Wake Forest University
16-4, 0
Georgia Tech
15-5, 0
Demon Deacons Fall in Finale at No. 6 Georgia Tech
3/20/2022 6:58:00 PM | Baseball
Wake Forest won their first ACC series of the season with victories in game one and two in Atlanta before falling in the final game of the series on Sunday.
ATLANTA -- The Wake Forest baseball team fell 14-5 in the series finale against No. 6 Georgia Tech on Sunday afternoon at Mac Nease Baseball Park.
After claiming their first ACC series victory of the 2022 season with wins on Friday and Saturday, the Demon Deacons (16-4, 3-3 ACC) are off to their best start through 20 games since the 2012 season when Wake Forest also began the year 16-4. Overall, the Deacs have outscored their opponents 207-81 to open the 2022 campaign.
The Demon Deacons were unable to overcome an early deficit on Sunday as the Yellow Jackets (15-5, 3-3 ACC) took an 8-0 lead after three innings.
A two-RBI double from Jake Reinisch and consecutive RBI-groundouts from Brendan Tinsman and Danny Corona got the Deacs on the scoreboard with four runs in the top of the seventh.
The Demon Deacons loaded the bases in the ninth and pushed across a run as Nick Kurtz drew Wake Forest's 11th walk of the game.
Overall, nine Deacs were walked at least once on Sunday, led by Corona and Tommy Hawke with two apiece. This marked the fifth time this season that Wake Forest drew double-digit walks in a game.
After going 4-for-5 with two home runs and 4 RBIs on Saturday, Brendan Tinsman led the Deacs with two base knocks. He is now tied with Pierce Bennett and Nick Kurtz for the team lead in hits (26).
Gabe Golob replaced Josh Hartle, who made his fifth start of his freshman season, in the bottom of the third and threw 2.1 scoreless innings with two strikeouts while allowing just two hits.
Brennen Oxford matched Golob with a pair of punchouts in his inning of work. Eric Adler and Jacob Grzebinski recorded the final six outs of the ball game.
How It Happened
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Georgia Tech jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first full inning.
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The Deacs placed a pair on base with two outs as Jake Reinisch was walked and Brendan Tinsman singled up the middle, buta pop up in foul territory ended the top of the second.
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The Yellow Jackets added a run to their lead (7-0) in the next half inning with two hits.
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Pierce Bennett reached base with two outs in the top of the third as the second baseman was hit by a pitch, but a fly out to center field stranded him.
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Georgia Tech tacked on a run in the bottom half of the frame with a RBI-single to left field. Gabe Golob induced a lineout to Danny Corona at second base to strand the Yellow Jacket base runner.
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The Deacs loaded the bases in the fourth as Brock Wilken (fielding error), Brendan Tinsman (hit by pitch) and Pierce Bennett (walk) reached safely. A strikeout ended the scoring threat.
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Golob tossed a scoreless bottom half of the inning as the right hander punched out a Yellow Jacket with a runner on third base.
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Golob retired the opening batters of the frame, inducing a fly out and ground out to Wilken at third.
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Wake Forest loaded the bases once again in the top of the fifth as Kurtz led off with a single and Bennett and Adam Cecere both walked. A groundout to first base ended the scoring opportunity.
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Golob retired the Yellow Jackets in order in the bottom of the fifth, highlighted by his second strikeout of his outing for the final out.
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Back-to-back walks to Corona and Tommy Hawke followed by a fielder's choice placed runners on the corners with two outs in the top of the sixth. The inning ended with a high pop up to second base.
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The Yellow Jackets tacked on a run in the sixth with a pair of base hits to extend their lead to 9-0. Brennen Oxford took over on the mound to open the inning, striking out a pair.
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Wake Forest cut into Georgia Tech's lead (9-4) with four runs in the top of the seventh as Jake Reinisch tallied a two-RBI double before back-to-back RBI-groundouts.
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The Deacs loaded the bases with no one out as Turconi and Wilken were walked and Cecere was hit by a pitch.
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Reinisch's two-bagger scored Wilken and Turconi before Cecere and Reinisch were plated for the final runs of the frame.
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Georgia Tech added four runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame on two hits to extend their lead to 13-4.
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Jacob Grzebinski registered a strikeout to get out of the inning with runners on the corner.
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After Georgia Tech increased their lead to 14-4 with back-to-back doubles, Wake Forest added a run with two outs in the top of the ninth as Kurtz drew a bases-loaded walk. Georgia Tech struck out the next Demon Deacon batter to claim the series finale, 14-5.
Words from Walter
"Disappointing day for us. We just didn't make plays. I know it went down in the scorebook as no errors, but we had six or seven balls that needed to come down as outs. We extended innings. We had too many walks and when you combine walks with errors, you're going to give up big innings. We got behind early and our guys battled back. We put some people on base but we couldn't get that big hit to get us close enough.
"Good weekend series all and all. Anytime you win two-of-three on the road in this league, it's a good weekend for your ball club. While we're disappointed about today, we're happy about the weekend and looking forward to getting back on the field on Tuesday at Liberty."
On Deck
The Deacs will be back on the road on Tuesday, March 22 against nationally-ranked Liberty at Liberty Baseball Stadium in Lynchburg, Va. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: John Medich (1-0)
L: Hartle, Josh (3-2)
Batting:
2B: Reinisch, Jake 1
RBI: Kurtz, Nick 1 ; Reinisch, Jake 2 ; Tinsman, Brendan 1 ; Corona, Danny 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Turconi, Michael 1 ; Wilken, Brock 1 ; Cecere, Adam 2 ; Reinisch, Jake 1
HBP: Bennett, Pierce 1 ; Cecere, Adam 2 ; Tinsman, Brendan 1
Batting:
2B: John Anderson 1 ; Jackson Finley 2
3B: Colin Hall 1
RBI: Tres Gonzalez 2 ; Andrew Jenkins 2 ; Colin Hall 3 ; Stephen Reid 3 ; Tim Borden II 1 ; Jackson Finley 2
SF: Tim Borden II 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tres Gonzalez 2 ; Kevin Parada 2 ; Andrew Jenkins 3 ; Drew Compton 1 ; Colin Hall 2 ; Stephen Reid 1 ; John Anderson 2 ; Jackson Finley 1
SB: Kevin Parada 1
HBP: Tres Gonzalez 1 ; Kevin Parada 1 ; Andrew Jenkins 1 ; John Giesler 1
