Wake Forest University
Minnesota
Deacons Beat Minnesota in Regional Opener, 5-3
6/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeBaseball)
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Wake Forest pounded three home runs and Parker Dunshee struck out 11 as Wake Forest opened NCAA Regional play with a 5-3 win over No. 2 seed Minnesota on Friday afternoon at Blue Bell Park.
The win sets up the Demon Deacons to face the winner of Friday night's game between top seed Texas A&M and No. 4 seed Binghamton. The Deacons will play at 9 p.m. EDT on Saturday night.
Dunshee allowed the Gophers just a single baserunner in each of the first four innings before retiring the side in order in the fifth and sixth. Dunshee fanned four hitters in the seventh after Terrin Vavra struck out but reached first on a wild pitch. During the seventh, Dunshee recorded his 100th strikeout of the season, becoming just the eighth player in school history to hit the century mark.
Right fielder Joey Rodriguez staked the Deacons to a 2-0 lead with a two-run shot in the third. Minnesota starter Dalton Sawyer retired the first two hitters in the inning before DH Jonathan Pryor coaxed a walk. Rodriguez followed with a shot off the scoreboard in left field on a 1-0 pitch.
The Deacons made it 3-0 in the fifth when Rodriguez bunted and reached on an error. He moved to second on a wild pitch and went to third on an infield groundout by Nate Mondou before scoring on another wild pitch by Sawyer.
Kevin Conway pushed the Deacon lead to 4-0 lead with a solo homer to left with one out in the sixth before Johnny Aiello made it 5-0 with a two-out shot to left two batters later.
Minnesota never seriously threatened until the eighth inning, including during a rare four-strikeout seventh inning. With one out in the eighth, Dan Motl doubled before Dunshee fanned Connor Schaefbauer for his 11th strikeout of the game. That tied the Wake Forest school record for strikeouts in an NCAA Tournament game. Kyle Sleeth fanned 11 Colonials in a 12-6 win over George Washington in 2002.
Dunshee came out with two outs in the eighth after giving up a two-run homer to Matt Fiedler. Dunshee's final line included 7.2 innings, allowing five hits with one walk to go with the 11 strikeouts. He improved to 10-5 with the victory.
Donnie Sellers relieved Dunshee and gave up back-to-back singles to Austin Athmann and Micah Coffey before Terrin Vavra lined out to center to end the threat.
Garrett Kelly started the ninth and fanned Toby Hanson for the first out before giving up a solo homer to right by Jordan Smith. After a walk to Alex Boxwell, Will Craig replaced Kelly and induced Motl to ground out to short before Connor Schaefbauer grounded to third for the final out.
The save was Craig's team-leading ninth of the season.
Rodriguez and Conway each led the Deacons with a pair of hits. Rodriguez added two runs scored and a pair of RBIs.
Wake Forest improves to 38-23 all-time in the NCAA playoffs.
