The start of Wake Forest’s baseball game at Liberty went well enough.
The third and fourth innings went worse.
Wake Forest lost 11-8 at Liberty on Tuesday, snapping the Deacons’ nine-game winning streak after they scored the first five runs of the game.
Wake’s first three batters reached base — two walks sandwiching a single — and Jack Winnay cleared them with a grand slam. It was the junior’s ninth homer of the season, which leads Wake Forest (18-4).
Matt Scannell hit a solo homer in the second inning to make it 5-0.
A little later, the wheels came off.
Liberty (16-6) scored four runs in the third with help from Wake’s defense. An error on third baseman Dalton Wentz allowed the Flames’ first run and a passed ball allowed the second one. A two-run single followed and made it a one-run game.
The fourth inning was worse for the Deacons. Liberty pushed across seven runs in that frame on five hits. The other carnage saw two hit batters and two walks, plus a wild pitch on which Liberty’s last run was scored.
“We just didn’t get it done on the mound or defensively during the third and fourth innings,” coach Tom Walter said through a news release. “We gave away too many free 90s. I know a bunch of those balls went down as hits, but those are plays that we should make.”
Chris Levonas started the game on the mound and pitched into the third inning. He didn’t allow a hit but surrendered three walks, one of which scored later in the third after his exit.
Haiden Leffew faced four batters without recording an out. Matt Bedford (3-3) took the loss, notching two outs and being charged with four runs. Joe Ariola gave up the last three runs in the fourth.
The last 4 2/3 innings saw a combined five-man effort from Wake’s bullpen that kept the game from getting out of hand. Those were Nate Whysong, Troy Dressler, Nate Brittain, Zach Johnston and Dylan Zucker, with a combined four strikeouts, four walks and three hits.
Wake Forest pieced together a comeback with Kade Lewis’ RBI double in the fifth and Antonio Morales’ two-run homer in the sixth. The Deacons had the game-tying run at the plate with no outs in the seventh before two strikeouts and a flyout; in the ninth, Wake Forest put two runners on again with one out and the game ended with two flyouts.
