Cal’s slim chance of reaching the NCAA baseball tournament got slimmer on Thursday when the Bears suffered a tough, 7-6 loss to Stanford in the first game of a three-game series in Berkeley. The Bears (27-25, 10-18 ACC) nearly pulled off an impressive comeback from a five-run deficit, but Stanford was able to hang on when Cal’s Hideki Prather was thrown out at the plate by Stanford left fielder Brock Ketelsen for the final out of the game. — Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) May 15, 2026 Cal entered this final regular-season series knowing it had to win at least two of the three games this weekend and may have needed to sweep the Cardinal to have any shot at its first postseason berth in seven years. This loss made the long postseason odds even longer for Cal, which entered the game with an RPI ranking of 56, a little outside the typical range for a team to be considered on the bubble. Ultimately, Thursday’s outcome wasn’t a matter of Stanford beating Cal as much as it was a case of Cal beating Cal.…