Wake Forest Athletics
Deacon Sports Xtra: College Park Regional Preview: Wake Forest Eyes National Tournament
6/3/2022 9:00:00 AM | Baseball
“We’re thrilled to be in the NCAA Tournament. It’s been a long time since 2017. I’m really proud of this club. The work they did to pull this group together really started at the tail end of last year.”
The back half of the ACC slate didn't start ideally for the Demon Deacons, who suffered a home series loss to Clemson, a road sweep at Notre Dame and a midweek loss at High Point.
But when Wake Forest Baseball faced extreme adversity, they embraced the culture and togetherness that was fostered starting during team building trips and fall practice nearly nine months ago.
The Deacs finished the regular season on a five-game win streak, highlighted by the program's first ever series sweep at NC State. Not to be outdone, the Deacs then grabbed their seventh top-15 victory of the season against Miami in the ACC Tournament, all of which helped lead to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament in the College Park Regional.
"We had a tough stretch there and the wheels were wobbly," Wake Forest coach Tom Walter said. "An NCAA Tournament appearance at that point was more than in question. Our guys rallied around that moment and took charge of their own destiny.
"We're thrilled to be in the NCAA Tournament. It's been a long time since 2017. I'm really proud of this club. The work they did to pull this group together really started at the tail end of last year."
The Deacs grabbed 39 regular-season victories this season, tied for second-most in program history.
"That chemistry shows every day," shortstop Michael Turconi said. "We always pick each other up. That's a key aspect to why we've had success through the end of the season.
"We're all pretty excited. We haven't had this opportunity before. No one on this team has been to a regional. It's pretty exciting."
Walter gave a lot of credit to the leaders of the team that have emerged during the season as well as the additions to the coaching staff: pitching coach Corey Muscara, volunteer assistant Ty Blankmeyer and pitching lab coordinator Mike McFerran.
"It's great to see it all come together and lead us to the NCAA Tournament," Walter said. "The work we did during the fall to build team culture really made a difference."
The Demon Deacons begin the regional at 1 p.m. Friday when they square off against Big East Champion UConn. The Huskies topped Georgetown, Walter's alma mater, 4-0 in their first game in the conference tournament, and the Wake Forest coach is already familiar with the Deacs' opponent.
"We know we have a tough regional," he said. "UConn is a storied program with a lot of tradition. They have tough kids and their number one pitcher, (Austin) Peterson, is super talented. We're certainly going to have our hands full at 1 o'clock Friday."
The Deacs entered the last couple weeks of the regular season needing to finish strong, with projections having them on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. After a series split with Louisville, the Deacs had to travel to both North Carolina and NC State to close out the season.
"That's not an easy draw, so for these guys to go into that stretch of games and play the way they did was remarkable," Walter said. "We went into the Carolina series thinking we needed to win three games in the final two series to have a chance and as it turned out maybe we needed to win four. It was close."
Friday night starter Rhett Lowder was crowned ACC Pitcher of the Year — the first Demon Deacon to ever earn that honor, but it was the emergence of Sunday starter Teddy McGraw that was a revelation late in the season.
"One of the keys was Teddy McGraw," Walter said. "He came out against Carolina that Sunday and threw a gem, then went back out the next week and threw a gem against State. Really the emergence of McGraw and then Josh Hartle against State — those two guys taking a big step forward was certainly a big part of it.
"Chemistry gets you so far, but your momentum is your next day's starting pitcher."
The College Park regional includes Wake Forest, UConn, Long Island University and No. 1 seed and host Maryland. It's a double-elimination format, with the winning team advancing to a best-of-three super regional next weekend against the winner of the Stanford Regional.
"It's going to be a high-intensity weekend, and we need to remain the team that's the most calm," Walter said. "The two things in big games you have to control are adversity and adrenaline. If we can do the best job of controlling those two things this weekend, I like our chances."
After a Covid-shortened 2020 season followed by a 2021 campaign that fell well short of expectations, this year has been exhilarating for everyone involved.
"It's been awesome and super exciting," catcher Brendan Tinsman said. "The last couple of years we've had a lot of talent, but just haven't been able to put it all together. This year, coming in with a young team and really no expectations, we've just played good baseball and it's been refreshing. It's been a really fun season."
The high-pressure situation in front of sold-out crowds in College Park shouldn't affect the Deacs.
"Playing baseball in front of a big crowd — it doesn't really get under our skin," Tinsman said. "We try to practice high-intensity stuff eery day. We don't adjust to the surroundings. We just continue playing our game."
The Deacs will continue play Saturday in the College Park Regional. With a win, Wake Forest would play at 7 p.m. Saturday against the winner of Friday night's Maryland and Long Island contest.
