DURHAM, N.C. (theACC.com) – No. 16 seed California (24-30) continued its run in its first ACC Baseball Championship with a 14-12 win over No. 8 seed Wake Forest (36-20) in the first game of the second round of the 2025 ACC Baseball Championship on Wednesday, May 21, in Durham, North Carolina.
The Golden Bears will take on No. 1 seed Georgia Tech (39-16) in the quarterfinals on Thursday, May 22, at 3 p.m. ET on ACC Network.
Cal’s offense continued to swing hot bats at the plate, recording 14 runs on 13 RBIs and 12 hits, while also taking advantage of 10 walks from the Wake Forest pitching staff.
The two through seven hitters in the Bears’ lineup all had at least one base hit in the win, led by four hits from outfielder Jacob French (4-for-6, 2B, 3 RBI, 3 runs), three by shortstop PJ Moutzouridis (3-for-4, 2B, BB, 2 RBI, run, 2 SB) and two from first baseman Dominic Smaldino (2-fo-5, 2B, BB, RBI, 2 runs), while outfielder Carl Schmidt (1-for-4, HR, B, HBP, 3 RBI, 2 runs) added a three-run home run.
Wake Forest also had a good day at the plate, as the Demon Deacons had 12 runs on 12 hits, including four home runs, and 13 walks.
All nine players that had an at-bat for the Demon Deacons had a base hit for the game, headlined by two base hits each from Dalton Wentz (2-for-4, 2 HR, 2 BB, 3 RBI, 3 runs), Austin Hawke (2-for-3, HR, 2B, 2 BB, HBP, RBI, 4 runs) and Marek Houston (2-for-4, 2 BB, 3 RBI, run).
Earning the win on the mound for the Golden Bears was David Shaw (1-4), as he was the second of six pitchers used by Cal on its second consecutive day of play. He entered the game in the second inning and went 3.0 innings, allowing just one run on four hits, five walks and three strikeouts.
The save went to Logan Piper (2), as he got the final out of the game with the potential game-winning run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth.
Wake Forest starter Logan Lunceford (5-5) was handed the loss, as the Demon Deacons trailed from the second inning on. Lunceford gave up five runs on three hits, one walk, one hit batter, one wild pitch and one strikeout in 1.0 inning of work.
Cal got out to a red-hot start, scoring six runs in the top of the second inning. Max Handron opened the scoring with a two-run double to right-center field. After a sacrifice fly from Ethan Kodama, Moutzoridis and French recorded RBI singles to push the Golden Bears’ lead to 6-0.
Wake Forest responded with a solo home run to right field off the bat of Wentz and a two-run single from Houston to slash the Cal lead in half at 6-3 after just two innings of play.
The two sides would remain deadlocked at 6-3 until the bottom of the fifth inning when Houston drew a bases-loaded walk to put the Demon Deacons within two at 6-4 heading into the sixth inning.
That’s where the scoring picked up once again, as Cal pushed across two runs in the top half of the sixth inning on a French RBI double, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly, only to see Wake Forest answer back with a pair of home runs in the bottom half of the frame by way of a two-run shot by Wentz deep to right field, followed by a solo home run from Jimmy Keenan down the left field line to put the score at 8-6 with three innings to play.
The Golden Bears continued the scoring in the next inning with an RBI double from Smaldino and a three-run home run of their own from Schmidt to double up the Demon Deacons at 12-6 in the seventh inning stretch.
After Moutzouridis added another run for the Bears in the top of the eighth on an RBI double, the Demon Deacons’ bats heated up once again with a solo home run from Hawke in the bottom of the eighth inning to put the score at 14-8 heading into the ninth inning.
Wake Forest stranded one Cal runner in the top of the ninth and opened up its final at-bat with a walk and a single to put runners on first and second with no outs.
Cal looked to all but put the game away with a 5-4-3 double-play to put the Demon Deacons down to their last out.
However, Wake Forest refused to roll over, as the Demon Deacons got an RBI single to cut the lead to five at 14-9, then kept their hopes alive with a walk, hit-by-pitch and bases-loaded walk to close the gap to four at 14-10.
With the bases still loaded, Javar Williams ripped a single through the right side of the infield to plate two more Demon Deacons and get to within two at 14-12 with the winning run coming to the plate.
Cal’s Piper entered the game to get a routine ground ball to second base to end the game with the Golden Bears holding on for the 14-12 win.
2025 ACC Baseball Championship Schedule
Tuesday, May 20
Game 1 – No. 16 California 12, No. 9 Miami 2 (8 innings)
Game 2 – No. 12 Virginia Tech 7, No. 13 Stanford 4
Game 3 – No. 15 Pitt 13, No. 10 Louisville 11
Game 4 – No. 14 Boston College 5, No. 11 Notre Dame 4 (10 innings)
Wednesday, May 21
Game 5 – No. 16 California 14, No. 8 Wake Forest 12
Game 6 – No. 12 Virginia Tech vs. No. 5 Clemson, 1 p.m.
Game 7 – No. 15 Pitt vs. No. 7 Duke, 5 p.m.
Game 8 – No. 14 Boston College vs. No. 6 Virginia, 9 p.m.
Thursday, May 22
Game 9 – No. 16 California vs. No. 1 Georgia Tech, 3 p.m.
Game 10 – Game 6 Winner vs. No. 4 NC State, 7 p.m.
Friday, May 23
Game 11 – Game 7 Winner vs. No. 2 Florida State, 3 p.m.
Game 12 – Game 8 Winner vs. No. 3 North Carolina, 7 p.m.
Saturday, May 24
Game 13 – Game 9 vs. Game 10 Winners, 1 p.m.
Game 14 – Game 11 vs. Game 12 Winners, 5 p.m.
Sunday, May 25 - Championship Game
Game 15 – Saturday Winners, Noon, ESPN2
All Tuesday through Saturday games air on ACC Network
All times Eastern