Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
USC
Sheets Hits Three Blasts, Deacs Beat USC 15-5
2/24/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeBaseball)
On a historic night offensively, the Wake Forest baseball team knocked off Southern California in the series-opener, 15-5, at David F. Couch Ballpark on Friday evening.
Gavin Sheets tied program records with three home runs and nine RBIs. He became the first Deacon to hit three blasts since Allan Dykstra did so against Davidson in 2006. He also becomes the third Deac to record a nine-RBI game, joining Warren Sawkiw (1990) and Paul Reinish (1989).
The Demon Deacons (3-3) matched the team record with six total longballs. In addition to three from Sheets, Jonathan Pryor, Stuart Fairchild and Johnny Aiello each hit one, as Wake Forest handed USC (4-1) its first loss of the season.
Sheets finished the day 4-for-5, also adding a two-run double and a walk in addition to a pair of three-run homers and a solo shot.
Pryor went 4-for-5, as well, hitting a double in addition to his home run. He has reached base in 13 of his last 14 plate appearances, and had hits in nine straight at bats before lining out in the third inning.
The Deacs hit six home runs in a game for just the sixth known time in program history. Wake Forest most recently did so in back-to-back games against Elon and Virginia Tech in 2015.
Wake Forest also drew 10 total walks, including two apiece from Logan Harvey, Ben Breazeale, Bruce Steel and Jake Mueller. Aiello and Keegan Maronpot also added two hits each.
On the mound, Parker Dunshee earned the victory after striking out nine batters in 5.2 innings, walking just one. John McCarren and Morgan McSweeney also tallied scoreless outings in relief as that trio and Chris Farish combined to strike out 14 Trojans.
Wake Forest scored the first nine runs of the game, including back-to-back four-run innings to get things started. Sheets hit a two-run double and Aiello homered off the batters' eye beyond the center-field wall to make it 4-0 in the first, then Fairchild hit a sacrifice fly and Sheets drilled a three-run bomb to make it 8-0 in the second. Fairchild hit a solo shot to right-center, making the margin 9-0.
USC chipped away, though, scoring four runs in the fifth and sixth to cut the margin to 9-4, including a two-run homer by Frankie Rios.
But Sheets put the game away for good with another three-run dinger in the seventh to make the score 12-4, and he and Pryor each went deep in the eighth to cap off Wake Forest's scoring.
DUNSHEE FANS NINE
• Parker Dunshee led the Deacs to a victory tonight when he had 9 strikeouts and is now tied with Eric Schmitt for 10th on the career strikeouts list with 233. He ranks two behind Tim Cooney and Mike Buddie for eighth all-time.
• He is also one victory away from tying for 10th-most wins in school history.
TURN TWO
• Wake Forest turned its seventh double play of the season, a 3-6-1 twin-killing from Sheets to Steel to Dunshee.
• The Deacs entered the day atop the ACC and ninth in the nation with six double plays as a team.
ON DECK
• Game two of the three-game series is set for Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.
