Wake Forest Travels to Virginia For Final ACC Road Series

Wake Forest Travels to Virginia For Final ACC Road Series

5/13/2021 9:00:00 AM | Baseball

Saturday and Sunday's contests are set to be broadcasted on ACC Network.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Demon Deacons travel to Charlottesville, Va. this weekend for their final road series of the 2021 regular season against the Cavaliers at Disharoon Park.

The series opener on Friday is slated for 6:00 p.m. first pitch on ACC Network Extra, while Saturday (6:00 p.m.) and Sunday's (12:00 p.m.) contests will be aired live on ACC Network.

Stay tuned to the Demon Deacons social media accounts (@WakeBaseball) for all in-game updates and information.

Seymour Streaking
Bobby Seymour, the 2019 ACC Player of the Year, has been on a hot streak since Wake Forest's matchup on April 11 against Virginia Tech, batting .400 with 26 hits, 35 RBIs, 15 HRs, five doubles, 26 runs scored, six walks and 1.169 slugging percentage.

The junior became the 28th player in program history to amass 200 career hits in the first game of Wake Forest's doubleheader at Clemson with a single in the fourth inning.

With 215 career hits, see where the junior stands with seven games remaining in the 2021 season:

Wake Forest 200-Hit Club
21. Danny Martz, 223, (1989-92)
22. Danny Borrell, 215 (1998-00)
       Bobby Seymour, 215 (2018-Pres.)

In four games from April 27-May 2, Seymour held a .588 batting average with 10 hits, 11 RBIs, six homers, 10 runs scored, two doubles and a trio of walks.

Currently, the St. Johns, Ind. native is tied for the second most home runs in the nation in addition to posting the third-most RBIs in the conference.

Seymour needs just two more home runs to enter the top-10 for career home runs by a Demon Deacon, and already holds the sixth-most RBIs in program history (186).

Lanzilli Cements Himself Among Wake Forest Greats
In Wake Forest's 12-0 midweek victory against App State, Chris Lanzilli smashed a grand slam to deep left center field, marking his 37th career home run to jump into the top-10 list for home runs in Demon Deacons history.

On May 2 in the series finale versus NC State, Lanzilli launchd a pair of solo home runs to move into ninth all-time for career home runs.

In Wake Forest's doubleheader on April 25 at Clemson, the Stoneham, Mass. native took sole possession of 10th place with a home run in each game, upping his career total to 39.

Previously, Lanzilli was tied with Will Craig (2014-16), Danny Borrell (1998-00) and Jason Kramer (1992-95) all sit in 10th with 37.

His 41 HRs is currently tied for fourth-most amongst active players in Division I Baseball.

Lanzilli needs one more HR to tie for eighth all-time:

All-Time Wake Forest Home Run Leaders
8. Dave Lardieri, 42 (1994-87)
9. Chris Lanzilli, 41 (2018-Pres)

Jamie D'Antonna is the all-time leader in program history with 58 homers.

Overall, Lanzilli's 10 home runs are good for the 13th-most in the ACC this season

One of Two
Wake Forest is just one of two teams in the nation with five active players that have tallied at least 100 hits during their collegiate careers:

• Bobby Seymour- 215
• Chris Lanzilli- 187
• Shane Muntz- 136
• Michael Ludowig- 130
• Michael Turconi - 115

Now that Seymour has hit the 200-hit mark, Lanzilli will look to become the 29th player in program history to join the club as the junior is just 13 hits away.

Turconi joined the group against Western Carolina with his second base hit in the second inning.

Friday Night Fire
With seven games left in the season, Ryan Cusick has already set a new career high with 94 strikeouts in 58.2 innings of action. tossing five double-digit strikeout games this season.

Additionally, the right hander is just eight K's away from reaching 200 career strikeouts and entering the top-10 in program history for strikeouts in a season.

This season, the Sudbury, Mass. native leads the ACC with an average of 14.42 strikeouts per nine innings. Overall, his 94 strikeouts ranks fourth in the conference and 16th in the nation.

Cusick was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week for the first time of his career after his best performance of the season on Friday, April 16 at Duke. The sophomore struck out 11 batters in seven scoreless innings to help the Deacs take the series opener 11-0.

Instant Impact
Freshman Brock Wilken has smashed 14 home runs, the most by a true freshman in the entire nation.

The Valrico, Fla. native is tied for the fourth-most HRs by a Wake Forest batter in their first collegiate season and became the second Wake Forest batter since 2009 to reach the double-digit mark in just 25 games, joining Brendan Tinsman (2019) with 10 blasts.

Wilken needs three more home runs in the Deacs' seven remaining games to tie the freshman record held by Jamie D'Antona in 2001.

All-Time Wake Forest Freshman Home Run Leaders:
1.         Jamie D'Antona, 17 (2001)
2.         Allan Dykstra, 15 (2006)
            Anthony Maisano, 15 (1986)
4.         Pat Malloy, 14 (1996)
            Kevin Bunn, 14 (1981)
            Brock Wilken, 14 (2021)

10 of his 14 home runs have come in Wake Forest wins.

Long Ball Powering Offense
The Deacs have been using the long ball to lead their offensive punch, totaling a conference-best 75 in 40 games this season. That mark is also good for fourth in the nation.

Of Wake Forest's 258 runs this season, 131 have come from home runs, good for 50.8 percent of all runs scored.

Here's how the HRs breakdown:

• 44 runs by 44 solo home runs (Led by Seymour with 9)
• 28 runs by 14 two-run home runs (Led by Wilken with 7)
• 27 runs by 9 three-run home runs (Led by Seymour with 3)
• 32 runs by 8 grand slams (Three guys with 2)

The Deacs have hit six home runs in three games this season, with the first coming against App State on March 30, the most since 2017. The second came in a non-conference matchup with Davidson on April 27 before also hitting six out against Belmont in the first game of a Sunday doubleheader on May 9.

Six HR Games:

• May 9, 2021- Turconi, Tinsman, Wilken, Seymour (2), Cecere
• April 27, 2021- Turconi (2), Wilken, Seymour (2), Costello
• March 30, 2021- Wilken (2), Muntz, Ludowig, Cecere, Costello
• Feb. 24, 2017- Rios, Pryor, Fairchild, Sheets (3)

Additionally, in those two of those same games, the Deacs hit back to back to back HRs:

• Wilken, Michael Ludowig and Shane Muntz- App State (first time since March 26, 1991 against Division II C.W. Post)
• Turconi, Wilken, Seymour- Davidson

Last Time Out
Wake Forest baseball dominated Belmont last Sunday, giving up just two runs while scoring 21 of their own in a doubleheader sweep at David F. Couch Ballpark.The Deacs smacked 10 home runs across the two games, with Bobby Seymour leading the way with three big flies. Cole McNamee hit two homers, while Shane Muntz, Michael Turconi, Brock Wilken,Adam Cecere and Brendan Tinsman each added one home run to the Deacs' efforts. The 10 home runs plated 14 of Wake Forest's 21 runs on Sunday.

Overall, Tinsman went 5-for-8 on Sunday, driving four runs. Bobby Seymour went 3-for-6 with five RBIs at the dish.

The Deacs struck out 23 Bruins on Sunday to hold Belmont to merely two solo home runs as their only offense. Rhett Lowder and William Fleming each picked up wins in their starts.

Teddy McGraw set a career high in strikeouts in Game 1, fanning five Bruins. The freshman pitched two innings in relief of classmate Rhett Lowder, who picked up his third win of the season after six innings of work, giving up only one earned run and striking out seven Belmont batters.Eric Adler struck out five batters to close out Game 2 for a new career high in strikeouts in a game. Camden Minacci also struck out two Bruins to close out Game 1.

Opponent & Series History
Wake Forest and Virginia have hit the diamond in 163 contests prior to this year's three-game set, with the Deacs holding a 86-77 advantage in those games.

In the last game between the two, the Deacs defeated the Cavaliers by a final score of 18-12 to clinch the conference series in 2018.

On Deck
The Deacs will stay on the road for the next contest, traveling to Myrtle Beach to face Coastal Carolina on Tuesday, May 18 in their final road and midweek game of the 2021 regular season.

Wake Forest jumps right back into action in their regular season series finale against Pitt on May 20-22 at David F. Couch Ballpark.

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