Cal Beats Wake Forest in Walk-Fest at ACC Baseball Tournament

Cal is suddenly on a roll that makes you wonder how far the Bears can go.

The Golden Bears, who finished in last place in the conference standings, pulled off their second upset in two days by beating eighth-seeded Wake Forest 14-12 on Wednesday to stay alive in the ACC baseball tournament in Durham, North Carolina.

Cal won despite walking 13 batters and hitting four others, and the Bears made it interesting as Wake Forest scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth to get within two. The Demon Deacons had two runners on base before Cal reliever Logan Piper got the final out.

The 16th-seeded Bears (24-30) still have to win three more games over the next four days in this single-elimination ACC tournament to get into the NCAA tournament. And the challenge becomes greater on Thursday, when Cal will face regular-season ACC champion Georgia Tech in a quarterfinal game starting at noon Pacific time. The Yellow Jackets (39-16, 19-11 ACC) swept Cal in a three-game series in Atlanta in April.

But Cal has been impressive offensively despite playing two games that started at 6 a.m. Pacific time (9 a.m. Eastern time).

Cal has scored 26 runs in its two games in the conference tournament, as the Bears’ offense has come alive in a big way.

However, the story of Wednesday’s game was the serious control problems of both teams’ pitchers and the home umpire's tight strike zone. Wake Forest and Cal combined for 23 walks and seven hit batsmen, with Cal pitchers walking 13 and hitting four Demon Deacon hitters, and Wake Forest hurlers walking 10 batters and hitting three Bears hitters. Cal catcher Alex Birge, who had two homers Tuesday, walked five times Wednesday.

Cal has to feel fortunate to win a game in which its pitchers issued 17 free passes.

Cal’s Jacob French, who extended his hitting streak to 12 games, was 4-for-6 with three RBIs on Wednesday, and he is 12-for-19 over his past five games. PJ Moutzouridis was 3-for-4 with two RBIs against Wake Forest and is 6-for-10 for the tournament. Carl Schmidt had Cal’s only home run, but it was an important three-run shot in the seventh inning.

Wake Forest (36-20) hit four home runs, but it was not enough against Cal, which used six pitchers to get through the second round.

Cal sent 11 batters to the plate in the top of the second inning when it scored six runs. Two walks and two hit batters aided the Bears’ rally. Max Handron’s two-run double and French’s two-run single were the big hits in the inning.

The Demon Deacons responded with three runs in the bottom of the second, when two walks, a hit batter, a Dalton Wentz home run and a two-run single by Marke Houston highlighted the rally. David Shaw relieved Cal starter Cole Tremaine in the middle of that rally.

Wake Forest was unable to score after loading the bases with one out in the third, but the Demon Deacons added a run in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk issued by Cal reliever Gavin Eddy to Marek Houston to reduce the Bears’ lead to 6-4.

Cal made it an 9-4 game with three runs in the top of the sixth. French’s RBI double, a wild pitch that brought in a run from third and Cade Campbell’s sacrifice fly accounted for the scoring.

Wake Forest closed the gap to 9-7 in the bottom of the sixth on Dalton Wentz’s two-run homer and Jimmy Keenan’s solo home run, with both blasts coming off Eddy.

Schmidt’s three-run homer and Dominic Smaldino’s RBI double brought in four Cal runs in the top of the seventh to push the Bears’ lead to 13-7, and Cal added a run in the eighth to make it 14-7.

BEAR BOMB 💣

Carl Schmidt with the three-run blast to extend @CalBaseball's lead 13-7!

📺 @accnetwork pic.twitter.com/ffLbgfJmH2
— ACC Baseball (@ACCBaseball) May 21, 2025

Wake Forest scored one run in the eighth and four in the ninth.

The Deacons’ Javar Williams hit a two-run single that got under the glove of first baseman Dominic Smaldino that made it a 14-12 game, but Piper came into the game for Cal with two outs and runners at first and third, and he got Matt Scannell to ground out to second for the final out of the game.