Deacs Complete Black & Gold World Series
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest baseball team recently wrapped up its fall season, with Team Black claiming the Black & Gold World Series, three games to one.
"We were pleased with the fall season. We stayed relatively healthy which is always priority number one. Our freshmen made good progress both on the mound and positionally," head coach Tom Walter said. "Our biggest concern is just depth - we'll have a very talented lineup, but our depth is mostly from our freshmen class so we don't have a ton of experience. I was really pleased by our pitching, which was led by starters Parker Dunshee and Connor Johnstone, as well as a nice fall from Griffin Roberts out of the pen."
Offensively, Patrick Frick, Johnny Aiello, Stuart Fairchild, Gavin Sheets, Ben Breazeale and Zach Seal had at least five hits apiece for Team Black. Frick hit .500 (8-for-16) with a double and triple for the team's top average.
Fairchild andBruce Steel (Gold) each homered twice. Steel (6-for-18) and Donnie Sellers(5-for-15) led Gold with .333 averages.
Wake Forest now heads into offseason workouts before the season opens Feb. 17-19 in Houston, Texas.
"Our number one goal in the offseason is obviously to get stronger," Walter added. "The pitchers will be off for the next 8-10 weeks, just trying to rejuvenate those guys and their arms. Adding some size, strength and mobility is the focus for the position players."
Game 1: Black 4, Gold 2
Team Gold was held scoreless for the last seven innings, as Parker Dunshee, Connor Johnstone and Colin Pelusecombined for the win on the mound. Dunshee allowed just one hit - a solo homer by Logan Harvey, and allowed another unearned run in the first, striking out five without a walk in 3.0 innings. Johnstone tossed 4.0 shutout innings, surrendering three hits and no walks, while Colin Peluse earned the save with 2.0 scoreless frames.
Stuart Fairchild, Zach Seal, Patrick Frick and Johnny Aiello had RBIs for the Black team, while Jake Mueller added an RBI for the Gold team. Griffin Roberts had a scoreless outing for Team Gold, while Drew Loepprich, Morgan McSweeney andCarter Bach surrendered one earned run apiece.
Frick and Aiello tallied three hits apiece for Team Black, while Logan Harvey and Chase Mascolo recorded two hits each for Team Gold.
Game 2: Black 9, Gold 4
Heading into the ninth tied at 3-3, Team Black exploded for six runs in an eventual 9-4 victory. Zach Seal started the rally with an RBI single, but back-to-back homers by Stuart Fairchild (grand slam) and Gavin Sheets were the exclamation points of the inning.
Jonathan Pryor, Bruce Steel and Donnie Sellers all homered for Team Gold. Rayne Supple led Gold's effort on the mound, going more than three innings without allowing a run, while Shane Kubrak did the same for Black.
Sheets and Johnny Aiello tallied three hits apiece for Team Black, as did Steel for Team Gold.
Game 3: Gold 7, Black 6
Gold claimed its first win of the series in extra innings, 7-6. Nick DiPonzio led off with a walk, advanced on a Christian Longsacrifice bunt and a wild pitch, then scored on a Donnie Sellers RBI groundout. Drew Loepprich then tossed a shutout inning for the save.
Gold headed into the top of the seventh with a 3-2 lead and plated three insurance runs to make it 6-2, but Black again rallied in the final inning, this time with four runs to tie it, thanks to back-to-back two-run doubles by Zach Seal and Patrick Frick.
Stuart Fairchild also homered and doubled for Black, while Ben Breazeale and Seal each added two hits. For Gold, Bruce Steel homered, doubled and had three RBIs, while Jonathan Pryor and Chase Mascolo also added multi-hit efforts.
Bobby Hearn started for Team Black and, after Steel's first-inning solo homer, retired the final 10 batters he faced with three strikeouts. Rayne Supple was again strong in relief for Gold, tossing 3.0 shutout frames.
Game 4: Black 8, Gold 1Black scored eight runs over the first three innings and cruised to an 8-1 win, with Parker Dunshee, Connor Johnstone andParker Johnson combining for a two-hitter.
Black opened the game with four straight hits, including RBIs from Stuart Fairchild and Gavin Sheets, while Keegan Maronpot hit a three-run longball in the third inning.
Christian Long tallied three hits for Black, while Sheets added two hits and a walk. Jake Mueller and Donnie Sellers had the two hits for Gold.