Deacons keep rolling, throttle Coastal Carolina

WINSTON-SALEM – Momentum can be: 1) sustained, 2) built upon and 3) only as good as the next game’s starting pitcher.

Wake Forest’s baseball team did the first two on Tuesday night and has Chase Burns taking the mound on Friday night at Boston College for the third part.

“Big team win and hopefully we keep the momentum rolling into a big BC series,” coach Tom Walter said after Wake’s 12-3 win over Coastal Carolina on Tuesday night at David F. Couch Ballpark.

It’s easy to accrue momentum when Nick Kurtz is seeing a beach ball at the plate.

Wake’s junior first baseman has hit a home run in six straight games, with 10 in that span. When he homered in his first two at-bats against the Chanticleers — a two-run shot that gave the Deacons (22-10) a 2-1 lead in the first inning, and a three-run shot that made it 8-2 in the second — it gave him six homers in his last seven at-bats (he was intentionally walked in that span, which started Saturday at Virginia Tech).

Kurtz had three homers in Wake’s first 26 games, missing a few games with a right shoulder injury — the same shoulder he underwent surgery on after his freshman season. The time off helped him recalibrate and it’s led to a power surge of epic proportions.

“Jack (Winnay) said to me, ‘This injury could be the best thing to ever happen to you this year,’” Kurtz said. “And it was really good to take a step back and look at everything from a different perspective and realize how grateful I should be for the situation I’m in.”

Kurtz’s first blast Tuesday night was part of a five-run first inning, which set the tone for Wake’s fifth straight win. His was one of three homers in that inning; the others came from Winnay immediately after Kurtz, and then from Seaver King after Jake Reinisch walked.

Not to get lost in the Kurtshuffle: Winnay also had a multi-homer day, hitting his 13th homer of the season — tied with Kurtz — to lead off the bottom of the fifth, and Reinisch followed with a homer for Wake’s second instance of back-to-back homers in the game.

After Reinisch’s blast, Wake Forest had seven hits and six of them were home runs. To be fair, the wind was blowing out for the majority of the game.

Also to be fair: Some of the homers — like Kurtz’s first one, King’s and one, maybe both of Winnay’s—didn’t need the wind’s help to clear the fence.

“Any of these guys, Winnay, Rhino, Seaver, they all are going crazy right now,” Kurtz said of the trio that’s typically behind him in the order. “With Winnay … I get pitches I didn’t normally used to get. When things are going well and you’re seeing good pitches to hit, the ball’s looking bigger than it usually does and I know that I don’t have to do everything in this at-bat.”

King was 3-for-5 with four RBI, driving in the last two runs of the game with a single in the eighth. He’s homered in three straight games and has 10 RBI in that span.

EXTRA BASES: Wake Forest used nine pitchers, with only starter Ben Shenosky facing double-digit batters (and he only faced 10). Haiden Leffew (3-0) earned the decision by recording the final out of the second and facing the minimum in the third. … Shortstop Marek Houston left the game after the fourth inning, with King sliding over to shortstop from third base, Adam Tellier going to third, and Austin Hawke entering at second base. Walter said Houston was dehydrated and lightheaded, so there was no lingering concern that Houston will miss Friday night’s game at BC. … Wake Forest and Coastal Carolina have split regular-season meetings in each of the last three seasons, both unbeaten in those home games. The last time a team in this series won a road game was Feb. 2021 when Coastal Carolina won at Wake Forest, which was Rhett Lowder’s first career start. … This was the last visit to Winston-Salem for Coastal Carolina coach Gary Gilmore, who’s retiring after this season after 29 years with the Chanticleers. “He’s just the best, he’s a true pro. His players love him, he has great teams year in, year out. … I hate that it’s his last time at the Couch, but he and I are going to spend some time together this summer, maybe go fishing have a couple of Coca-Colas,” Walter said.