Wake Forest University
10-0
UMass Lowell
1-6
Wake Forest Jumps Out Early; Improves to 10-0 on the Season
3/4/2022 7:40:00 PM | Baseball
The Demon Deacon scored 13 runs, marking the sixth time in the young season Wake Forest has had double-digit runs in a single game.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The Wake Forest baseball team remained undefeated with a 13-3 victory over UMass Lowell on Friday at David F. Couch Ballpark.
The Deacs improved to 10-0, the first time since 1964 Wake Forest has won 10 games in a row to start off a season. Additionally, this is the longest winning streak overall since the Deacs won 15 in a row during the 2012 season.
Wake Forest has outscored their opponents 130-33 to open the new campaign with a team batting average of .395 with a .504 on-base percentage and team ERA of just 2.66. Tonight's 13 runs marked the sixth time the Deacs have plated at least 10 runs this season.
Rhett Lowder set the tone with another strong Friday performance on the mound, improving to a perfect 3-0 on the season with eight strikeouts in six innings.
The Albemarle, N.C. native retired the first five batters to open the game and kept UMass Lowell (1-6) hitless until the top of the sixth inning. Overall, Lowder allowed just three hits and a pair of runs while walking just two batters.
Brennen Oxford, Gabe Golob and Crawford Wade hit the mound in relief, closing the door over the final three innings to claim the victory.
As a pitching staff, the Deacs struck out 12 batters while conceding just three hits.
Wake Forest tallied 17 hits, the fifth time this season with at least 15 base knocks, and launched three long flies as Adam Cecere (three-run), Brendan Tinsman (three-run) and Kyle Joye (solo) hit the Demon Deacons' 24th, 25th and 26th home run of the season.
Brock Wilken went 2-for-4 at the plate, extending his hitting streak to 10 games. The Valrico, Fla. native has tallied 15 RBIs this season.
Pierce Bennett, Tommy Hawke, Michael Turconi and Tinsman joined him with multiple hits in the victory on Friday night. Tinsman along with Cecere each had three RBIs in the game to lead the way for the Demon Deacons.
How It Happened
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Rhett Lowder set down the River Hawks in order to open the game, highlighted by his first strikeout for the final out in the top of the first.
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Lowder came out in the top of the second and fanned a pair of batters to keep the game scoreless.
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After striking out the first River Hawk of the frame, Lowder worked around a one-out walk to retire the next two UMass Lowell batters to end the innings.
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Wake Forest jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two full innings behind three hits in the bottom of the second.
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The Deacs got on the scoreboard with a RBI single from Pierce Bennett that plated Brendan Tinsman (hit by pitch). Jake Reinisch drove in Danny Corona (single) with a sac fly to deep center before Tommy Hawke's double scored Bennett, who stole second.
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Lowder tossed his second 1-2-3 inning in the third, inducing a fly out and back-to-back strikeouts as Wake Forest continued to lead 3-0.
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The Deacs used a three-run home run by Adam Cecere and a RBI-single from Bennett to extend their lead to 7-0 after three full innings.
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Michael Turconi and Brock Wilken scored on Cecere's fourth home run of the season after tallying back-to-back base hits to open the frame.
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Tinsman scored on Bennett's second RBI-single of the game after a double to deep left center following Cecere's long fly.
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After hitting the first batter, Lowder retired the next three River Hawk batters as the right hander continued to deal through four frames.
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Lowder picked up his sixth strikeout for the second out of the innings.
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Wake Forest extended their lead to 11-0 with another four-run inning as Wilken lasered a single to left field to score Nick Kurtz and Cecere blasted a three-run homer to center field.
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Turconi scored on Cecere's long fly as the shortstop doubled after Kurtz's leadoff single.
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Lowder continued to deal in the fifth, fanning back-to-back batters in a perfect 1-2-3 inning.
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The Deacs extended their lead to 12-0 as Jimmy Broderick drove in a run with a RBI groundout with the bases loaded.
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After the River Hawks scored three runs in the sixth and seventh innings to make it a 12-3 ballgame, a Kyle Joye solo home run to right field put the Deacs back up double-digits after seven full innings.
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Gabe Golob pitched a three-up, three-down top of the eighth to preserve Wake Forest's 10-run lead (13-3).
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Golob fanned the first UMass Lowell batter he faced for the opening out.
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Crawford Wade slammed the door in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts in a three-up, three-down inning to claim the Friday victory.
Words from Walter
"We got another good, quality start from Rhett Lowder tonight. He's been doing great even though in each of his starts he finds himself having to sit for a while between innings. We came into tonight thinking that Rhett would go six innings, Brennen Oxford would throw a couple innings and then Crawford Wade would finish it out. It's nice when your plan actually happens. Still some things to work on but all-in-all a good win. We've got to be ready for tomorrow. Central Michigan is a good team that will be ready to go."
Standout Stat
The Deacs are off to one of the best starts in program history with an 10-0 record, the first time since 1964 Wake Forest has won their first 10 games. Wake Forest headed into Friday's game as one of 15 unbeaten teams in Division I. The Deacs best starts to begin a season:
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10-0: 2022, 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
Additionally, this is the longest winning streak overall since the Deacs won 15 in a row during the 2012 season.
Wake Forest has outscored their opponents 130-33 to open the new campaign with a team batting average of .395 with a .504 on-base percentage and team ERA of just 2.66. Tonight's 13 runs marked the sixth time the Deacs have plated at least 10 runs this season.
On Deck
Wake Forest wraps up their season-opening homestand on Saturday, March 5 against Central Michigan at 4 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
The Deacs will then head out on the road for the first time in 2022 on Tuesday, March 8 when Wake Forest squares off with Coastal Carolina at Springs Brooks Stadium.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lowder, Rhett (3-0)
L: Towle, Ryan (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Fish, Brandon 1
RBI: Rose, Cedric 1 ; Fish, Brandon 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Brown, Trey 1 ; Siracusa, Gerry 1 ; Fitzgibbons, Jake 1
HBP: Brown, Trey 1 ; Fitzgibbons, Jake 1
Batting:
2B: Turconi, Michael 1 ; Tinsman, Brendan 1 ; Hawke, Tommy 1
HR: Cecere, Adam 1 ; Tinsman, Brendan 1 ; Joye, Kyle 1
RBI: Broderick, James 1 ; Wilken, Brock 1 ; Cecere, Adam 3 ; Tinsman, Brendan 3 ; Bennett, Pierce 2 ; Reinisch, Jake 1 ; Hawke, Tommy 1 ; Joye, Kyle 1
SF: Reinisch, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kurtz, Nick 1 ; Turconi, Michael 2 ; Wilken, Brock 2 ; Cecere, Adam 1 ; Tinsman, Brendan 3 ; Corona, Danny 1 ; Bennett, Pierce 1 ; Reinisch, Jake 1 ; Joye, Kyle 1
SB: Bennett, Pierce 1
HBP: Tinsman, Brendan 1
