Wake Forest University
Elon
Demon Deacons Continue Homestand with Midweek Contest Against Elon
2/28/2022 4:14:00 PM | Baseball
Wake Forest returns to the diamond after a four-game sweep of NJIT to improve to 8-0, their best start since 1964.
Game Notes | Watch | Listen | Live Stats
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - After moving to 8-0 for the first time since 1964 following a four-game sweep of 2021 NCAA Tournament qualifier and reigning America East Conference Champion NJIT, Wake Forest continues their 11-game home stand with a midweek contest against Elon inside David F. Couch Ballpark on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
Wake Forest has outscored their opponents 107-28 to open the new campaign. Overall, the Deacs are batting .390, the second-highest in the country, and hold a team ERA of just 2.70.
The first game of the home-and-home between the teams is slated for a 4 p.m. start and can be streamed on ACC Network Extra. Fans can tune into an audio streaming broadcast through the Wake Forest Athletics app for all four games.
Stay tuned to the Demon Deacons social media accounts (@WakeBaseball) for all in-game updates and information.
Tickets & Promotions
Every midweek game this season at David F. Couch Ballpark features the fan-favorite "$5 Midweek" promotion. Fans can take advantage of general admission tickets to the game for only $5 while enjoying $5 Deacon Brew throughout the game! Avoid the lines on gameday and purchase your $5 tickets in advance at GoDeacs.com/tickets.
Promotions
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Celebrate Fat Tuesday at The Couch! The first 150 fans get a free slice of King Cake.
Last Time Out
The Wake Forest baseball team defeated NJIT, 11-5, on Sunday, Feb. 25 at David F. Couch Ballpark, sweeping the four-game set against the 2021 NCAA Tournament qualifiers and reigning America East Conference Champions.
After NJIT took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, the Deacs responded with a three-run inning in the third behind home runs from Jake Reinisch and Michael Turconi and held the lead the remainder of the contest.
The Deacs continued their momentum on both the mound and at the plate, outscoring NJIT 7-1 over the next three frames.
Seth Keener claimed his second win of the season after striking out four batters in four innings while allowing just two earned runs. Wake Forest relied on the arms of Derek Crum, Crawford Wade, Will Andrews and Brennen Oxford to close out the game on the mound as the quartet each fanned one batter while letting up just five hits over the final five frames of game action.
Opponent & Series History
Wake Forest leads the all-time series 29-22, with the first meeting between the two in-state foes coming in 1954.
Last season, the teams split a home-and-home as the Deacs posted a 4-2 midweek victory at Elon on March 23. Elon posted a 5-2 win inside David F. Couch Ballpark in the last meeting between the teams on May 9.
Lucas Costello, Adam Cecere and Pierce Bennett led Wake Forest at the plate with their first home runs of the season, while a combination of six pitchers blanked Elon's 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. Eric Adler earned the second save of the 2021 season after the then-freshman shut the door in the bottom of the ninth with a pair of strikeouts and a ground out.
Wake Forest Off to Best Start Since 1964
The Deacs are off to one of the best starts in program history with an 8-0 record, the first time since 1964 Wake Forest has won their first eight games. Wake Forest heads into Tuesday's game as one of 17 unbeaten teams in Division I. The Deacs best starts to begin a season:
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7-0: 2022, 1964, 1961, 1956, 1953, 1949, 1940, 1937, 1913, 1903
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8-0: 2022, 1964, 1961, 1953, 1949, 1937, 1913
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9-0: 1964, 1961, 1949, 1937, 1913
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10-0: 1964, 1961, 1949, 1913
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11-0: 1961, 1949
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12-0: 1949
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13-0: 1949
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14-0: 1949
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15-0: 1949
Offense Among Nation's Best
Wake Forest has one of the top offenses in the entire nation as the Deacs are second in batting average (.390), home runs (22), on-base percentage (.511) and walks (70). Additionally, Wake Forest ranks third in runs scored (107) and slugging percentage (.705):
|
Category |
National |
ACC |
|
Home Runs |
2 |
1 |
|
On-base percentage |
2 |
1 |
|
Walks |
2 |
1 |
|
Batting Average |
2 |
1 |
|
Hits |
2 |
2 |
|
Runs |
3 |
2 |
|
Slugging percentage |
3 |
2 |
Wake Forest heads into Tuesday's game outscoring their opponents 107-28.
The Demon Deacons are the only team in the entire nation to have five players with 10 RBIs or more:
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13: Brock Wiken, Jake Reinisch
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10: Lucas Costello
Teams List
5: Wake Forest (ACC)
4: FGCU (ASUN), LSU (SEC)
3: NC State (ACC), Tennessee (SEC), Georgia Tech (ACC), Clemson (ACC), Oregon (Pac-12)
2: Virginia (ACC), Oregon St. (Pac-12), The Citadel (SoCon), USC Upstate (Big South), Fla. Atlantic (C-USA), Murray St. (OVC), Michigan (Big Ten), Texas Southern (SWAC), UNC Greensboro (SoCon), Western Caro. (SoCon), McNeese (Southland)
The Demon Deacon offense got off to a historic start as the 2022 team became just the second squad in program history to register at least 20 runs multiple times during the opening four games of a season, matching the 1951 squad that represented the United States at the 1951 Pan-American Games.
1951 (67 Runs)
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Argentina: 29 runs
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Brazil: 23 runs
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Columbia: 8 runs
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Nicaragua: 8 runs
2022 (63 runs)
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Lafayette (Feb. 18): 25 runs
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Georgetown (Feb. 19): 9 runs
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VCU (Feb. 20): 6 runs
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UNC-Greensboro: 23 runs
Defense and Pitching Thriving Early
On the mound, Wake Forest's starting quartet of Rhett Lowder, Josh Hartle, Teddy McGraw and Seth Keener have accounted for 58 percent of the team's innings (40.2 out of 70). Additionally, the Deacs' starters have fanned 68.8 percent of the team's overall strikeouts (55-of-80).
The Demon Deacons have been able to rely on their bullpen as seven relievers have given up less than two runs:
Overall, the Deacs have only conceded 28 runs through eight games (2.54 per game) and have held every opponent to less than five runs to open the season.
Through the first four games, the Deacs gave up just 11 runs, the fewest number of runs the Deacs have allowed in the first four games in head coach Tom Walter's tenure.
Heading into Tuesday, seven Wake Forest arms have held opponents to a sub-.100 batting average (at least three innings minimum):
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Josh Hartle- .182 in 11.2 innings
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Rhett Lowder- .190 in 11.1 innings
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Derek Crum- .133 in 4.2 innings
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Camden Minacci- .188 in 4.2 innings
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Reed Mascolo - .182 in 3.2 innings
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Eric Adler- .143 in 4.0 innings
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Gabe Golob- .154 in 4.0 innings
Deacs Dominated Midweek Opener
The Deacs used 21 hits, eight home runs and seven scoreless innings on the mound to defeat the Spartans 23-3 in their first midweek game of the season on Tuesday, Feb. 22. After a scoreless first frame from Seth Keener on the mound, Wake Forest jumped out to a 6-0 lead. Home runs from Brock Wilken, Adam Cecere and Danny Corona in the bottom half of the inning made sure the Demon Deacons led the rest of the way.
Wake Forest also plated six runs in the third and eighth innings, while tacking on four in the bottom of the fifth.
Eight Demon Deacons registered at least two hits, led by Corona and Brendan Tinsman with three apiece.
Corona blasted the first home runs in his Wake Forest career in the first and eighth frames. Additionally, Lucas Costello (fifth inning) and Mark Black (eighth inning) tallied grand slams in the win.
The Deacs used seven arms in the win, led by Keener. In his first collegiate start, the Pilot Mountain, N.C. native earned his first career win, allowing just one earned run and three hits in two innings of work.
Wake Forest's bullpen continued to shut down UNC Greensboro's offense. Gabe Golob, Cam Minacci, Derek Crum, Crawford Wade, Jacob Grzebinski and Reed Mascolo pitched in relief, led by Minacci with a three-strikeout frame in the top of the fifth.
Mascolo Looking For More Midweek Magic
Reed Mascolo is set to make his first start of 2022 against the Phoenix on Tuesday.
The Deacs posted a 6-1 record when Mascolo started midweeks in 2021, registering wins over Charlotte, Appalachian State (twice), Elon, Western Carolina and Davidson. In those games, Mascolo recorded a 3-1 record, tossing 23.2 innings and striking out 24 batters.
In 2022, Mascolo has appeared in three games, striking out four while walking just one batters in 3.2 innings.
Reinisch Pacing Wake Forest at Plate
Jake Reinisch has been swinging the bat well to open his sophomore season, leading the Deacs with a .500 batting average to go along with a team-high tying three home runs and 13 RBIs.
Against NJIT, Reinisch jump started Wake Forest's comeback victory in the second game of a Saturday doubleheader with a two-run home run. The Deacs went on to score five runs in the inning, taking a 6-4 lead into the eighth inning.
Reinisch heads into Tuesday's matchup with homers in back-to-back games
Wilken Back After Historic Freshman Season
Brock Wilken returns after a historic freshman season with Preseason All-American recognition from Perfect Game, Baseball America and D1 Baseball. In 2021, the Valrico, Fla. native appeared and started in all 47 games at third base, tallying a batting average of .279, 17 home runs, 44 RBIs, 41 runs scored, 11 doubles, a slugging percentage of .617 and an on-base percentage of .365.
Additionally, Wilken is at the top of the Wake Forest record book for most home runs by a freshman, tying a 20-year-old record with his solo shot on Friday, May 21
Wilken recorded 44 RBIs, the 10th-most by a freshman in program history while finishing with the most home runs by a true freshman in the nation and ranked fourth overall in the conference.
Wilken racked up the postseason honors after the season as he was named a 2021 Perfect Game First Team Freshman All-American, 2021 Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American, 2021 Baseball America Third Team Freshman All-American.
This season, Wilken is batting .406 with 13 hits, team-high tying 13 RBIs, two home runs, six runs scored, six doubles (second most in the nation) and six walks.
Wilken is one of 15 players in the nation that has tallied at least one base hit in eight games this season and has produced five multi-hit performances.
On Deck
Wake Forest wraps up their season-opening home stand with non-conference games against UMass-Lowell (Friday, March 4) and Central Michigan (Saturday, March 5) before heading out on the road for the first time in 2022 on Tuesday, March 8 when the Deacs face Coastal Carolina at Springs Brooks Stadium.
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