Thursday, May 20
Winston-Salem, N.C.
6:00 PM
Wake Forest University
18-27, 0
6
vs
1
Pittsburgh
22-17, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Pitt
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
7
1
Wake Forest
2
0
0
0
2
0
2
0
X
6
8
0
Turconi, Cusick Power Deacs Past Panthers in Series Opener
5/20/2021 9:58:00 PM | Baseball
Turconi's career day at the plate and Cusick's sixth double-digit strikeout game of the season led Wake Forest on Thursday.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Wake Forest powered past Pitt 6-1 in the series opener on Thursday night at David F. Couch Ballpark behind a career day at the plate from Michael Turconi and Ryan Cusick's sixth double-digit strikeout performance of the season.
Turconi tallied career highs in home runs and RBIs as the Beaver Falls, Pa. native launched a trio of two-run home runs in the first, fifth and seventh frames to bring home all six Demon Deacon runs.
The sophomore became the first player to hit three home runs in a game since Ben Breazeale at High Point on March 14, 2017. Additionally, his six RBIs are tied for the most in a game this season, matching Brock Wilken's total from Wake Forest's 8-7 win at Florida State on March 27.
On the mound, Ryan Cusick earned his third win of the season after fanning 10 Panthers in 7.1 innings. The Sudbury, Mass. native gave up just one run on six hits and one walk.
With his fourth punch out of the game in the top of the fifth inning, Cusick threw his 200th career strikeout. Furthermore, his 108 K's this season are the eighth-most strikeouts in a single campaign by a Demon Deacon.
Hunter Furtado recorded the final five outs on the mound as the freshman fanned a career-high four batters while conceding just one hit.
In addition to Turconi's hat trick at the plate, Michael Ludowig notched a pair of extra-base hits with a double and triple.
How It Happened
"Great win. Ryan Cusick was phenomenal. Throwing a lot more breaking balls, landing them in the zone, and then getting them beneath the zone for strikeouts. That was the difference today for Ryan. You can't pitch a whole lot better than he did. He was economical with his pitches, and then I thought Hunter (Furtado) did a great job coming in behind him and getting five big outs. Thrilled with his performance.
Of course offensively, (Michael) Turconi was the story with three home runs. I told him after the game we've got to play somebody from Pittsburgh more often. It was a good day for Turconi and Ryan Cusick both. I'm proud of both those guys."
On Deck
The Deacs will hit the diamond in game two of the series on Friday at 3:00 p.m. live on ACC Network.
Wake Forest will close out the regular season on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Prior to the game, the program will recognize graduating seniors during a pregame ceremony that will begin approximately 30 minutes prior to first pitch.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook |
Turconi tallied career highs in home runs and RBIs as the Beaver Falls, Pa. native launched a trio of two-run home runs in the first, fifth and seventh frames to bring home all six Demon Deacon runs.
The sophomore became the first player to hit three home runs in a game since Ben Breazeale at High Point on March 14, 2017. Additionally, his six RBIs are tied for the most in a game this season, matching Brock Wilken's total from Wake Forest's 8-7 win at Florida State on March 27.
On the mound, Ryan Cusick earned his third win of the season after fanning 10 Panthers in 7.1 innings. The Sudbury, Mass. native gave up just one run on six hits and one walk.
With his fourth punch out of the game in the top of the fifth inning, Cusick threw his 200th career strikeout. Furthermore, his 108 K's this season are the eighth-most strikeouts in a single campaign by a Demon Deacon.
Hunter Furtado recorded the final five outs on the mound as the freshman fanned a career-high four batters while conceding just one hit.
In addition to Turconi's hat trick at the plate, Michael Ludowig notched a pair of extra-base hits with a double and triple.
How It Happened
- Ryan Cusick started the game on the mound, registering a scoreless first frame.
- The right hander fanned his first batter for the second out of the inning.
- Shane Muntz caught a Panther trying to steal second base for the third and final out.
- Michael Turconi got the Deacs on the board in the first, launching a two-run home run over the left field wall.
- Lucas Costello, who was hit by a pitch to open the game, was plated on the HR.
- Chris Lanzilli doubled to left field with two outs, but a ground out ended the Demon Deacons' scoring opportunity.
- A routine 4-6-3 double play and a fly out to Michael Ludowig in left field kept Pitt off the scoreboard in the top of the second.
- The Deacs held onto their 2-0 lead midway through the fourth inning with a perfect three up, three down inning from Cusick, including his second strikeout of the game.
- Adam Cecere walked with two outs, but Pitt induced a groundout to end the inning as Wake Forest continued to lead 2-0 through four full frames .
- Cusick struck out the side in the top of the fifth inning, increasing his game total to five.
- With his fourth K of the night, Cusick reached 200 career strikeouts and entered the top-10 for most strikeouts in a season by a Demon Deacon pitcher (102).
- Turconi doubled the Deacs' lead (4-0) after five innings of play with his second two-run home run of the game.
- Costello was plated again on the blast after a leadoff single.
- Bobby Seymour knocked in a base hit to right field with one out, but a double play ended the inning.
- After a leadoff double, Cusick retired three-straight Panthers batters, including a pair of punch outs, to end the top of the sixth.
- Ludowig tripled with one out in the sixth inning. Following a fly out, the Panthers cut down Ludowig at the plate for the final out of the inning as Wake Forest continued to lead 4-0.
- Cusick pitched a perfect one, two, three seventh inning, including two strikeouts for the first two outs.
- Turconi again launched a two-run home run to right field to increase Wake Forest's lead to 6-0 through seven innings.
- Pierce Bennett scored his first run of the game on the homer as he was hit by a pitch to leadoff the inning. Bennett proceeded to steal second.
- Cusick fanned the final batter he faced in the contest in the eighth, upping his game total to 10. Hunter Furtado entered the game with the bases loaded, and got out of the jam with a strikeout after Pitt plated their first run of the game.
- Ludowig dug out a two-out double in the home half of the eighth, but a strikeout to the next batter ended the scoring opportunity and kept Wake Forest's lead at 6-1.
- Furtado returned on the hill in the ninth, fanning the first two Pitt batters. After a double, the lefty responded with his third strikeout of the frame to clinch the 6-1 series-opening victory.
"Great win. Ryan Cusick was phenomenal. Throwing a lot more breaking balls, landing them in the zone, and then getting them beneath the zone for strikeouts. That was the difference today for Ryan. You can't pitch a whole lot better than he did. He was economical with his pitches, and then I thought Hunter (Furtado) did a great job coming in behind him and getting five big outs. Thrilled with his performance.
Of course offensively, (Michael) Turconi was the story with three home runs. I told him after the game we've got to play somebody from Pittsburgh more often. It was a good day for Turconi and Ryan Cusick both. I'm proud of both those guys."
On Deck
The Deacs will hit the diamond in game two of the series on Friday at 3:00 p.m. live on ACC Network.
Wake Forest will close out the regular season on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Prior to the game, the program will recognize graduating seniors during a pregame ceremony that will begin approximately 30 minutes prior to first pitch.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook |
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Cusick, Ryan (3-5)
L: Mitch Myers (4-5)
Batting:
2B: Sky Duff 1 ; Matt Tarabek 1
RBI: Kyle Hess 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jordan Anderson 1
CS: Nico Popa 1
HBP: Nico Popa 1 ; Jordan Anderson 1
Batting:
2B: Lanzilli, Chris 1 ; Ludowig, Michael 1
3B: Ludowig, Michael 1
HR: Turconi, Michael 3
RBI: Turconi, Michael 6
Base Running:
RUNS: Costello, Lucas 2 ; Turconi, Michael 3 ; Bennett, Pierce 1
SB: Bennett, Pierce 1
HBP: Costello, Lucas 1 ; Bennett, Pierce 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
3
H
3
RBI
6
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
2
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
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OF/INF
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RHP
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LHP
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INF/C
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