Virginia Tech made the cross-country journey to Berkeley worthwhile, taking two of three from California at Stu Gordon Stadium to claim the program's first-ever series win against the Golden Bears (24-23, 8-16 ACC). The Hokies (25-21, 13-14 ACC), winners of nine of their last twelve, including three ACC series, couldn't complete the sweep in Sunday's finale but leave the West Coast with plenty of momentum heading into the final stretch of the regular season.
Game One: Virginia Tech 9, Cal 1
Brett Renfrow picked up right where he left off.
Coming off ACC and National Pitcher of the Week honors and back-to-back dominant outings, the junior right-hander made the trip to Berkeley look routine Friday night, carrying his shutout streak to 15 and two-thirds consecutive innings before finally allowing a run in the seventh. Renfrow worked all seven frames, scattering four hits, punching out nine — the third straight outing he'd reached that mark — and throwing a career-high 112 pitches to pick up his fourth win in his last six starts.
The Golden Bears had their chances against him. A Carl Schmidt single and Ethan Kodama walk put two on with one out in the fourth, threatening to chip into a 3-0 deficit. Renfrow slammed the door with back-to-back strikeouts of Brady Errecart and Kalen Applefield, igniting a stretch of nine consecutive batters retired. The only blemish came in the seventh when Taichi Nakao bounced an RBI single through the right side to score Errecart, who had singled and stolen second. Renfrow answered immediately, striking out Hideki Prather to end the inning and close out his night.
The offense gave him a cushion early and kept building it. The first two innings produced nothing despite Virginia Tech putting runners in scoring position — a second-inning sequence saw Hudson Lutterman single and Owen Petrich follow with a knock of his own, both stealing bases, only for Pete Daniel to strand them both with a swinging strikeout.
The third inning is where the Tech offense opened up. Henry Cooke singled to left center to lead things off, and Ethan Ball — who had homered in each of the two previous games — stepped in and did it again, launching his 12th of the season deep to right field for a two-run shot, pushing his RBI total to 40 on the year. Lutterman stepped up next and roped the following pitch into the left field corner. What should have been a routine double turned into chaos — Carl Schmidt's relay throw from left skipped wide of second base, sending Lutterman to third, and first baseman Daniel Murillo's throw to cut him down there sailed away as well, gifting Lutterman a little league home run and pushing the lead to 3-0 on the unearned run.
Virginia Tech threatened to blow it open in the fourth when Petrich singled and Sam Grube followed to put runners on the corners, but the Golden Bears escaped when Ethan Gibson grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. The Hokies went quiet through the fifth and sixth before the seventh opened things back up. Grube singled to shallow left against the Cal bullpen and Cooke followed to put two on. Ball punched a single to center to score Grube and make it 4-1, setting up the eighth and ninth to put the game away.
With Petrich and Daniel aboard on back-to-back walks in the eighth, Grube dropped a single into shallow left that plated Petrich — and in the ensuing rundown between first and second, Grube bought enough time for Daniel to race home from first, pushing it to 6-1. Chase Swift retired the side in order in the bottom half.
Cooke led off the ninth with a double down the left field line, and two batters later, Nick Locurto unloaded a two-run shot to deep left to cap the scoring at 9-1. Cooke finished with four hits — tying his career high — joining Grube and Lutterman with three-hit nights. Ball and Locurto each went 2-for-5, with Ball driving in three and Locurto finishing with two RBI on his home run. Aiden Robertson worked a clean ninth in relief to close it out. Virginia Tech collected 16 hits on the night against an Oliver de la Torre who entered the game ranked top 15 in the ACC in ERA — a statement win in the program's first-ever appearance in Berkeley.
Game Two: Virginia Tech 6, Cal 2
Logan Eisenreich set the tone from the jump.
The Virginia Tech starter retired the first 10 batters he faced — breezing through the first two innings without allowing a baserunner before a Daniel Murillo single in the fourth finally broke his run — and tied his career high with eight strikeouts across five innings.
The offense did the rest. After a quiet first two frames, Sam Gates led off the third by sending a solo shot to deep right field — his fourth of the season — putting Virginia Tech on top 1-0. The inning appeared to be winding down when Petrich popped up and Daniel grounded out, but Grube drew a walk to keep things alive. Gibson reached on a Campbell error, and Cooke stepped in and made the most of the opportunity — hammering a three-run shot to left field that cleared the bases and pushed the lead to 4-0.
Cal scratched one back in the fourth when a throwing error from Eisenreich helped Murillo reach, and Lawson Olmstead followed with an RBI single to make it 4-1. It was the only run Eisenreich would allow. He worked out of trouble in the fifth and finished with his line intact, handing a comfortable lead to Ethan Grim, who worked 2.2 scoreless innings before Preston Crowl came on to close it out.
Virginia Tech pushed the lead to 5-1 in the seventh when Daniel singled, stole second, and scored on a Gibson RBI single to left center. Grube added an insurance run in the ninth with an RBI triple to right field, plating Daniel again, pushing the final to 6-2. Cal made a brief push in the bottom of the ninth when Errecart doubled and scored on a pinch-hit Applefield single, but Crowl got the next two hitters to secure his fifth save of the season.
Gates and Cooke each homered, Gibson drove in a run and swiped a base, and Daniel scored twice. The Hokies won their fourth straight and ninth in their last 11, moving to .500 in conference play for the first time all season.
Game Three: Cal 9, Virginia Tech 4
Virginia Tech came to Berkeley looking for its first ACC series sweep of 2026. Cal had other plans — and Hideki Prather made sure of it.
The Golden Bears' catcher carried his offense on Sunday, going deep twice and driving in five runs to power a decisive victory that handed the Hokies their first loss in five games. The damage was concentrated in a five-run second inning that put Virginia Tech in a hole it could never fully climb out of. Griffin Stieg absorbed the punishment, giving up seven earned runs across four innings, including both Prather home runs, before the Tech bullpen took over the rest of the way.
The Hokies attempted to rally back, but the hole was already too deep. Grube stepped up in the third with a two-run homer that pulled Virginia Tech within 5-2, briefly offering a foothold back into the game. But Cal answered with two more in the fourth to push the lead back to six, and just as quickly as the Hokies had cut into it, the gap was gone.
Cooke kept his hot streak alive with a solo shot in the fifth — his second home run in as many games — making it 7-3 and giving the Hokies some life heading into the final four innings. The offense couldn't sustain it, however, going quiet through the sixth, seventh, and eighth before finally loading the bases in the ninth. A wild pitch brought home one run, but the rally fizzled at 9-4.
Grube and Cooke each went deep, and Owen Petrich finished 2-for-4 to pace the lineup. But it wasn't enough on a day when the Hokies simply couldn't recover from the early deficit.
The series victory still stands as a significant marker for a program building momentum at the right time. Virginia Tech leaves Berkeley 25-21 overall and 13-14 in ACC play, having taken two of three in the program's first-ever matchup against the Golden Bears. The Hokies won't have long to enjoy it — they head to Lynchburg on Wednesday for a midweek matchup against Liberty at Worthington Field at Liberty Baseball Stadium, with first pitch set for 6 p.m. ET.
