STANFORD – The California baseball team (11-10, 3-4 ACC) jumped out to an early six-run lead and never trailed in a 13-3 seven-inning run-rule victory over No. 14/23/14 Stanford (15-4, 5-2 ACC) in the opener of a three-game ACC series on Friday evening at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond.
Alex Birge (2-2, 3 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 3 BB) homered twice for the second time in 2025, scored three runs and reached base in all five of his plate appearances to lead a 16-hit attack, while
Austin Turkington (4-2) scattered nine hits and three runs (all earned) with one walk and six strikeouts over a career-high-tying 7.0 innings and a career-high 114 pitches to record his third victory in as many outings and his second complete game of the campaign.
Jarren Advincula (2-5, 2B, H) also homered and
Jacob French (4-4, 2 R, 3B, 2 RBI) registered his first career four-hit game for the Bears with both driving in a pair, while
Ryan Tayman (3-5, R, 2 2B, RBI) equaled his career high for hits and
Carl Schmidt (2-4, R, 2B, 3 RBI) stayed red hot during his current four-game hit streak.
Birge got the festivities started with a solo home run in the top of the first and the Bears kicked the party into high gear with a five-run second that featured a two-run single by Schmidt followed by a two-run homer from Advincula after
Seth Gwynn had brought home the first run of the frame with a sacrifice fly.
PJ Moutzouridis and French started the inning with back-to-back singles.
Stanford chipped away at the Cal lead with single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to get within 6-3. Rintaro Sasaki (3-4, RBI) had an RBI single in the third but Turkington got out of a bases loaded jam without any further damage. Tatum Marsh brought home a run in the fourth on an RBI fielder's choice and Jimmy Nati delivered a two-out RBI single in the fifth.
Sasaki (3-4, RBI) and Brandon Larson (2-4, R) were the only Stanford players with more than one hit.
Cal reestablished control of the game by answering with four runs in the sixth before making it a shortened seven-inning run-rule affair with three more in the seventh.
Birge started the sixth by drawing a four-pitch walk, moved tto third on
Cade Campbell's double and scored on Tayman's bloop double down the right field line before French plated both Campbell and Tayman with a two-out triple then scored on a wild pitch.
Dominic Smaldino reached on a Stanford error to start the seventh before scoring on an RBI double by Schmidt. Birge hit a tape-measure shot over the right field fence two batters later for the game's final runs.
Matt Scott (4-1) was the first of six Stanford pitchers and took his first loss of the season after the Bears roughed him up for six runs (all earned) on seven hits with one walk and one strikeout over 1.2 innings.
The series continues at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond on Saturday (2 pm PT) before concluding Sunday (1 pm). A live video stream of both remaining games will be available on ACCNX/ESPN+.
MORE NOTES
- Cal won its third straight ACC series opener
- Cal has won each of its last three games against Stanford dating back to the final two meetings of 2024
- Jarren Advincula extended his string of consecutive games reaching base to 16, his hit streak to seven and his multiple-hit games run to four
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