Deacons come up short in finale

WINSTON-SALEM – The margin isn’t what stings and, under different circumstances, rallying almost back from a seven-run deficit can be commendable.

But Wake Forest’s baseball team isn’t built for commendable and near-comebacks.

The Deacons dropped a 10-8 game to Duke on Sunday at David F. Couch Ballpark, on the wrong end of a series finale that saw the No. 1-ranked Deacons drop two of three games in the first ACC series of the year.

It was mistake-riddled on both sides, right down to the bottom of the ninth inning when Wake Forest put the game-tying run on base and had three straight strikeouts. That came an inning after the Deacons loaded the bases when the margin was one, only for one of its projected first-round picks to whiff.

“Offensively, in the eighth inning we had chances with the right guys at the plate,” coach Tom Walter told media after an hour-long delayed press conference. “It was the same thing in the ninth inning. We just couldn’t get the big hit, give credit to (Owen) Proksch and (Charlie) Beilenson for making big pitches when they needed to.”

Duke (13-2, 2-1 ACC) had pitchers who made pitches when they had to; Wake Forest (12-3, 1-2) just had pitchers who threw a lot of pitches.

All eight Deacons who took the mound issued at least one walk, adding up to 14 free passes. That goes to 16 considering there were two HBPs, and the issues with the pitching/defense side of the equation get worse considering there were three wild pitches, two errors and one passed ball (though it felt like more).

Wake’s first series loss since late in the 2022 season doesn’t mean the world is ending; it’s the stark contrast of what last year’s team did well compared to those faults that drives home how far away this team is seeming like a favorite to reach Omaha.

“There were two fly balls that should have found gloves, a double play ball and another ground ball cost us the runs in addition to the free passes,” Walter said. “That was a disappointing day on the mound and defensively for sure.”

Duke added an insurance run in the ninth on a two-out bloop single by Alex Stone, hitting the glove of second baseman Austin Hawke in shallow right field.

That run loomed larger when Beilenson, who pitched three innings on Friday for a save, gave up a lost-ball triple to start the ninth and walked the game-tying run on the next batter.

To end the game, Beilenson struck out Hawke, Javar Williams and Cameron Gill.

The early innings mattered little once this game hit a marathon fifth inning.

Here was the combined damage in the fifth: 11 runs, 5 hits, 8 walks, 6 pitchers. Of Duke’s six runs, three were scored on bases-loaded walks, two on that double-play grounder with the error attached, and one on a wild pitch. Wake’s rally came with a bases-loaded walk, also, along with an infield single that scored a run, an RBI groundout, and a two-run triple. The inning lasted about an hour and Duke emerged from it with a 9-7 lead.

In what we can only hope is an act of mercy, StatBroadcast doesn’t track replay reviews.

Adam Tellier hit a home run in the sixth to make it a one-run game.

Because of the long fifth and the late-innings drama, the early innings seemed moot. Wake Forest actually led, with a Jake Reinisch double scoring Seaver King after he doubled, in the first. Duke scored two in the second, one on an error and another on Zac Morris’ RBI single.

The Blue Devils got a third run in the third, on a wild pitch. The Deacons got back to within a run in the fourth on a solo homer by Reinisch.

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On Saturday night, Chase Burns supplied the electricity to get the Deacons even in the three-game series.

Burns (3-0) gave up one run in six innings, on a Wallace Clark homer in the third inning. The junior right-hander had 14 strikeouts, a career high that runs his total to 43 in 23 1/3 innings this season. That’s a strikeout/9 rate of 16.6.

Wake Forest got him early run support in the first and third. It was Jack Winnay with a two-run double to start the scoring, coming with two outs and the Deacons earning three walks to load the bases.

And then a couple of two-run homers in the third, by Reinisch and Hawke, capped Wake’s scoring.

Burns was relieved by William Ray, who pitched two scoreless innings. He allowed two hits and a walk, working out of a two-on, one-out situation in the seventh.

Josh Gunther gave up two runs in the ninth, and closer David Falco Jr. recorded the game’s final out for his fourth save of the season.