Wake Forest University
14-10, 4-4
Duke
13-10, 3-5
Deacs Edge Duke in Back-and-Forth Affair
3/23/2019 5:39:00 PM | Baseball
Wake Forest erased three deficits and scored the final three runs of the game to win, 9-8.
The Demon Deacons (14-10, 4-4 ACC) erased deficits of 4-1, 6-4 and 8-6, scoring the final three runs of the game to edge the Blue Devils (13-10, 3-5 ACC).
Seymour drove in runs in four of his five plate appearances, finishing the day 3-for-4 with four RBIs. Patrick Frick added a 4-for-5 effort with a homer, walk and two RBIs.
Chris Lanzilli hit three doubles, becoming the first Deacon to do so since 2017, and Michael Ludowig, Jake Mueller and DJ Poteet each tallied two hits and a walk.
Relievers Antonio Menendez and William Fleming had clutch efforts out of the bullpen to keep Duke off the board the final four innings. Menendez struck out four over 2.1 frames to earn the win and improve to 2-1, while Fleming struck out three and allowed just an infield single over 2.0 innings to pick up the save.
Seymour hit a sac fly in the top of the first, but Duke responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-1 lead.
Frick hit a solo homer in the third and Seymour notched RBI singles in the third and fourth innings to knot the score at 4-4.
Michael Rothenberg and Kennie Taylor hit RBI doubles to put the Blue Devils ahead, 6-4 in the bottom of the fourth.
Logan Harvey and Michael Turconi both notched sacrifice flies in the fifth to once again tie the game, this time at 6-6.
Duke scored its final runs on a bases-loaded walk and hit-by-pitch to take an 8-6 lead in the fifth.
Wake Forest got one run back on a Ludowig RBI single in the sixth, and Frick tied the game with an RBI single in the seventh.
Seymour blasted a 400-foot home run in the eighth to put the Deacs ahead for good.
The Deacs totaled a season-high 18 hits, with six of the nine starters recording multiple hits.
Wake Forest struck out 14 total Blue Devils. Jared Shuster, despite exiting the game in the fifth, fanned seven over 4.1 innings.
The rubber game of the series is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Menendez, Antonio (2-1)
L: Thomas Girard (0-2)
S: Fleming, William (2)
Batting:
2B: Lanzilli, Chris 3 ; Mueller, Jake 1 ; Poteet, DJ 1
HR: Frick, Patrick 1 ; Seymour, Bobby 1
RBI: Turconi, Michael 1 ; Frick, Patrick 2 ; Seymour, Bobby 4 ; Harvey, Logan 1
SH: Harvey, Logan 1
SF: Turconi, Michael 1 ; Seymour, Bobby 1 ; Harvey, Logan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Turconi, Michael 1 ; Frick, Patrick 2 ; Lanzilli, Chris 2 ; Seymour, Bobby 1 ; Mueller, Jake 1 ; Poteet, DJ 2
SB: Frick, Patrick 2 ; Poteet, DJ 1
CS: Frick, Patrick 1
Batting:
2B: Kennie Taylor 1 ; Rudy Maxwell 1 ; Matt Mervis 1 ; Kyle Gallagher 1 ; Michael Rothenberg 1
HR: Chris Crabtree 1
RBI: Chris Crabtree 2 ; Kennie Taylor 1 ; Erikson Nichols 1 ; Matt Mervis 1 ; Kyle Gallagher 1 ; Ethan Murray 1 ; Michael Rothenberg 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Chris Crabtree 1 ; Rudy Maxwell 1 ; Erikson Nichols 1 ; Matt Mervis 2 ; Kyle Gallagher 1 ; Chase Cheek 1 ; Michael Rothenberg 1
CS: RJ Schreck 1
HBP: Chris Crabtree 1 ; Kennie Taylor 1 ; Chase Cheek 1
