Even when Wake Forest won 54 games and went to the College World Series two seasons ago, the Deacons didn’t start ACC play this well.
Wake Forest notched a three-game sweep of Miami this weekend, cruising to a win on Friday night and then squeezing out a couple of comeback wins in a doubleheader on Saturday.
By sweeping Notre Dame last weekend, it’s the first 6-0 start to ACC play in Wake’s history.
“Not exactly how we drew it up, but wins are wins. In our league, you have to stack them when you can get them,” coach Tom Walter said via news release after Saturday’s sweep. “I’m really proud of our team for the resilience that they showed to come back in both games.”
Here are recaps of each game from this weekend:
Wake Forest 8, Miami 0
On Friday, Logan Lunceford (4-0) was fantastic again, pitching seven shutout innings and scattering three hits and a walk.
The Missouri transfer had eight strikeouts, bringing his total to 50 in five starts this season. Lunceford’s ERA for the season is 1.33; he went a season-high seven innings and only needed 89 pitches to do so.
Wake Forest got an early lead because of a two-run home run by Jack Winnay in the first inning. Dalton Wentz added a solo homer in the second.
Marek Houston blew the game open with a grand slam in the fourth, his eighth homer of the season. That matches last year’s total, in which he played 54 games. The Deacons tacked on a run in the eighth with Matt Scannell’s RBI single.
Zach Johnston ended the game on the mound for the Deacons, pitching two scoreless innings with three strikeouts.
Wake Forest 5, Miami 4 (10 innings)
In Saturday’s first game, Miami scored its four runs by the middle of the fifth inning and Wake Forest scored all five of its runs after the middle of the fifth.
All four of Miami’s runs came against Matthew Dallas. He gave up seven hits and two walks in his 4 1/3 innings.
Wake’s bullpen — a three-man effort of Luke Schmolke, Joe Ariola and Josh Gunther — pitched a combined 5 2/3, allowing two baserunners. One of those was via error, the other a two-out single in the 10th.
Schmolke carried a heavy load, retiring all 10 batters he faced. Five of those were by strikeout. Ariola recorded three outs, and Gunther (1-1) earned the win by recording the last four outs.
Jacob Burley drove in the game-winning run with a hit down the left-field line in the 10th. That drove in Kade Lewis, who led off the inning with a walk, from second base.
Lewis was the reason the game was tied, having hit a solo homer to make it a 4-4 game in the eighth inning.
Wake’s scoring started with a two-run homer by Javar Williams in the fifth. Momentum kept rolling toward the Deacons with Wentz’s RBI double in the sixth, driving in Winnay and making it a one-run game.
Wake Forest 12, Miami 10
In Saturday’s second game, the Deacons led early, gave up the lead and trailed by two, exploded with a seven-run sixth inning, and then held on to cap a long night and earn the sweep.
That big sixth inning featured a three-run homer by Lewis that put the Deacons (18-3, 6-0 ACC) in front 8-7. Austin Hawke later walked with the bases loaded to force in a run; Scannell had a two-run double; and Houston singled in a run for Wake’s 12th and final one of the game.
Houston was 4-for-5; Scannell and Williams were both 3-for-5. Ryan Preisano was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Jimmy Keenan had a two-run double early in the game.
Blake Morningstar started and went four innings, allowing four runs on seven hits. Haiden Leffew followed him and he gave up three runs on four hits, only making it through 1 1/3 innings.
Matt Bedford (3-2) steadied things, allowing an inherited runner to score but getting the Deacons out of the sixth inning with a two-run deficit.
Griffin Green gave up three unearned runs in the eighth. That was a two-out, three-run double by Daniel Cuvet; the inning started with an error on Wentz at third base.
With a two-run lead and having used a plethora of pitchers for the doubleheader, Wake Forest turned to freshman Nate Whysong for the ninth. He notched a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout, groundout and flyout for his first career save.
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