A four-game weekend full of tight games saw Wake Forest’s baseball team pull out a split against Princeton and Maryland.

It leaves something of a bitter feeling for coach Tom Walter.

“We just have too many games with outs in our lineup and we need to do a better job of grinding at-bats,” he said. “So, disappointing weekend, all in all, but really happy with the bounce-back win in Game 2.”

That last part was a reference to Wake’s doubleheader split on Sunday — the Deacons lost an early game to Princeton before rallying late for what turned into a rout of Maryland.

The Deacons (10-3) head to Appalachian State on Tuesday for a mid-week game before playing host to Notre Dame to start ACC play next weekend.

Wake Forest will go for the rest of the season without pitcher Will Ray. One of the Deacons’ top bullpen arms was lost to a season-ending injury on Saturday, Walter confirmed. Ray needs Tommy John surgery and Walter said it could be the form of it that sees an internal brace used, which typically means a shorter recovery period. If that’s the case, there could be a path for Ray to be at Wake Forest for the 2026 season.

Reinforcements on the mound are coming: Freshman pitchers Chris Levonas and Nate Whysong are slated to make their debuts Tuesday. Levonas could be stretched out to become a starter this season, while Whysong will be in a bullpen role.

Here is a recap of each game from this weekend:

On Friday, the Deacons scored two unearned runs in the seventh for the difference in the game.

The first of those runs was driven in by Jimmy Keenan’s single. That scored Dalton Wentz, who started the inning by reaching via error. Marek Houston added a sacrifice fly later in the inning for the insurance run.

The game’s only other runs were scored in the first inning. Princeton’s first two batters had hits, the first a double by Jake Koonin and the second an RBI single by Caden Shapiro. Wake’s Antonio Morales led off the bottom of the inning with a home run.

Logan Lunceford pitched 5 2/3 innings without a decision for the Deacons. He allowed three hits and two walks, striking out nine. Ray threw a scoreless inning and Luke Schmolke (1-0) retired all four batters he faced. Josh Gunther struck out the side in the ninth for his third save.

On Saturday, the former ACC member got an early lead, the Deacons rallied to get a two-run advantage, and the Terrapins scored three in the ninth inning to win the game.

Maryland’s ninth-inning rally started after the first two batters struck out. Zach Johnston issued a two-out walk and Gunther replaced him. An error on Gunther prolonged the game and Maryland took seized its opportunity with three straight RBI singles.

Wake Forest put the first two runners on the in bottom of the inning, sacrificed bunted them over, and then failed to score because of a flyout and foul out.

Kade Lewis had a big day offensively for the Deacons, going 3-for-5 with a three-run homer in the third inning. Houston was 2-for-4 with two runs, one RBI and two walks; Keenan had a solo homer; Jack Winnay was 2-for-5 with two RBI.

Matthew Dallas started and pitched two innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and two walks. Griffin Green gave up one run in two innings of work, Haiden Leffew pitched 2 1/3 and struck out six without allowing a run (though he gave up four hits), and Johnston pitched 2 1/3, allowing two hits and a walk. He was responsible for the first ninth-inning run, while the other two — and the loss — were charged to Gunther (0-1).

In Game 1 on Sunday, Princeton blew the game open with a seven-run fourth and the Deacons’ rally was one run short.

Matt Bedford (1-2) started and gave up four hits and two walks, striking out six. He exited with two outs in the fourth when it was a 3-1 game; Luke Billings walked a batter and gave up a pair of two-run hits, which turned a bad inning worse for the Deacons.

Joe Ariola, who started each of the last two weekends, steadied things with 3 2/3 hitless innings, walking two and striking out eight. Dylan Zucker pitched the last 1 2/3 innings, also not allowing a hit.

Wake Forest got back into the game with two in the sixth, one in the seventh, and then two more in the ninth. One of those scored on a single by Lewis, another on a double by Wentz. But pinch-runner Mitchell Salvino was held at third base on the double, and Chris Katz struck out to end the game.

In Game 2 on Sunday, the Deacons were closer than that score indicates to having a worse weekend.

Wake Forest broke through with a five-run seventh after Maryland tied the game at 1-1 in the top half of the inning. The first three of those runs came via home run by Ethan Conrad, followed by Jack Winnay’s solo shot. Wentz added an RBI single to close out the scoring in the seventh.

The Deacons got three more runs on a blast by Winnay in the eighth. He was 2-for-3 with three runs, four RBI and also walked twice.

Wentz and Keenan both had two-hit games.

Blake Morningstar threw six shutout innings as Wake’s fourth starting pitcher of the weekend. He gave up three hits and a walk, striking out seven. Nate Brittain relieved him and walked the only two batters he faced to start the seventh, one of whom scored on an RBI groundout against Schmolke (2-0), who notched his second win of the weekend. Schmolke pitched the last three innings and struck out five.