ACC Tournament Day 2: Cal Continues Improbable Run With 14-12 Win Vs. Wake Forest; Clemson, Duke Advance

The California Golden Bears, who entered the Atlantic Coast Conference baseball tournament as the 16th seed, beat eighth-seeded Wake Forest 14-12 on Wednesday morning to survive another day.

Jacob French went 4-for-6 with a double, three RBIs, and scored three runs, while P.J. Moutzouridis went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, and Carl Schmidt added a three-run homer for the Bears.

David Shaw entered the game in the second inning and went three innings, allowing just one run on four hits, five walks and three strikeouts to earn the win for the Bears, while Logan Piper notched a save, getting Matt Scannell, representing the game-winning run, to ground out to end the game.

Cal sored six runs in the top of the second, getting a two-run double from Max Handron to get on the board. Ethan Kodama’s sacrifice fly scored Handron, and then Moutzoridis and Jacob French each contributed RBI singles get the Golden Bears out to a 6-0 lead.

The Golden Bears added three more in the sixth, starting with an RBI double from French. Dominic Smaldino scored on a wild pitch, and Cade Campbell drove in French with a sacrifice fly to give Cal a 9-3 lead.

They kept pouring it on an inning later, getting an RBI double from Smaldino and then a three-run homer from Schmidt to make it 13-7.

Wake Forest wasn’t done, however. Down 14-8 in the bottom of the ninth, a two-out RBI single from Lucas Costello scored Marek Houston, and a bases-loaded walk to Jimmy Keenan pushed another run across. Then Javar Williams singled to right, scoring Austin Hawke and Dalton Wentz to make it 14-12 and bring the winning run to the plate in the form of Matt Scannell.

But Piper got Scannell to ground out to second on an 0-1 breaking ball, and Wake Forest’s tournament ended after just nine innings, the second team to fall to the Golden Bears.

California will take on No. 1 seed Georgia Tech (39-16) in the quarterfinals on Thursday, May 22, at 3 p.m. E.T.

No. 5 Clemson 6, No. 12 Virginia Tech 1 – Clemson breezed by Virginia Tech, pushed by six solid innings by Aidan Knaak, who improved to 9-1 on the season, and a pair of homers by Dominic Listi.

Knaak threw six innings, allowing one run on four hits and a walk, striking out six. Jacob McGovern threw two innings and Joe Allen threw one to finish out the win, allowing no hits.

Listi hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first and a three-run shot in the bottom of the fifth for the Tigers, who improved to 42-15 with the win. They’ll face fourth-seeded N.C. State in the quarterfinals Thursday at 7 p.m.

No. 7 Duke 4,  No. 15 Pitt 3 – For eight and a half innings, it looked like Pitt would pull off another upset, taking a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth.

But down by one, Duke’s Macon Winslow launched the third pitch he saw over the wall in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at three, giving the Blue Devils new life in a game they had never led.

Two batters later, Wallace Clark reached on an error when Pitt shortstop Anthony Lasala couldn’t come up with Clark’s grounder. Clark advanced to third when A.J. Gracia’s high fly ball down the line dropped in for a single, and scored the winning run two batters later when Jake Hyde drew a bases-loaded walk, giving Duke a 4-3 win and a date with Florida State on Friday afternoon.

Pitt took a 1-0 lead in the first when Sebastian Pisacreta was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, forcing Caden Dulin across for a 1-0 lead.

Pisacreta’s sacrifice fly in the third sent Dulin home again, giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead, and they tacked on another later in the frame when Lorenzo Carrier singled home Ryan Zuckerman to make it 3-0.

But A.J. Gracia spurred the Blue Devils’ offense, doubling home Clark in the fifth to get Duke on the board, then hitting a solo homer in the sixth to cut the lead to 3-2.

Duke used nine different pitchers in the game, with only Reid Easterly, who pitched the seventh and eighth, going two full innings.

Pitt’s Patrick Gardner threw 5 1/3 innings after taking the ball to start the bottom of the fourth, allowing four runs on four hits and three walks, striking out seven and taking the loss.

Duke will face the No. 2 seed, Florida State, at 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon.

No. 14 Boston College 12, No. 6 Virginia 8 – Fourteenth-seeded Boston College jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first and never looked back, knocking off the sixth seed, Virginia, in the ACC Tournament nightcap.

Boston College capitalized on five fielding errors by the Cavaliers, and four different Eagles each had multi-RBI games as the Eagles advance to face No. 3 seed North Carolina on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m.

In the top of the first, Boston College got on the board when Jack Toomey ripped a two-run double down the right field line. He scored two batters later when Esteban Garcia reached on an error. Adam Magpoc’s double to left scored Garcia and Gunnar Johnson for a 5-0 lead.

In the second, Esteban Garcia swung and missed at strike three, but the pitch went to the backstop. Florida State catcher Hunter Carns’ throw to first went into right field, allowing Garcia to reach and Jack Toomey and Sam McNulty to score, giving B.C. a 7-2 lead. They added two more in the fourth and three more in the eighth, never trailing in the upset.

2025 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Tournament Schedule
Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Durham, N.C.
All times Eastern Daylight Time

Tuesday, May 20 – Games Broadcast on ACC Network
No. 16 California 12, No. 9 Miami 2
No. 12 Virginia Tech 7, No. 13 Stanford 4
No. 15 Pitt 13, No. 10 Louisville 11
No. 14 Boston College 5, No. 11 Notre Dame 4

Wednesday, May 20 – Games Broadcast on ACC Network
No. 16 California 14, No. 8 Wake Forest 12
No. 5 Clemson 6, No. 12 Virginia Tech 1
No. 7 Duke 4, No. 15 Pitt 3
No. 14 Boston College 12, No. 6 Virginia 8

Thursday, May 21 – Games Broadcast on ACC Network
3 p.m. – No. 1 Georgia Tech vs. No. 16 California – Game 9
7 p.m. – No. 4 N.C. State vs. No. 5 Clemson – Game 10

Friday, May 22 – Games Broadcast on ACC Network
3 p.m. – No. 2 Florida State vs. No. 7 Duke – Game 11
7 p.m. – No. 3 North Carolina vs. No. 14 Boston College – Game 12

Saturday, May 23 – Games Broadcast on ACC Network
1 p.m. – Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner – Game 13
5 p.m. – Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner – Game 14

Sunday, May 24 – Game Broadcast on ESPN2
Noon – Championship Game

Photo: The Cal Golden Bears celebrate their second upset win at the ACC Baseball tournament in Durham, N.C., a 14-12 win over Wake Forest. (Courtesy of Cal Athletics)