Wake Forest University
28-10, 10-9
Notre Dame
24-8, 9-7
Wake Forest Falls in Series Opener at No. 13 Notre Dame
4/22/2022 10:28:00 PM | Baseball
Brendan Tinsman extended his team-high hit streak to eight games, Jake Reinisch extended his on-base streak to 37 games and Adam Cecere posted his 14th multi-hit game of the season.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The Wake Forest baseball team dropped the series opener at Notre Dame, 8-3, on Friday night at Frank Eck Stadium.
The Demon Deacons (28-10, 10-9 ACC) cut the Fighting Irish's lead (24-8, 9-7 ACC) in half in the top of the seventh with RBIs from Pierce Bennett and Chris Katz. An hour and 10-minute weather delay halted game action in the middle of the inning with the bases loaded and no one out for Wake Forest.
Brendan Tinsman extended his team-high hit streak to eight games with a single to lead off Wake Forest's two-run frame before Jake Reinisch doubled down the left field line, marking the 37th-consecutive game the sophomore has reached base.
In the ninth, the Deacs once again loaded the bases as Danny Corona notched a sacrifice fly to push across the Demon Deacons' third run.
Rhett Lowder made his 10th start of his sophomore season, tossing six innings with four strikeouts and no walks. The Albemarle, N.C. native allowed just three earned runs and five hits.
In seven starts this season, Lowder has pitched at least six innings while allowing no more than three earned runs in any appearance.
After tallying the third-most strikeouts by a freshman (78) in Wake Forest history last season, Lowder needs just seven more punchouts to reach 150 career Ks.
Reed Mascolo, Jacob Grzebinski and Zach Grace combined for the final six outs on the mound.
Adam Cecere led Wake Forest with two hits, his 14th multi-hit game of the season.
How It Happened
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Michael Turconi was Wake Forest's first base runner as the shortstop tallied a two-out single through the left side. A strikeout stranded Turconi and ended the top of the first.
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Rhett Lowder, who made his 10th start of the season, tossed a hitless bottom of the first inning with a pair of groundouts and a pop out in foul territory to Michael Turconi.
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Notre Dame took a 2-0 lead after two full innings.
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The Fighting Irish loaded the bases with three singles before a sacrifice fly and RBI-groundout pushed across the first runs of the game.
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Lowder struckout his first batter of his start to end the frame.
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Wake Forest got another two-out base runner in Tommy Hawke as the freshman walked. A strikeout ended the top of the third.
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Lowder retired the Fighting Irish in order in the bottom of the frame, highlighted by his second punchout.
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The Fighting Irish extended their lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth, scoring on a throwing error and another RBI-groundout.
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Lowder fanned his third batter of the game for the second out before fielding a grounder and outrunning the batter to the bag for the force out.
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Adam Cecere and Chris Katz tallied back-to-back singles with one out in the top of the fifth, but a double play ended the frame.
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Lowder tossed another 1-2-3 frame in the bottom of the fifth with a strikeout, ground out and line out.
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The Deacs cut Notre Dame's lead in half with two runs in the top of the seventh on two hits and one throwing error.
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Brendan Tinsman tallied a leadoff single before Jake Reinisch doubled down the left field line.
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A fielder's choice and throwing error scored Tinsman and loaded the bases before an hour and 10 minute weather delay stopped the game.
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After the delay, Katz brought Reinisch home on an RBI-groundout.
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The Fighting Irish responded with a trio of runs with two hits and an error to increase their lead to 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh.
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Reed Mascolo opened the inning on the mound and induced an inning-opening line out.
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Jacob Grzebinski took over following Notre Dame's first run and forced a sacrifice fly before forcing a pop up to Turconi at shortstop to end the frame.
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Notre Dame tacked on their final run of the game in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI-walk with the bases loaded.
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Grzebinski registered the first out of the inning as the lefthander forced a fly out with two on base.
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Zach Grace took over with the bases loaded and one out, punching out the first batter he faced before forcing a ground out to end the inning.
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Wake Forest loaded the bases in the ninth as Pierce Bennett and Adam Cecere singled and Chris Katz walked. Corona fired a ball to deep center field to score Bennett from third. A pop up to the next batter ended the game as Notre Dame clinched game one, 8-3.
Words from Walter
"The two big plays in the game were the two bunt plays where we didn't get outs early in the game. We've got to get outs in those situations. We've got to make plays. We hit about 10-12 balls tonight right on the screws that found gloves. We hit some balls into the wind that just kind of got held up, which again, offensively we need to make that adjustment and be lower. It was not a bad offensive day for us. We had the game there in the seventh inning with a chance and then again in the ninth. I'm proud of the way the guys battled and we'll come out and need a good start out of Josh Hartle tomorrow and we'll be ready."
On Deck
The Deacs return to the diamond against the Fighting Irish on Saturday, April 23 at 2 p.m.
The second game of the ACC series can be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: John M Bertrand (6-0)
L: Lowder, Rhett (7-2)
Batting:
2B: Reinisch, Jake 1
RBI: Bennett, Pierce 1 ; Katz, Chris 1 ; Corona, Danny 1
SF: Corona, Danny 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tinsman, Brendan 1 ; Reinisch, Jake 1 ; Bennett, Pierce 1
Batting:
3B: Nick Juaire 1
RBI: Nick Juaire 1 ; Carter Putz 1 ; Brooks Coetzee 1 ; Jack Zyska 1 ; Jack Brannigan 2 ; Zack Prajzner 1
SH: Jared Miller 1
SF: Brooks Coetzee 1 ; Jack Brannigan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ryan Cole 1 ; Nick Juaire 1 ; Carter Putz 1 ; Jack Zyska 2 ; David LaManna 2 ; Jared Miller 1
SB: Jack Zyska 1
HBP: Ryan Cole 2
