Deacon Sports Xtra: Five Questions with Rhett Lowder
12/12/2023 11:36:00 AM | Baseball
First Round MLB Draft Pick Rhett Lowder reflects on the 2023 Wake Forest baseball season.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Three days after winning the Anthony J. McKevlin Award as the top male athlete in the ACC, Wake Forest pitcher Rhett Lowder was selected seventh in the 2023 Major League Baseball draft by the Cincinnati Reds.
Lowder led the 2023 Demon Deacons all the way to the College World Series in Omaha in 2023 while setting program records in wins (15) and strikeouts (143) last season — claiming his second-straight ACC Pitcher of the Year Award along the way. Lowder recently caught up with Deacon Sports Xtra for this Five Questions Feature.
Have you had a chance yet to reflect on the historic 2023 Wake Forest Baseball season?
Lowder: "A little bit. It was a good reflection watching that hour long team 109 movie. That was awesome. That was probably one of the first times I really got to go through and remember everything. It was a long season. I was watching some of the first couple of weeks, and that felt like years ago. But it was just so much fun and I think that's the main thing that I miss is just how much fun that I had just spending every day with those guys. It was fun to win, but I would trade a couple more wins for just more time with those guys."
What do you remember most about the classic pitching matchup between yourself and Paul Skeenes of the LSU Tigers in Omaha?
Lowder: "You can't draw it up any better than that. You want to play in the highest stage against the best team and the best talent. I've got to play with Paul before and he's a great guy, so it was fun to be on the other side and just kind of battle out with the best. They put me at my best. And although we didn't come out on top, that was so cool and so fun just to go back and forth. We both did our thing. He's a great pitcher. I didn't expect anything less out of him, and I knew it was going to be a great game no matter what.
"I'll remember the pregame more. I just wasn't as locked in on the game when I was in the dugout. I was kind of just locked in on staying in the moment. But I know I usually don't wake up that nervous for the game. I'll get nervous about an hour before, but I woke up and something felt different for that game. I was a little bit nervous right out of bed. It was almost like excitement. It was more exciting than nerves. But I definitely had a little kick right when I woke up and the game wasn't until later, and that was a little bit rare for me."
How enjoyable was the atmosphere for the NCAA Regional matchup against Maryland, where the teams didn't take the field until 11 pm after a lengthy weather delay?
Lowder: "That was by far the most fun I've ever had at The Couch. It sucked leading up to it because I was like, this is a regional game and probably the biggest game that I pitched in my career, and then we're just going to keep getting delayed. It's going to be wet. But then once I kind of just flipped the script, we're going to play this game no matter what. We're going to play on the same field, against the same team — I might as well get ready to get locked in. And when we took that field for stretching, I still have that feeling where I was watching the Maryland players walk back from the shack and they were just walking back, dragging their bats and everything. And then all of us were just flying around playing music at 11 o'clock. I kind of knew we were going to win, and that was a good feeling, just full of juice and coming onto the mound with some of the best stuff I've ever had in my life — it was just an out-of-body experience. It was unreal. I wish I could pitch every game feeling how I felt there."
What was the key for his development at Wake Forest?
Lowder: "Outside of just the obvious weight room and adding weight and strength and everything, I was just really grateful that I got in and got reps at an early point in my career. I'm thankful for Walt to keep running me back out there freshman year over and over again, even if I got beat up or not. It helped me get through that learning curve and then by the end of it, when it was all said and done, I probably had some of the most innings in college baseball. Having that amount of experience really just helped me. I'm sure I would've figured it out to some degree. And then I'm thankful that I was able to stay healthy for three years.
"I think everything really played out perfectly, but without that experience on, and then just being able to learn from everything that I did and learn from my mistakes. And then by the end of it, other than Omaha, I felt like I had almost experienced every facet of college baseball and then just to different games and everything. So I wasn't surprised when I went out there and took the ball each game. It was just another game where I've been here before. I face hitters better than these players right now. And so it's just built a lot of confidence over the years. So I think that was probably the main thing, and your mentality really changes. Tossing 300 innings in college is really unheard of nowadays."
Do you believe the foundation is set for Wake Forest Baseball to continue to be relevant on the national college baseball scene?
Lowder: "I'm super excited to be a part of the program in some form forever. So I think it's in a great spot, coming back and just watching practices. I like how right now specifically that the team, the beliefs and the culture and everything is how we left it and what we build and what we set the standard for. But each team is going to be different. That's what I realized. And they're going to embrace that. It's not a bad thing. Each team is going to bring something unique to the table, and that's what it's all about. I think you could go through some of the best teams each year and some of those top programs that are going to be in the College World Series almost every year. If you look at them, each team is different, but they have those cultural beliefs and standards that they hold the same. And I think that's pretty much cemented within the program now. It's probably going to be pretty darn hard to knock those down."
Lowder led the 2023 Demon Deacons all the way to the College World Series in Omaha in 2023 while setting program records in wins (15) and strikeouts (143) last season — claiming his second-straight ACC Pitcher of the Year Award along the way. Lowder recently caught up with Deacon Sports Xtra for this Five Questions Feature.
Have you had a chance yet to reflect on the historic 2023 Wake Forest Baseball season?
Lowder: "A little bit. It was a good reflection watching that hour long team 109 movie. That was awesome. That was probably one of the first times I really got to go through and remember everything. It was a long season. I was watching some of the first couple of weeks, and that felt like years ago. But it was just so much fun and I think that's the main thing that I miss is just how much fun that I had just spending every day with those guys. It was fun to win, but I would trade a couple more wins for just more time with those guys."
What do you remember most about the classic pitching matchup between yourself and Paul Skeenes of the LSU Tigers in Omaha?
Lowder: "You can't draw it up any better than that. You want to play in the highest stage against the best team and the best talent. I've got to play with Paul before and he's a great guy, so it was fun to be on the other side and just kind of battle out with the best. They put me at my best. And although we didn't come out on top, that was so cool and so fun just to go back and forth. We both did our thing. He's a great pitcher. I didn't expect anything less out of him, and I knew it was going to be a great game no matter what.
"I'll remember the pregame more. I just wasn't as locked in on the game when I was in the dugout. I was kind of just locked in on staying in the moment. But I know I usually don't wake up that nervous for the game. I'll get nervous about an hour before, but I woke up and something felt different for that game. I was a little bit nervous right out of bed. It was almost like excitement. It was more exciting than nerves. But I definitely had a little kick right when I woke up and the game wasn't until later, and that was a little bit rare for me."
How enjoyable was the atmosphere for the NCAA Regional matchup against Maryland, where the teams didn't take the field until 11 pm after a lengthy weather delay?
Lowder: "That was by far the most fun I've ever had at The Couch. It sucked leading up to it because I was like, this is a regional game and probably the biggest game that I pitched in my career, and then we're just going to keep getting delayed. It's going to be wet. But then once I kind of just flipped the script, we're going to play this game no matter what. We're going to play on the same field, against the same team — I might as well get ready to get locked in. And when we took that field for stretching, I still have that feeling where I was watching the Maryland players walk back from the shack and they were just walking back, dragging their bats and everything. And then all of us were just flying around playing music at 11 o'clock. I kind of knew we were going to win, and that was a good feeling, just full of juice and coming onto the mound with some of the best stuff I've ever had in my life — it was just an out-of-body experience. It was unreal. I wish I could pitch every game feeling how I felt there."
What was the key for his development at Wake Forest?
Lowder: "Outside of just the obvious weight room and adding weight and strength and everything, I was just really grateful that I got in and got reps at an early point in my career. I'm thankful for Walt to keep running me back out there freshman year over and over again, even if I got beat up or not. It helped me get through that learning curve and then by the end of it, when it was all said and done, I probably had some of the most innings in college baseball. Having that amount of experience really just helped me. I'm sure I would've figured it out to some degree. And then I'm thankful that I was able to stay healthy for three years.
"I think everything really played out perfectly, but without that experience on, and then just being able to learn from everything that I did and learn from my mistakes. And then by the end of it, other than Omaha, I felt like I had almost experienced every facet of college baseball and then just to different games and everything. So I wasn't surprised when I went out there and took the ball each game. It was just another game where I've been here before. I face hitters better than these players right now. And so it's just built a lot of confidence over the years. So I think that was probably the main thing, and your mentality really changes. Tossing 300 innings in college is really unheard of nowadays."
Do you believe the foundation is set for Wake Forest Baseball to continue to be relevant on the national college baseball scene?
Lowder: "I'm super excited to be a part of the program in some form forever. So I think it's in a great spot, coming back and just watching practices. I like how right now specifically that the team, the beliefs and the culture and everything is how we left it and what we build and what we set the standard for. But each team is going to be different. That's what I realized. And they're going to embrace that. It's not a bad thing. Each team is going to bring something unique to the table, and that's what it's all about. I think you could go through some of the best teams each year and some of those top programs that are going to be in the College World Series almost every year. If you look at them, each team is different, but they have those cultural beliefs and standards that they hold the same. And I think that's pretty much cemented within the program now. It's probably going to be pretty darn hard to knock those down."
Players Mentioned
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