Wake Forest University
1-0
Northeastern
0-1
Wilken’s Late Game Heroics Lift Deacs to Win
2/19/2021 8:16:00 PM | Baseball
The freshman's 8th inning three-run homer pushed Wake Forest to an 8-6 victory.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Late inning heroics by freshman Brock Wilken in his collegiate debut powered Wake Forest past Northeastern 8-6 in the 2021 season opener at David F. Couch Ballpark.
The Valrico, Fla. native's three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth gave Wake Forest (1-0) the lead for good, as fellow rookie Camden Minacci earned his first career save after setting down the order in the top of ninth.
Wake Forest jumped out to an early four-run lead over the Huskies (0-1) thanks to Shane Muntz's grand slam in the first inning, his 24th career home run. The Deacs would go on to add four more extra base hits on the night, including a trio of doubles off the bats of Chris Lanzilli, Michael Ludowig and Wilken, respectively.
Eric Adler picked up his first career win in 1.1 innings in relief.
Ryan Cusick started on the mound for the Deacs as the preseason All-American struck out nine batters over 6.0 innings. The Sudbury, Mass. native has now struck out at least nine opponents in his last five starts.
How It Happened
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The Deacs' bats were hot right away to begin the game, highlighted by a Shane Muntz grand slam to give Wake Forest an early 4-0 lead.
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Muntz's bases-clearing home run is the first by a Wake Forest batter in almost a full year (Will Simoneit, Feb. 28, 20).
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Chris Lanzilli (double), Bobby Seymour (walk) and Pierce Bennett (fielder's choice) all scored on the play.
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Michael Ludowig brought home Lanzilli with Wake Forest's second double of the game to give the Deacs a 5-0 lead after the third inning.
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Through three innings, Ryan Cusick struck out six of the first 10 batters he faced, only allowing one hit.
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Cusick continued to make quick work of the Huskies over the next two scoreless innings.Through five frames, Cusick only surrendered 3 hits and struck out nine Huskies.
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Northeastern's bats came alive in the sixth, knocking in three runs on four hits to cut the Deacs' advantage to 5-3.
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The Huskies tallied one more run in the following inning as Crawford Wade made his collegiate debut in relief of Cusick. Wade would toss 0.2 innings before Eric Adler took the mound.
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Northeastern took their first lead (6-5) of the game in the eighth inning as two Huskies crossed home.
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With two outs and two on in the eighth inning, rookie Brock Wilken smashed a three-run homerun to left field as Wake Forest retook the lead at 8-6.
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Semour and Ludowig came around for the tying and go-ahead runs on Wilken's blast.
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Camden Minacci slammed the door in the top of the ninth with a pair of strikeouts, setting down the Huskies in order to earn the save and securing a 8-6 win for the Deacs.
Standout Stat
A pair of home runs, a grand-slam from Shane Muntz and a three-run shot from Brock Wilken, accounted for seven of the Deacs' eight runs. Five of Wake Forest's six hits against the Huskies were extra-base hits.
Ryan Cusick struck out nine in his season debut, good for 1.33 strikeouts per inning. Dating back to 2020, Cusick has fanned at least nine batters in his last five starts. The sophomore tossed 43 strikeouts in 22.1 innings in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.
In The Spotlight
Freshman Brock Wilken had a memorable college debut on Friday night, driving in the go-ahead run in the 8th inning with a 3-run home run to left field. The third baseman finished the day 2-for-4 from the plate, including a double in his first collegiate at-bat.
Words from Walter
"Obviously a great win. Any time you can come from behind against a closer like tha, it's a good win. Northeastern's obviously got a really good team and they battled, and punched some runs across. We made a couple of mistakes defensively, and all of a sudden found ourselves behind, and we got a clutch hit from Brock Wilken. I can't say enough about Brock Wilken and what he's shown us early this year, but obviously today coming up in that situation, to put that good of a swing on a guy that's got a good sinking fastball, and stay inside that ball and hit it out of the ballpark, just a clutch, clutch at-bat.
So really a great team win, I didn't think we swung the bats real well tonight. Obviously chased too many pitches out of the zone. I think we were pressing a little bit early, and maybe some early season stuff. But really pleased with the win."
On Deck
The Deacs are back in action against the Huskies on Saturday. First pitch at The Couch is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will broadcasted live on ACC Network.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Adler, Eric (1-0)
L: Brandon Dufault (0-1)
S: Minacci, Camden (1)
Batting:
2B: Ben Malgeri 1 ; Jared Dupere 1 ; Jeff Costello 1
RBI: Jared Dupere 1 ; Ian Fair 1 ; Jeff Costello 2 ; Spencer Smith 1
SF: Ian Fair 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Scott Holzwasser 1 ; Ben Malgeri 1 ; Max Viera 1 ; Corey Diloreto 1 ; Jeff Costello 1 ; Spencer Smith 1
SB: Scott Holzwasser 1 ; Ben Malgeri 1 ; Jared Dupere 1 ; Jeff Costello 1
Batting:
2B: Lanzilli, Chris 1 ; Ludowig, Michael 1 ; Wilken, Brock 1
HR: Muntz, Shane 1 ; Wilken, Brock 1
RBI: Muntz, Shane 4 ; Ludowig, Michael 1 ; Wilken, Brock 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Turconi, Michael 1 ; Lanzilli, Chris 2 ; Seymour, Bobby 2 ; Muntz, Shane 1 ; Ludowig, Michael 1 ; Wilken, Brock 1
SB: Lanzilli, Chris 1
HBP: Bennett, Pierce 2
