Wake Forest University
9-6, 1-1
Louisville
10-4, 1-1
Deacs Beat No. 3 Louisville on Simoneit's Walk-Off Blast
3/7/2020 7:33:00 PM | Baseball
William Simoneit drilled a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth for the 3-2 victory.
After the Cardinals (10-4, 1-1 ACC) tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the ninth, Simoneit blasted a line-drive homer over the wall in left field to seal the victory for the Demon Deacons (9-6, 1-1 ACC).
BIG TIME PLAYERS MAKE BIG TIME PLAYS.
— Wake Forest Baseball (@WakeBaseball) March 7, 2020
DEACS WIN! pic.twitter.com/MLcQn6hKn8
Jared Shuster was electric on the mound for Wake, striking out a career-high 13 batters over 7.1 innings. He allowed one run on four hits and a walk, blanking the Cardinals after the first inning.
"We needed that. And we needed that start out of Jared Shuster. Obviously he was the difference today keeping a good offense down, 13 strikeouts and one walk, you really can't pitch much better than that," head coach Tom Walter said. "William Simoneit, what can you say about him? He's had a great year for us so far and he came through in the clutch."
T7 | Shuster sets a new career high with strikeout number 13!
— Wake Forest Baseball (@WakeBaseball) March 7, 2020
📺: ACCNX (https://t.co/TlaGLQ1V0S) pic.twitter.com/sVfo7OuGUN
The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, and Louisville starter Bobby Miller didn't give up his first hit until the sixth inning. After Michael Turconi broke the seal with a single, Chris Lanzilli roped a first-pitch, two-run homer to deep left-center to put the Deacs ahead, 2-1.
Shuster, Antonio Menendez and Tyler Witt each retired a batter in the eighth to strand runners on the corners and keep the Deacs ahead.
In the top of the ninth, Louisville scored on a walk, stolen base, wild pitch and RBI single by Levi Usher. Shane Smith struck out the other three batters, sending the Deacs to the bottom of the ninth for the eventual game-winner.
The rubber game of the series is set for Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. on ACCNX.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Smith, Shane (2-0)
L: Evan Webster (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Ben Metzinger 1
RBI: Danny Oriente 1 ; Levi Usher 1
SF: Danny Oriente 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ben Metzinger 1 ; Chris Seng 1
SB: Luke Brown 2 ; Chris Seng 1 ; Justin Lavey 1
CS: Levi Usher 1
HBP: Trey Leonard 1
PO: Lucas Dunn 1
Batting:
2B: Lanzilli, Chris 1
HR: Lanzilli, Chris 1 ; Simoneit, William 1
RBI: Lanzilli, Chris 2 ; Simoneit, William 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Turconi, Michael 1 ; Lanzilli, Chris 1 ; Simoneit, William 1
