Wake Forest University
2-2
Coastal Carolina
2-2
Deacs Fall in Extra Innings to Chanticleers
2/23/2021 9:52:00 PM | Baseball
Wake Forest battled through their first extra-inning game in almost two years.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The No. 16 Deacs dueled back and forth with Coastal Carolina on the pitcher's mound on Tuesday night at David F. Couch Ballpark. After a late, extra-inning rally by the Chanticleers, the Demon Deacons ultimately fell 4-1 in 12 innings.
Eight Wake Forest (2-2) pitchers combined to strike out 20 Coastal Carolina (2-2) batters on the night, led by freshman Rhett Lowder's 10 Ks in six frames. The octet only gave up one earned run over 12 innings of play. The 20 strikeouts are the most in the game by a Wake Forest pitching staff since at least 1999. The previous high was 17 on March 7, 2020 versus Louisville.
Sophomore Michael Turconi and freshman Pierce Bennett led the Deacs at the dish, each knocking two hits on the night. Turconi drove in Bennett for Wake Forest's sole run in the bottom of the eighth inning, smacking a ground-rule double to right-center to score Bennett from second.
Freshman Eric Adler came up huge out of the bullpen in the top of the ninth, entering the game with bases loaded and no one out. The Rockledge, Fla. native induced a fielder's choice ground out, a flyout and a strikeout to strand all three Coastal Carolina baserunners.
Junior Cole McNamee saw action both at the plate and on the mound, going 2-for-5 in the box while pitching 0.1 innings on the bump, striking out one Chanticleer. His base hit in the bottom of the third was his first of the new season.
Tuesday marked Wake Forest's first extra innings game since March 24, 2019, when the Deacs defeated the Duke Blue Devils 5-4 in 12 innings.
How It Happened
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Freshman Rhett Lowder threw a three up, three down (one strikeout) to open the game on the mound.
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Michael Turconi picked up his sixth hit of the season in the No. 2 spot of the Deacs' lineup in Wake Forest's time at the plate. He advanced to second on a wild pitch, but Wake Forest was unable to capitalize on the scoring threat as the teams remained scoreless.
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Rookie Brock Wilken knocked in his fifth hit in four games to reach base with two outs in the second. Coastal Carolina ended the inning the following batter.
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Lowder continued to make quick work of the Chanticleers, striking out 6 of the first 10 batters he faced.
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In the bottom of the third, Cole McNamee knocked in his first base hit of the season and the Deacs' third of the game. The game remained scoreless entering the fourth inning.
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Lowder retired the side three up, three down for the fourth time in five frames to hold Coastal Carolina at one hit more than halfway through the game.
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The Deacs knocked in two singles (McNamee and Bennett) after two fly outs to start the bottom of the fifth, but Coastal Carolina forced a fly out to end the fourth.
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The Chanticleers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth with a solo shot to right center field.
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The homer was just the Chanticleers' second hit of the afternoon.
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In the top of the seventh, the Deacs handed the ball to Crawford Wade, ending Lowder's night.
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In his first collegiate start, Lowder threw 10 strikeouts over six innings while giving up one run.
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After Wade forced a ground out in the top half of the eighth, Camden Minacci was called to the mound and struck out two batters to end the inning with two Chanticleers left on base.
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Turconi tied the game at one with a ground-rule double to center field. Pierce Bennett scored the tying run after reaching base on his second base hit of the contest.
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The double gave Turconi a team-high tying sixth RBI of the season.
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Bennett advanced to scoring position after a wild pitch during the ensuing at-bat by Turconi.
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Teddy McGraw entered in the top of the ninth for his second relief appearance of his freshman season. After facing three batters, Eric Adler hit the mound in relief and escaped a bases loaded jam to keep the game tied at 1 heading into the bottom of the ninth.
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The game was sent into extra innings after Wake Forest was unable to take advantage of Ludowig reaching base in the opening at-bat of the bottom of the ninth.
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McNamee was called on for the pitching duties in the top of the 10th and struck out his first batter. After Coastal Carolina reached on a single, Brennen Oxford entered the game and proceeded to tally two consecutive outs.
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In the top of the 11th, the Chanticleers once again loaded the bases, but were unable to score as Oxford forced a ground out and struck out a pair to end the threat.
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Coastal Carolina broke the tie in the top of the 12th as the Chanticleers' drew a trio of walks with the bases loaded to take a 4-1 lead.
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The Deacs final rally fell short in the bottom of the 12th to close out the game.
In the Spotlight
Freshman Rhett Lowder was lights out in his first career start. The right hander struck out ten Chanticleers across six innings, giving up just two hits and one earned run. The Albemarle, N.C. native now has 13 punch outs across seven innings pitched in two appearances on the season. His one earned run during that stretch earns him a 1.29 ERA.
Lowder's 10 strikeouts marked the first time a Wake Forest pitcher reached double-digits since 2020 first round pick Jared Shuster punched out 13 batters on March 7, 2020 against Louisville.
Words from Walter
"Obviously disappointed. Any time you give up one run in 11 innings, it's near impossible to lose a college baseball game doing that at home. (We) just didn't put together enough at-bats. Obviously happy with the job our pitchers did today. A few too many walks and an error again cost us, but if you can pitch like that consistently, it bodes well for the season.
(Rhett Lowder) can't throw the ball much better than that. It was super impressive. The command was good. He was throwing three pitches for strikes. He was pitching backwards when he needed to. I couldn't have been more impressed with his outing. That's about as good as you can throw the baseball."
On Deck
Wake Forest will begin their 36-game conference slate with a three-game series against Notre Dame at The Couch on Feb. 26-28.
Fans can catch the trio of games on ACC Network Extra. First pitch on Friday and Saturday is set for 4:00 p.m., while Sunday's game will begin at 1:00 p.m.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hopwood, Keaton (1-0)
L: Mascolo, Reed (0-1)
Batting:
HR: Pate, Makenzie 1
RBI: Chavers, Parker 1 ; Weiss, Cooper 1 ; Richardson, W. 1 ; Pate, Makenzie 1
SH: Morello, Lorenzo 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lucky, Nick 1 ; Brown, Eric 1 ; Pate, Makenzie 2
SB: Pate, Makenzie 1
HBP: Riopelle, BT 1 ; Weiss, Cooper 1 ; Pate, Makenzie 1
Batting:
2B: Turconi, Michael 1
RBI: Turconi, Michael 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bennett, Pierce 1
HBP: Ludowig, Michael 1
