Wake Forest University
9-11, 4-9
Louisville
18-7, 10-3
Wake Forest’s Comeback Bid Falls Short at No. 5 Louisville
4/3/2021 6:13:00 PM | Baseball
The Deacs plated six runs in the eighth, tying their highest-scoring inning of the season.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After tying game two of the series following a six-run rally in the top of the eighth inning, the Wake Forest baseball team ultimately fell Saturday afternoon against No. 5 Louisville by a final score of 9-7 at Jim Patterson Stadium.
Finding themselves down 7-1, the Deacs (9-11, 4-9 ACC) rattled off six-straight runs, capped off by a Shane Muntz grand slam to left field, to tie the game heading into the bottom of the eighth.
In total, the six runs tied Wake Forest's largest scoring inning this season as the team tallied four hits, a walk and a hit by pitch before recording a single out in the frame. Louisville (18-7, 10-3 ACC) broke the tie in the next half inning and pushed across the would-be winning pair of runs off a single with two outs.
Currently, Muntz is on a hot streak at the plate as the junior has recorded a home run in three-consecutive games, the second time in his career matching the feat. Freshman Lucas Costello joined Muntz with a long ball, blasting his third collegiate homer in the sixth inning for the Deacs' first run of the game.
The first seven batters in Saturday's lineup recorded a base hit for Wake Forest.
Michael Ludowig's streak of multi-hit games is now up to five after a team-high tying two hits at the plate. Brock Wilken joined Ludowig with a pair of base knocks, the seventh multi-hit game of his freshman season.
William Fleming made his sixth start of the season, tossing five innings and striking out a trio of Cardinals while giving up six runs. In relief, the Deacs rode the freshmen duo of Hunter Furtado and Camden Minacci for the remainder of the game. After Furtado threw a perfect seventh, Minacci struck out a career-high three batters in the eighth inning.
How It Happened
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Louisville hit a solo shot in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead as William Fleming made his sixth start of the season on the mound.
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Fleming struck out his first batter to end the inning.
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Wake Forest knocked in their first hits of the game in the second as Bobby Seymour and Michael Ludowig recorded singles. With two outs, Cole McNamee hit a deep ball to center field, but Louisville made a leaping catch at the wall to end the inning.
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The Cardinals added another run in the second to take a 2-0 lead behind a pair of hits, including a leadoff double.
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Fleming pitched a scoreless frame behind his third strikeout of the game in the third. Additionally, Shane Muntz threw out a Louisville baserunner trying to steal second for the second out of the inning.
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Chris Lanzilli drew a walk with two outs in the fourth frame, but Louisville induced a fly out to end the inning and preserve their 2-0 lead.
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Louisville plated two runs in the fourth behind a solo home run and a RBI double to increase their lead to 4-0.
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The Deacs were set down in order to begin the fifth. Louisville pushed their lead to 6-0, scoring another pair of runs after three hits.
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Lucas Costello broke the scoring drought for the Deacs in the top of the sixth, knocking a solo shot out over the left center field wall to make it a 6-1 ballgame.
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Michael Turocni, the next batter, walked with no one out but the top half of the sixth ended with three straight fly outs.
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The Cardinals plated another run (7-1) after a leadoff walk and a double to begin the bottom of the sixth as Hunter Furtado replaced Fleming.
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In the top of the seventh, Ludowig tallied his second hit of the game with one out. Ludowig was stranded on first as the top half ended after the next two batters.
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The junior has now posted at least two base knocks in his last five games.
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Furtado tossed a perfect seventh inning as the lefty forced a ground out, fly out and a strikeout to a Louisville pinch hitter.
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Wake Forest tied the game at seven with a six-run eighth inning on four hits, highlighted by a grand slam from Shane Muntz (second HR of the weekend). The Deacs' two other runs came after Bobby Seymour was hit by a pitch and a Chris Lanzilli RBI single.
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Wake Forest loaded the bases with no one out after a walk to Lucas Costello and a pair of singles from Michael Turconi and Brock Wilken.
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Wilken, Seymour and Lanzilli all scored on Muntz's grand slam.
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Louisville came back and broke the tie in the bottom of the eighth after a two-run RBI single with two outs.
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Brock Wilken knocked in his second base hit of the afternoon with two outs in the ninth. The Cardinals retired the next batter to end Wake Forest's comeback short and win the game 9-7.
In the Spotlight
The Deacs used a six-run eighth inning to fuel a late-game comeback on Saturday afternoon. The six runs tie the highest-scoring inning this season for the Deacs as the team also pushed across six runs on six hits in the bottom of the sixth inning in their series finale against Northeastern on Feb. 21.
Shane Muntz has now blasted a home run in three-straight games dating back to Wake Forest's midweek matchup with Appalachian State on Tuesday, March 30. The streak is just the second time the catcher has gone at least three-consecutive games with a home run since he did so four times at the tail end of the 2019 season. .
Lucas Costello continues his productive freshman season after the freshman tallied one home run, one RBI, one walk and two runs scored on Saturday. The Miami, Fla. native is currently second in batting average (.299) and tied for second for most hits (20) among Wake Forest hitters.
Words from Walter
"Just another disappointing loss. Really throughout the first seven innings, we didn't put back-to-back quality at-bats together other than (Michael) Ludowig's single in the second followed by (Cole) McNamee hitting that ball to the wall. When (Michael) Turconi and (Lucas) Costello homered and then we walked right after that, those were the only two times in seven innings we put back-to-back quality at-bats together.
On the mound, we had chances to get out of all those innings. I think eight of their nine runs came with two outs. We've just got to do a better job of making pitches. Louisville's a good offensive team, but they're a team that thrives on mistakes. If you make pitches against them, you get outs. Really that was the difference in the game. Not getting our team off the field with two outs and a little too many walks in the wrong situations and just not enough quality at-bats."
On Deck
The Deacs and Cardinals close out the three-game series tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. live on ESPN2.
Wake Forest will then head back on the road for a midweek, non-conference game at Liberty on Tuesday, April 6.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Adam Elliott (4-1)
L: Minacci, Camden (0-1)
Batting:
HR: Costello, Lucas 1 ; Muntz, Shane 1
RBI: Costello, Lucas 1 ; Seymour, Bobby 1 ; Lanzilli, Chris 1 ; Muntz, Shane 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Costello, Lucas 2 ; Turconi, Michael 1 ; Wilken, Brock 1 ; Seymour, Bobby 1 ; Lanzilli, Chris 1 ; Muntz, Shane 1
HBP: Seymour, Bobby 1
Batting:
2B: Lucas Dunn 1 ; Christian Knapczyk 2
3B: Lucas Dunn 1
HR: Henry Davis 1 ; Cameron Masterman 1
RBI: Luke Brown 2 ; Henry Davis 1 ; Lucas Dunn 1 ; Trey Leonard 1 ; Cameron Masterman 1 ; Levi Usher 1 ; Christian Knapczyk 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Cooper Bowman 1 ; Luke Brown 1 ; Henry Davis 1 ; Lucas Dunn 2 ; Cameron Masterman 1 ; Levi Usher 3
SB: Luke Brown 1 ; Levi Usher 2
CS: Luke Brown 1
