. The Bears will look to extend that run Friday night behind De la Torre and a lineup that, while largely unproven, carries the energy of a team eager to establish a new identity. With Campbell and French providing leadership, a deep pitching staff anchoring the roster, and a wave of talented newcomers hungry to prove themselves, the 2026 Golden Bears are sure to be an interesting work in progress this season.
The journey toward the program’s first Regionals appearance since 2019 begins tonight under the lights in Berkeley.
