Deacs Ready for Step Forward in 2020

Photo by: Brian Westerholt/Four Seam Images

1/29/2020 12:00:00 PM | Baseball, Les Johns

The Wake Forest baseball program, with numerous preseason accolades, appears ready to make a leap during the upcoming season.

By: Les Johns

Wake Forest baseball was just one game away from a trip to Omaha for the College World Series three seasons ago.

There's optimism in the Demon Deacon dugout that they're ready to return to that stage in 2020.

The Deacs return the bulk of a powerful lineup that was the most productive in the ACC a season ago, including two preseason All-American selections in Bobby Seymour and Chris Lanzilli. Perhaps more importantly, the Wake Forest pitching staff looks to be as deep and talented as coach Tom Walter has assembled in what will be his 11th season at the helm.

"We're super excited about this club," Walter said as the club officially started practice Friday at the David F. Couch Ballpark. "When you return seven of your nine top hitters from a year ago, including ACC Player of the Year Bobby Seymour and Chris Lanzilli, who would have been ACC Player of the Year if it wasn't for Bobby Seymour.

"That's a great start to a club. We led the league in scoring a year ago, and return the bulk of that offense. That's encouraging."

The Deacs are nationally ranked in four preseason polls that have already been released. Collegiate Baseball has Wake Forest at No. 17, D1Baseball has them 18th, Baseball America 20th and USA Today Coaches Poll 24th.

"It feels good, but you don't want to be a preseason powerhouse then fall during the season," Wake Forest junior outfielder Chris Lanzilli said. "We have to work hard everyday and not take it for granted. We have to prove during the season that the rankings are right."

First baseman Bobby Seymour, who drove in an astonishing 92 runs a season ago en route to winning ACC Player of the Year, expressed much the same sentiment.

"We have to prove it," Seymour said. "We have a lot of maturity this year. We have a great team this year and I'm very excited.

"I'm trying to be in the best shape possible and have continued to work hard."

The Deacs hosted an NCAA Tournament regional in 2017 and pushed eventual national champion Florida to a decisive third game in the Gainesville Super Regional before bowing out just shy of Omaha. Wake has fallen shy of the tournament each of the last two seasons, but return an experienced group of junior position players who have played extensively the last two seasons. Michael Ludowig, Shane Muntz, Cole McNamee and DJ Poteet join Seymour and Lanzilli in a powerful junior-class core with a ton of experience.

"We have a group of juniors who are all professional prospects and three year starters," Walter said. "Then we have a group of seniors and grad school players with high expectations. We followed up the super regional team with a young squad then a year ago missed the NCAA Tournament really by one game.

"Last year was disappointing. I'm sure they're feeling the pressure. These juniors are so talented, but they haven't seen an NCAA Tournament regional. Anything short of that is going to be a disappointment. Pressure is a good thing. Nobody puts more pressure on us, than us. We're looking forward to having high expectations."

ACC play, which begins in early March, comes in three-game weekend series that usually take place Friday-Sunday. Walter said there are four quality competitors for the three coveted weekend starting pitching spots for the Deacs: Ryan Cusick, Antonio Menendez, William Fleming and Jared Shuster.

"On the mound, I've been encouraged by our early work," Walter said. "Cusick, Fleming, Menendez and Shuster are all battling for the three conference rotation spots right now. They're all throwing with greater velocity and better command than we've ever seen. That's exciting.

"Having Bobby Hearn and Tyler Witt back to kind of anchor that middle relief, along with guys like Cole McNamee, Riley Myers and Brennen Oxford, then Shane Smith at the end of the game. We feel really good about our top 10 arms."

With the offense Wake Forest is likely to feature, having 10 reliable arms could be the key to a memorable season for the Deacs.

"That's way more depth than we've had," Walter said. "The even better part is that it's both left and right handed. We've never had the left handed options.

"Our schedule is front loaded. We have Louisville and Clemson at home early. We're going to have to play well early. When you have to play well early, it's good to have a veteran club."

Hearn, who was named a team captain after returning for one final season as a grad student, is excited to be a part of a team that returns Wake Forest to the national conversation.

"We want to take that same mentality every year," Hearn said. "Whether we were national champions last year or not, we still want to enter the season looking to win. We haven't been in the postseason in two years, and that's obviously a big goal of ours — get the program back in the conversation for the tournament, and host regionals and super regionals.

"You can't let the pressure get too high. You have to go out and play, and play like college students. We're playing a game, and we'll take it day by day."

Wake Forest baseball opens the season at 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14 at David F. Couch Ballpark against Seton Hall. The Deacs will host Milwaukee for a doubleheader the following day, then will close out the weekend with a game against Illinois that Sunday.