Wake Forest splits doubleheader, wins series over FSU

By the skin of a walk-off wild pitch, Wake Forest earned a series win over Florida State this weekend.

After FSU won the first game of a doubleheader 9-6 on Saturday at David F. Couch Ballpark, Wake Forest won the second game 10-9, winning Friday night’s series opener and that one with late-inning drama that clinched the series win.

The Deacons (26-13, 11-10 ACC) are above .500 in league play at the end of a weekend for the first time this season. Wake’s remaining series are all within the ACC’s Atlantic Division; at Notre Dame next weekend, and then a break for final exams, followed by a series against division-leading Clemson (13-5) from May 10-12 and at N.C. State (12-9), a game ahead of the Deacons, from May 16-18.

Here are recaps of Saturday’s games:

In the first game, Marco Dinges hit a go-ahead RBI double and Jaime Ferrer hit a two-run home run to break a tied score in the top of the ninth.

Blake Morningstar entered with one out and got the second one before issuing a walk on a full count. Dinges doubled in James Tibbs III, and Ferrer followed with a homer. It was the sixth home run of the game, with each team accounting for three of them.

Josh Hartle started for Wake Forest and pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing five runs. Only two of them were earned, as FSU got a run in the third on a balk and two in the fourth after Hartle committed a throwing error. Hartle gave up nine hits and a walk, striking out seven.

David Falco Jr. was the only other pitcher the Deacons used between Hartle and Morningstar. Falco gave up one run in his 1 2/3, a homer by McGwire Holbrook.

Wake’s homers came from Jack Winnay, Seaver King and Jake Reinisch. Winnay and King’s were solo blasts in the first and eighth, respectively; Reinisch’s two-run shot tied the game in the eighth.

In the second game, Wake Forest only needed to record two official at-bats in the ninth to walk things off.

Cameron Gill walked to lead off the inning against Noah Short. FSU changed pitchers to John Abraham, who then walked Marek Houston. The runners moved up on a wild pitch, and then Gill scored the walk-off run on a pitch that bounced in front of the plate and catcher Jaxson West couldn’t keep in front of him.

It ended a wild game in which Wake Forest trailed 5-1 early, and 7-4 in the middle of the fifth. There were a combined five runs scored in the last two innings, with FSU taking a one-run lead, Wake Forest getting two runs in the eighth to lead by one, FSU tying the game on a homer in the ninth, before Gill scored the game-winning run.

There were another six homers in this game; again, three by each team. Max Williams hit a solo shot and Daniel Cantu hit a grand slam for FSU in the third, and Cantu was the one who went deep in the ninth against Wake Forest closer Cole Roland.

King homered again for the Deacons, a solo homer in the second that was the game’s first run. Reinisch hit his second homer of the day in the fifth, and Gill’s two-run blast later in that inning tied the game at 7-7, where it remained until the eighth.

Houston and Adam Tellier joined King and Reinisch with multi-hit games, each of them recording two hits. Nick Kurtz didn’t have a hit but drove in a couple of runs; Antonio Morales picked up a pinch-hit RBI by getting hit by a pitch; and Javar Williams returned to the lineup and was hit by a pitch three times.

Wake’s offense had nine hits, nine walks and five HBPs.

Michael Massey pitched the first three innings for the Deacons, giving up five runs on six hits and two walks. A six-man effort out of Wake’s bullpen did the rest — Will Ray and Josh Gunther had scoreless outings while facing multiple hitters.