Cal went into this week's ACC Baseball Championship knowing that it faced an uphill battle if it planned on winning the tournament. The Bears are seeded 16th this week in Durham, North Carolina after finishing the regular season in last place and as the only team to not reach 10 conference victories.
None of that matters if a team gets hot, and right now the Bears are catching fire at the right time.
Wednesday, the Cal defeated No. 8 seed Wake Forest in the second round of the tournament to advance the quarterfinals. The 14-12 victory did not come easy and was not without its stressful moments.
A three-run home run from left fielder Carl Schmidt helped give the Bears a comfortable 13-7 lead midway through the seventh in what was a four-run inning for Cal.
In the end, the Bears needed all of those runs to avoid elimination at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Both teams tacked on runs in the eighth inning leaving the Bears up 14-8 heading into the ninth. It would be anything but easy for Cal to close out the Demon Deacons.
Reliever Jordy Lopez, who pitched 2 1/3 innings Wednesday, opened the frame with a four-pitch walk before Wake Forest third baseman Kade Lewis singled to left center.
Cal turned to Ethan Foley following that at-bat, and the Bears relief pitcher immediately was able to get his team out of the jam temporarily with a double play off the bat of Demon Deacons first baseman Jack Winnay that left a runner on third with two outs.
That's when things became interesting for Foley who allowed an RBI single before walking two of the next three batters and hitting another to allow Wake Forest to close the gap, 14-10.
Center fielder Javar Williams then singled to the right side bringing in two more runs for the Demon Deacons and putting the Bears in a difficult spot late in the game.
Cal head coach Mike Neu made the decision to turn to Logan Piper at that point, and the senior lefty from Vacaville closed out the game with groundout to second sealing the win for the Bears.
The Bears used a big six-run inning in the second to take control Wednesday thanks to four hits including two-RBI hits from French and designated hitter Max Handron, who drove in two with a double to right center.
Cole Tremain went just 1 2/3 innings on the mound Wednesday as the starting pitcher before David Shaw, who earned his first win of the season, came on in relief and pitched three innings for the Bears. He allowed just one run against 19 batters in the victory but did surrender five walks.
In all, Cal allowed 13 walks in the game while Wake Forest did the same.
The Bears will now square off with top-seeded Georgia Tech in the quarterfinals on Thursday with first pitch set for noon PT. Cal was swept by the Yellowjackets in their series during the regular season.
