The Wake Forest Demon Deacons have exited in the second round of the ACC Baseball Tournament after a heartbreaking loss to the California Golden Bears 14-12 on 5/21/25.
The Deacs made the tournament as the eighth seed after a tragic collapse at the end of the season losing series to Clemosn, UNC, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. The Golden Bears on the other hand, cruised through their first round matchup against Miami and secured the upset, then got the upper hand early and never gave it back in this game against Wake. Wake Forest finished the season with a 36-20 record and a 16-14 conference record. They started the year with a 15-3 record and swept Notre Dame and Miami to start the ACC year, then had a generational collapse only winning two of their last six ACC weekend series. Stars such as Marek Houston, Dalton Wentz, Matt Scannell, and Kade Lewis put this team on their back and carried them through the gauntlet of ACC play while they mightily struggled with their pitching with early-year stars such as Logan Lunceford, and Matt Dallas seemed to get worse as the year went on. Superstar returning first-baseman Jack Winnay had a very disappointing season as well, with his plate discipline really declining as the year progressed. The team as a whole went from a pre-season top 15 team, to dropping out of the rankings entirely by the end of the year.
Now the good side: The Demon Deacons still have a good shot at making a deep postseason run and maybe even the College Baseball World Series in Omaha in June. They will most likely be the second or third seed out of four at any regional in the nation. Even though they don’t have a shot at the coveted ACC Baseball Championship trophy, they still have a shot at Omaha.
I want to thank Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Harper, and Mr. Cimino for helping and encouraging me in my newspaper journey and nurturing my love for sports writing. They all gave me ideas when I had none, and I really enjoyed my time writing for the PFMS times and in their classes. I hope to continue at the high school and eventually in college. Thank you to them for playing a big role in that dream.