Wake Forest University
6-8
Elon
5-9
Wake Forest Powers Past Elon for Midweek Victory
3/23/2021 9:25:00 PM | Baseball
The Deacs blast a trio of home runs and pitch eight scoreless innings to earn a 4-2 win on the road.
ELON, N.C. -- Behind a trio of home runs and a number of strong pitching performances, the Wake Forest baseball team powered past non-conference foe Elon by a final score of 4-2 on Tuesday evening at Latham Park.
Lucas Costello, Adam Cecere and Pierce Bennett led Wake Forest (6-8, 2-4 ACC) at the plate with their first home runs of the season, while a combination of six pitchers blanked Elon's (5-9, 0-0 CAA) offense for the majority of the game.
Reed Mascolo earned the victory on the mound, his first of the season, after throwing 3.0 scoreless innings. The production continued once the bullpen took over, led by Brennen Oxford, Cole McNamee, Crawford Wade, Hunter Furtado and Eric Adler.
The Deacs struck first as Costello blasted a solo shot in the top of the first to take an early 1-0 lead. Cecere added to the advantage in the fourth frame, bringing home Shane Muntz with a two-run shot before Bennett answered with a solo blast of his own for Wake Forest's fourth and final run in the fifth.
After Elon cut Wake Forest's lead in half in the seventh, Furtado entered the game and slammed the Phoenix's opportunity, inducing a pop up and a strike out. He returned in the eighth and pitched a perfect half inning before the Deacs turned to Adler, who shut the door in the bottom of the ninth with a pair of strikeouts and a ground out to earn his second save of the season.
How It Happened
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Wake Forest opened the game with a 1-0 lead thanks to Lucas Costello's first career home run to left field.
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Costello's home run marked the 12th of the season for the Deacs.
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Bobby Seymour extended his on-base streak to 19 games with a two-out single in the first.
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After allowing a single to the opening batter, the Deacs' defense turned a double play to clear the bases. Reed Mascolo hit the next batter, but induced a ground out to the very next batter to end the inning.
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The Deacs went down in order in the top of the second after Elon brought a new pitcher to the mound.
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Mascolo responded with a perfect inning of his own, forcing the Phoenix to fly out, pop out and ground out to keep the score 1-0 heading into the third.
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Costello worked himself on base with a two-out walk in the top half of the third. He stole second, his third of the season, to advance into scoring position before the inning ended with a strikeout.
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Elon threatened in the bottom of the third, placing runners on second (single and wild pitch) and first (walk) with one out. Mascolo and the Deacs ended the threat with a lineout and ground out to end the inning.
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Wake Forest extended their lead to 3-0 after a two-run blast from Adam Cecere with two outs in the top of the fourth.
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Shane Muntz was brought home after sprinkling a single to center.
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Mascolo's day was done after allowing just two hits in three scoreless innings. Brennen Oxford replaced him, throwing a perfect bottom half of the fourth with a pair of fly balls and a ground out.
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Pierce Bennett pushed the Deacs' lead to 4-0 in the fifth with a solo shot to left field, his first home run of 2021 and Wake Forest's third of the day.
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Oxford and the Deacs' defense registered another perfect inning, sitting the Phoenix down in order in the fifth to preserve Wake Forest's 4-0 lead.
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Oxford struck out a pair to start off the bottom of the sixth before Cole McNamee replaced him on the mound. After hitting his first batter, McNamee ended the inning with an Elon ground out.
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James Broderick knocked a one-out double off the left field wall to get into scoring position in the seventh. Costello joined him on the basepaths with his second walk of the game. Elon got out of the inning the following batter to end the scoring threat and keep Wake Forest's advantage at 4-0.
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Elon plated a pair of runs in the seventh to cut Deacs' lead (4-2) in half. Hunter Furtado replaced Crawford Wade with one out and ended the inning with a pop up and a strikeout.
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Brock Wilken doubled with one out in the top of the eighth, but nothing was doing as the Deacs took their 4-2 lead to the bottom half of the inning.
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Furtado continued to deal, retiring the Phoenix in order to preserve Wake Forest's 4-2 lead.
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Pierce Bennett and Lucas Costello were both walked with two outs in the ninth, but were stranded after a ground out to end Wake Forest's last opportunity on offense.
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Eric Adler was called upon in the bottom of the ninth and delivered, retiring Elon with a pair of strikeouts and a ground out to earn the save and give the Deacs a 4-2 road victory.
In the Spotlight
A pair of freshmen, Lucas Costello and Hunter Furtado, played instrumental roles in Wake Forest's fourth non-conference victory of the season.
Costello blasted his first collegiate home run to give the Deacs an early 1-0 lead in the opening inning of the game. The Miami, Fla. native reached base three more times in the contest, adding a career-high and game-high three walks.
After the Deacs gave up a pair of runs, Furtado came in with one on one out and stopped Elon's momentum in their tracks. Furtado forced a pop up and strike out to stop the bleeding in the seventh inning.
He returned in the eighth and tossed a three up, three down frame to put the Deacs in position to clinch the victory in the ninth.
Words from Walter
"Really happy with the way we pitched tonight. (Reed) Mascolo gave us a great start for three innings. (Brennen) Oxford came in and did his job. Then Cole (McNamee) came in and got two big outs and shut them out through six innings. Ran into a little trouble there (in the seventh inning). Crawford (Wade), after a long layoff, just wasn't locating the ball real well. But I was glad to see him back out there. The ball was coming out of his hand good, so I'm encouraged for Crawford this coming weekend to pitch well and help us. Obviously (Hunter) Furtado was really the difference. He came in and stopped their momentum. Eric Adler came in and got a big save for us.
Offensively, still not where we want to be or where we need to be, but we did enough to win. We hit some home runs tonight. It was good to see Pierce Bennett and Adam Cecere get going a little bit. So we're not where we need to be or where we want to be, but we're trending in the right direction."
On Deck
The Deacs continue their road trip, heading back to the Sunshine State for an ACC series against No. 19 Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla on March 26-28.
Wake Forest will welcome Appalachian State on March 30th at The Couch before traveling north for their second consecutive road weekend series, taking on No. 7 Louisville on April 2-4.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Mascolo, Reed (1-1)
L: Bauer, Spencer (0-1)
S: Adler, Eric (2)
Batting:
2B: Wilken, Brock 1 ; Broderick, James 1
HR: Bennett, Pierce 1 ; Costello, Lucas 1 ; Cecere, Adam 1
RBI: Bennett, Pierce 1 ; Costello, Lucas 1 ; Cecere, Adam 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Bennett, Pierce 1 ; Costello, Lucas 1 ; Muntz, Shane 1 ; Cecere, Adam 1
SB: Costello, Lucas 1
Batting:
2B: Haskin, Parker 1
RBI: Cicci, Nick 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Jeske, Bryce 1 ; Haskin, Parker 1
SB: Galason, Anthony 1
HBP: Galason, Anthony 2
