DURHAM, N.C. – The California baseball team came up big again Wednesday at the ACC Championship with a 14-12 win over Wake Forest in a second-round game at the Durham Bulls Athletic Center. The No. 16 seed Golden Bears (24-30) advance to face top-seed and No. 16 ranked Georgia Tech (39-16) in the first ACC Championship quarterfinal Thursday at noon PT. The contest will be televised on ACC Network.
Cal scored six runs in the top of the second inning Wednesday and never trailed. But the Bears had to withstand a furious Wake Forest comeback attempt that included a four-run bottom of the ninth before
Logan Piper came on to get the final out of the game on only two pitches for his second save of the season.
Carl Schmidt hit a key three-run homer for the Bears to cap a four-run top of the seventh that seemed like insurance runs that the Bears would end up needing to provide the winning margin of victory, while
Jacob French (4-6, 3 R, 2B, 3 RBI) tied a career-high with four hits.
PJ Moutzouridis (3-4, R, 2B, 2 BB, 2 SB) and
Dominic Smaldino (2-5, 2 R, 2B, RBI, BB) also had multiple-hit contests, while
Max Handron doubled and drove in a pair, and
Jarren Advincula scored twice.
Alex Birge also scored a pair of runs and walked in a school-record-tying all five of his plate appearances to equal the most bases on balls drawn by a Division I player in 2025.
Dalton Wentz (2-4, 3 R, 2 HR, 3 RB, 2 BB), Marik Houston (2-4, R, 3 RBI, 2 BB) and Anthony Hawke (2-3, 4 R, 2B, HR, RBI) combined for half of the Demon Deacons' 12 hits, while all nine starters in the Wake Forest lineup had at least one knock with Jimmy Kennan (1-3, R, HR, 2 RBI, 3 BB) and Javar Williams (1-4, R, 2 RBI, BB, HBP) also driving in a pair of runs each.
French started Cal's six-run second with a leadoff single and Schmidt was hit by a pitch before Handron brought them both home with a two-run double. The Bears then loaded the bases on a
Cade Campbell single and Birge's first walk before
Ethan Kodama's sacrifice fly brought Handron home. Advincula was hit by a pitch to reload the bases before Moutzouridis drew a nine-pitch walk to force home the fourth run of the inning and French capped the rally two batters later with a two-run single.
Wake Forest immediately got three runs back in its half of the second on Wentz' first home run and a two-out, two-run single from Houston. The Demon Deacons threatened for more but left the bases loaded. Cal starter
Cole Tremain was removed from the game in favor of
David Shaw after surrendering the Wentz home run, a walk and a hit by pitch.
The score remained 6-3 through the midway point of the game before Wake Forest picked up one run when
Gavin Eddy relieved Shaw but walked Houston with the bases loaded to force home a run. But Eddy recovered to strike out Kade Lewis as the Demon Deacons left the bags full for the third time in the first five innings.
The teams traded three-run innings in the sixth.
Cal used two walks, one hit batsmen and a wild pitch in the top of the sixth to increase its lead to 9-4. French also had an RBI double in the inning, while the other two runs scored on the wild pitch and Campbell's sacrifice fly.
Wentz hit his second homer in the sixth with a two-run shot before Jimmy Keenan followed with a solo blast that just missed the famous Durham Bull beyond the high wall down the left field line. Eddy walked the next hitter and was removed from the game for
Jordy Lopez, and the Cal freshman lefthander came up big by striking out Matt Scannell to end the rally and keep the Bears in front by two runs.
Schmidt's three-run homer keyed Cal's four-run seventh and cushioned the Bears' lead at 13-7, following Smaldino's RBI double earlier in the frame.
Both teams scored single runs in the eighth as Moutzouridis doubled home Birge in the Bears' top half of the inning before Austin Hawke's solo homer led off the bottom.
Cal took a 14-8 lead into the bottom of the ninth, but Houston drew a four-pitch walk to start a rally and Lewis singled to end Lopez' outing.
Ethan Foley came on and got the first batter he faced to hit into a 5-4-3 double play for the first two outs, but they would be the only two outs he would record. Luke Costello singled home Houston for the first run before Foley walked Wentz and hit Hawke to load the bases then walked Keenan to force in a second run. Javar Williams then singled home two more runs and get the winning run to the plate before Piper retired Scannel on the second pitch he threw on a ground ball to Advincula at second.
Shaw (1-4) was the first of five Cal pitchers in relief of Tremain and credited with his first win at Cal, allowing only a single run (one earned) and striking out three over 3.0 innings while scattering four hits and five walks.
Logan Lunceford (5-5) was charged with Cal's first five runs and did not record an out in the second inning before he was followed by seven different relievers.
The teams combined to use 14 pitchers who threw 415 pitches while issuing 24 walks and seven hit by pitches. Wake Forest left 16 runners on base while Cal stranded 11 in the Bears' longest game of the year that clocked in at 4:05.
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