Friday, April 9
Winston-Salem, N.C.
6:00 PM
Wake Forest University
10-13, 5-10
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Virginia Tech
17-9, 12-7
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Virginia Tech
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Wake Forest
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Photo by: Jaylynn Nash LLC
Deacs Fall in Series Opener Against No. 13 Virginia Tech
4/9/2021 11:30:00 PM | Baseball
Ryan Cusick surpassed 150 career strikeouts during his start.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Wake Forest drew within one run thanks to a three-run sixth inning, but could not equalize as Virginia Tech pulled away to win the opening game of the series 8-4 on Friday night at David F. Couch Ballpark.
Nine Deacs came to plate in the bottom of the sixth, started off by a singles from Brandon Tinsman and Lucas Costello and a walk from Pierce Bennett, which loaded the bases. Wake Forest (10-13, 5-10 ACC) scratched across three runs on an RBI-HBP, an RBI-single and a sac fly, but a lightning delay during Chris Lanzilli's at-bat slowed the Deacs' momentum, as Virginia Tech (17-9, 12-7 ACC) kept their lead the rest of the way.
Ryan Cusick started on the mound, striking out nine Hokies over 5.1 innings, taking the loss while only giving up one earned run. Brennen Oxford and Reed Mascolo each struck out two Virginia Tech batters in relief.
At the plate, Brock Wilken and Chris Lanzilli led the Deacs with two hits a piece. Lucas Costello extended his hitting streak to 10 games, a team-high. Pierce Bennett walked a career-high three times, while Tinsman recorded two walks of his own.
How It Happened
Ryan Cusick reached multiple milestones in his sixth start of the season on Friday night.
With his nine strikeouts tonight, Cusick set a new career-high for K's in a season with 56 strikeouts in just 33 innings of work. The Subury, Mass. native's previous best was set during his freshman season when he tossed 55 in 65.2 innings.
Additionally, Cusick threw his 150th career strikeouts against Virginia Tech with his fifth strikeout of the night in the third frame.
Words from Walter
"I know I sound like a broken record, but it's just another really disappointing loss. Just not enough clutch at-bats. We certainly had chances, and I thought our two best at-bats of the day were Lucas Costello and Brock Wilken in that inning. We had our guys up, bases loaded in a 5-3 game with Seymour, Lanzilli and Muntz against a pitcher that should be a good matchup for all three of those guys, and we were only able to come away with one run in that situation. We really needed to tie or take the lead there so we could pitch a little differently down the stretch.
"The first three runs they scored in the second inning, we had a situation where we balk and we make an error, and then they hit a ball and we make an ill-advised throw. And then all of a sudden, we're down 3-0."
On Deck
Wake Forest takes on Virginia Tech two more times this weekend, battling the Hokies at 1 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Following the ACC series, Wake Forest hits the road for the first game of an eight-game road trip, traveling to Boone, N.C. on Tuesday, April 13, to take on Appalachian State.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook |
Nine Deacs came to plate in the bottom of the sixth, started off by a singles from Brandon Tinsman and Lucas Costello and a walk from Pierce Bennett, which loaded the bases. Wake Forest (10-13, 5-10 ACC) scratched across three runs on an RBI-HBP, an RBI-single and a sac fly, but a lightning delay during Chris Lanzilli's at-bat slowed the Deacs' momentum, as Virginia Tech (17-9, 12-7 ACC) kept their lead the rest of the way.
Ryan Cusick started on the mound, striking out nine Hokies over 5.1 innings, taking the loss while only giving up one earned run. Brennen Oxford and Reed Mascolo each struck out two Virginia Tech batters in relief.
At the plate, Brock Wilken and Chris Lanzilli led the Deacs with two hits a piece. Lucas Costello extended his hitting streak to 10 games, a team-high. Pierce Bennett walked a career-high three times, while Tinsman recorded two walks of his own.
How It Happened
- Ryan Cusick struck out the side to start off his Friday night start.
- Brock Wilken recorded Wake Forest's first hit, doubling to right field with two out in the first. The Hokies ended the frame with a fly out to the next batter.
- Virginia Tech got on the scoreboard in the second inning, scoring three runs after taking advantage of a throwing error.
- After the Hokies knocked in their first hit of the night, the runner moved to second on a balk, and advanced home for the game's first run on a throwing error that went out of play.
- Shane Muntz recorded Wake Forest's second hit of the night, doubling to deep center field with one out in the second. Despite Brendan Tinsman and Pierce Bennett walking with two outs to lead the bases, nothing was doing for the Deacs as the game stayed 3-0 heading into the third.
- Cusick threw his 150th career strikeout in the third inning. The right hander kept the Hokies scoreless with a pair of ground outs in addition to his fifth K of the night.
- A Chris Lanzilli rocket up the middle in the bottom of the third plated Wake Forest's first run of the game (3-1).
- Michael Turconi scored after being hit by a pitch to leadoff the inning. He advanced to second on a wild pitch.
- Cusick upped his strikeout total to seven in the fourth, fanning a pair of Hokies for the last two outs of the inning.
- Tinsman and Pierce Bennett walked on in the bottom half of the inning. The duo advanced a base on a wild pitch with two outs, but the Hokies retired the next batter to end the scoring threat.
- Cusick came out in the fifth and retired two straight batters, including his eighth strikeout of the night. After a hit by Virginia Tech, the Sudbury, Mass. native induced a ground out to Wilken to conclude the inning.
- Back-to-back singles Bobby Seymour and Lanzilli put the tying run at the plate in the fifth. Virginia Tech picked up the third and final out with a strikeout of the Deacs on second and third to preserve their 3-1 lead.
- The Hokies extended their lead in the top of the sixth to 5-1 after plating two runs on a pair of hits and one error. After their two runs, Hunter Furtado hit the mound out of the bullpen. He forced double play to end the inning as Lanzilli threw a runner out at home after a fly out.
- Cusick exited the game after fanning his ninth batter of the game for his last out.
- The Deacs cut into the Hokies' lead in the sixth, pushing three runs across on three hits.
- After the bases were loaded thanks to hits from Tinsman and Costello and a walk from Bennett, Michael Turconi was hit by a pitch to bring home a run. Brock Wilken followed that up with a RBI single and the run was capped off by a sac fly from Seymour.
- A weather delay stopped play for 30 minutes during the inning.
- Virginia Tech hit the first home run of the game in the seventh with two outs to increase their lead to 6-4. Furtado struck out a Hokie for the final out of the inning.
- The Hokies added a pair of runs to their lead (8-4) in the top of the eighth after a fielder's choice and an error. Brennen Oxford ended the inning with two consecutive strikeouts.
- After a scoreless bottom half of the eighth, Reed Mascolo took the mound and tossed a scoreless top of the ninth, striking out two Hokies.
- The Deacs went down in the order in the bottom half of the frame to fall 8-4.
Ryan Cusick reached multiple milestones in his sixth start of the season on Friday night.
With his nine strikeouts tonight, Cusick set a new career-high for K's in a season with 56 strikeouts in just 33 innings of work. The Subury, Mass. native's previous best was set during his freshman season when he tossed 55 in 65.2 innings.
Additionally, Cusick threw his 150th career strikeouts against Virginia Tech with his fifth strikeout of the night in the third frame.
Words from Walter
"I know I sound like a broken record, but it's just another really disappointing loss. Just not enough clutch at-bats. We certainly had chances, and I thought our two best at-bats of the day were Lucas Costello and Brock Wilken in that inning. We had our guys up, bases loaded in a 5-3 game with Seymour, Lanzilli and Muntz against a pitcher that should be a good matchup for all three of those guys, and we were only able to come away with one run in that situation. We really needed to tie or take the lead there so we could pitch a little differently down the stretch.
"The first three runs they scored in the second inning, we had a situation where we balk and we make an error, and then they hit a ball and we make an ill-advised throw. And then all of a sudden, we're down 3-0."
On Deck
Wake Forest takes on Virginia Tech two more times this weekend, battling the Hokies at 1 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Following the ACC series, Wake Forest hits the road for the first game of an eight-game road trip, traveling to Boone, N.C. on Tuesday, April 13, to take on Appalachian State.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook |
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: J. Heard (2-0)
L: Cusick, Ryan (1-2)
Batting:
2B: D. Leonard 1
HR: G. Cross 1
RBI: G. Cross 1 ; D. Leonard 3 ; C. Swisher 1
Base Running:
RUNS: G. Cross 1 ; T. Rumfield 1 ; K. Madden 2 ; T. Schobel 2 ; C. Jones 1 ; D. Leonard 1
CS: C. Swisher 1
HBP: N. Biddison 1
Batting:
2B: Wilken, Brock 1 ; Muntz, Shane 1
RBI: Turconi, Michael 1 ; Wilken, Brock 1 ; Seymour, Bobby 1 ; Lanzilli, Chris 1
SF: Seymour, Bobby 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Costello, Lucas 1 ; Turconi, Michael 1 ; Tinsman, Brendan 1 ; Bennett, Pierce 1
HBP: Turconi, Michael 2
Game Leaders
AB
5
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2
RBI
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5
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H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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