Cal Faces a Challenge at ACC Baseball Tournament

Cal finished last in the 16-team ACC baseball standings, but the Bears still have a chance to get a berth to the NCAA baseball tournament. All Cal would have to do is win five consecutive games over a six-day span 2,400 away from home starting Tuesday morning against Miami in the ACC baseball tournament.

OK, it won’t be easy, but the Bears (22-30, 9-21 ACC) head into this week’s ACC baseball tournament in Durham, North Carolina, having won two of their last three games, including a walk-off, 4-3 victory over Boston College on Saturday.

Pitching depth will be a factor to win five games in six days, and injuries to Cal pitchers this season have contributed to Cal’s team earned-run average of 5.61, which ranks 12th in the ACC.

Austin Turkington (4-5) has not pitched since April 25 and won't be available for the ACC tournament..

Oliver de la Torre (2-4, 5.75 ERA) will start Tuesday's game for Cal against Miami, and coach Mike Neu will use whatever pitchers he needs to get that first game.

Neu may have to do a lot of juggling after that. Pitchers Gavin Eady (4-4, 5.37 ERA), Cole Tremaine (4-6, 3.26 ERA), Logan Piper (1-0, 4.62), Ethan Foley (3-3, 3.52), and David Shaw (0-4, 7.33) are among those expected got some time on the mound for two or three innings.

Obviously Cal will need to score a lot of runs, and the Bears rank 10th in the ACC in batting average at .279 and seventh in home runs with 69.

Cal second baseman Jarren Advincula (.346, six homers, nine steals) was named a second-team all-ACC selection on Monday, and Jacob French (.368) was a third-team pick. French is riding a 10-game hitting streak and went 7-for-11 in the three-game series against Boston College over the weekend.

Cal’s top run producer is first baseman Dominic Smaldino, who has 11 home runs and 48 RBIs, but he did not have an RBI in any of his last four games.

Cal will play in the very first game of the ACC tournament and will face ninth-seeded Miami (31-23, 15-14 ACC) on Tuesday. However, you will have to get up early to watch that game on the ACC Network because it will start at 6 a.m. Pacific time.

Cal did not face the Hurricanes during the regular season, and the only time the Golden Bears have defeated Miami was in the 1980 College World Series.

If 16th-seeded Cal wins that game it will play eighth-seeded Wake Forest (36-19, 15-14 ACC) on Wednesday, again at 6 a.m. Pacific time on the ACC Network. The Bears did not play Wake Forest during the season either.

If the Bears should get past both Miami and Wake Forest, the Bears would meet regular-season conference champion Georgia Tech (39-16, 19-11 ACC) on Thursday at noon Pacific time. Cal did face the Yellow Jackets, and it did not go well as Cal got swept in a three-game series in Atlanta, Georgia.

If Cal somehow gets past Miami, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech, the Bears would get a day off before playing a semifinal game on Saturday at 10 a.m. Pacific time, with the championship game scheduled for Sunday at 9 a.m. Pacific time on ESPN2.

Last year Cal was surprised that it did not get invited to the NCAA tournament after finishing 36-19 overall and going 20-5 over its last 25 games.

This year, Cal knows it won’t get its first NCAA tournament berth since 2019 unless it gets the automatic berth awarded to the ACC tournament champion. The Bears currently have an RPI ranking of 107, the lowest among ACC schools.

2025 ACC baseball tournament schedule

All times are Pacific times.

Tuesday, May 20 — First Round

Game 1: No. 9 Miami (Fla.) vs. No. 16 Cal, 6 a.m. | ACC Network

Game 2: No. 12 Virginia Tech vs. No. 13 Stanford, 10 a.m. | ACC Network

Game 3: No. 10 Louisville vs. No. 15 Pitt, 2 p.m. | ACC Network

Game 4: No. 11 Notre Dame vs. No. 14 Boston College, 6 p.m. | ACC Network

Wednesday, May 21 — Second Round

Game 5: No. 8 Wake Forest vs. Winner of Game 1, 6 a.m. | ACC Network

Game 6: No. 5 Clemson vs. Winner of Game 2, 10 p.m. | ACC Network

Game 7: No. 7 Duke vs. Winner of Game 3, 2 p.m. | ACC Network

Game 8: No. 6 Virginia vs. Winner of Game 4, 6 p.m. | ACC Network