Wake Forest University
8-0
Towson
0-6
No. 4 Wake Forest Remains Perfect with 18-1 Victory Versus Towson
2/25/2023 9:52:00 PM | Baseball
The combination of strong pitching from Seth Keener, Michael Massey and Camden Minacci and Wake Forest’s fourth game this season with at least 18 runs helped the 2023 Demon Deacons become the seventh team in program history to begin a season 8-0.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The No. 4 Wake Forest baseball team remained perfect with an 18-1 victory against Towson on Saturday evening at David F. Couch Ballpark.
With their third victory of the weekend, the Deacs moved to 8-0 for the second-straight season. The 2022 and 2023 Deacs are the only teams since 2000 and just the seventh team in program history to win its first eight games. Additionally, this is the first time in program history that teams have started 8-0 or better in back-to-back seasons.
Additionally, Wake Forest is 33-4 against non-ACC competition over the last two seasons, outscoring opponents 368-128 in those games.
The Deacs continued to use all-around team performances to fuel its perfect start. Coming into the second weekend of the season, the Demon Deacon pitching staff led the ACC and ranked in the top-12 nationally in strikeouts-per-nine innings, strikeout-walk ratio, WHIP, ERA and hits-per-nine innings.
At the plate, Wake Forest was the conference's leader in home runs (second in the nation) and walks (third in the nation), while sitting in second in slugging percentage, hits and on-base percentage.
Overall, Wake Forest has outscored their opponents 107-13 to open the new campaign. The Demon Deacons are batting .366 as a team and hold a team ERA of just 1.41 with 111 strikeouts and 20 walks.
After Towson trimmed Wake Forest's lead to one in the top of the third, the combination of multiple scoreless innings on the mound from Seth Keener and 11 unanswered runs over four-straight innings helped the Demon Deacons push its lead to double digits.
The Deacs plated five runs on five hits in the third, highlighted by three-consecutive RBI-singles by Bennett Lee, Tommy Hawke and Pierce Bennett. A RBI-double from Kyle Joye in the fourth gave Wake Forest an 8-1 lead before Hawke scored on a passed ball and Chris Katz notched a two-run double the next inning.
After Bennett drove in two runs in the sixth with a single to left field, Wake Forest's offense produced another five-run inning in its last offensive opportunity. Adam Cecere started the eighth-inning rally, hitting a two-run long fly, his sixth of the season. Two batters later, Katz notched an RBI-double before coming around to score on a passed ball. Hawke ended the big inning with his fifth hit of the night, a new career high, to plate Joye.
Keener earned his second win of the season as the Pilot Mountain, N.C. native fanned seven in six innings. Keener struck out at least one batter in five frames, highlighted by a pair of punchouts in the third and sixth, while walking no one.
Michael Massey picked up where Keener left off as the righthander recorded two scoreless frames, striking out five of the eight batters he faced.
Camden Minacci slammed the door in the ninth, fanning a trio of batters to clinch the 17-run win in his second outing of the young season.
The trio's 15 strikeouts marked the sixth game this season Wake Forest has fanned double-digit batters in a game as well as the fourth game the Deacs have held an opponent to one run or less. Overall as a staff, the Deacs have averaged 13.9 strikeouts per game this season.
Wake Forest's 20 hits on Saturday marked a new season high and it is the sixth time this season the Deacs have tallied double-digit base knocks.
How It Happened
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Seth Keener tossed a scoreless top of the first as the junior worked around a pair of base knocks with a strikeout and flyout.
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Wake Forest jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to three-straight hits to open the bottom of the inning.
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Tommy Hawke reached safely to open the game after beating out a grounder to second base. Pierce Bennett fired a single to right field before Brock Wilken notched an RBI-double to score Hawke.
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Bennett was plated on an RBI-groundout from Justin Johnson, his 11th RBI of the season.
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The Deacs stranded a pair after Danny Corona drew a two-out walk.
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Keener worked fast in the second, notching a nine-pitch inning as he sent Towson down in the order with a groundout, strikeout and flyout.
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Wake Forest held onto its 2-0 advantage after two full innings.
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Bennett Lee notched a one-out single before a groundout and hard lineout to the shortstop ended the inning.
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Towson trimmed Wake Forest's lead to one (2-1) after a single, sacrifice bunt and RBI-double to open the third. Keener responded with back-to-back strikeouts to strand a Tiger on second.
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The Deacs responded with a five-run bottom of the third to increase its lead to 7-1.
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All five runs came with two outs in the frame and Katz, Kyle Joye, Bennett Lee, Tommy Hawke and Pierce Bennett all reached base consecutively in the inning, highlighted by three-straight RBI-singles up the middle from Lee, Hawke and Bennett.
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Keener threw a shutout inning to open the fourth frame, retiring the Tigers in order for the second time of his start.
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A Joye RBI-double to left center extended Wake Forest's lead to 8-1 after four full innings.
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Cecere, who walked to lead off the inning, scored on Joye's first base knock of the game.
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An inning-ending strikeout highlighted Keener's second-straight scoreless frame as the junior worked around a one-out base hit and fielding error in the top of the fifth.
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The Deacs plated three more runs in the bottom half as Hawke singled for the fourth time and made it all the way to third base on a failed pick off attempt before scoring on a passed ball. Chris Katz drove in a pair with a double to deep right field to cap off Wake Forest's fourth-straight inning with a run.
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Keener finished his outing in the next half with back-to-back strikeouts to post his third-straight zero as Wake Forest kept its 10-run lead.
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Overall, the Pilot Mountain, N.C. native fanned seven batters and allowed just one run on Saturday night.
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Bennett continued to produce in the two-hole as the redshirt junior plated Lee and Hawke to increase the Demon Deacon advantage to 13-1 after six full innings.
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Lee registered a leadoff walk before Hawke doubled down the left field line to put two Deacs in scoring position.
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Two strikeouts and a flyout ended the scoring opportunity.
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Michael Massey hit the mound in relief of Keener in the seventh and tossed a perfect 1-2-3 inning, highlighted by back-to-back strikeouts to open his outing.
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Wake Forest was held off the scoreboard for the first time since the second inning in the bottom half as the Deacs held onto its 13-1 lead.
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Massey fanned three more batters in the top of the eighth, increasing his game total to five.
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Wake Forest's offense produced another five-run inning in its last offensive opportunity to increase its lead to 18-1.
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Adam Cecere started the eighth-inning rally with a two-run long fly, his sixth of the season.
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Two batters later, Katz notched an RBI-double before coming around to score on a passed ball.
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Hawke ended the big inning with his fifth hit of the night, a new career high, to plate Joye, who notched an in-field single.
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Camden Minacci slammed the door in the ninth, fanning a trio of batters to clinch the 17-run win in his second outing of the young season.
Words From Walter
"We pitched really well today. Seth Keener was fantastic with Michael Massey and Camden Minacci behind him. Those two guys came in, pumping strikes and throwing hard with a good breaking ball. It was a good all-around pitching performance for us today.
Offensively, I was really pleased with what we did with two outs. I was thrilled with our 10 RBIs with two outs. We've been getting too many of our runs via the home runs and tonight we didn't do that. We manufactured some offense. Good all-around game. We need to come out ready to go tomorrow. We need a good start out of Josh Hartle."
Standout Stat
With the 18-1 win, the Deacs moved to 8-0 for the second-straight season. The 2022 and 2023 Deacs are the only team since 2000 and just the seventh team in program history to win its first eight games to open a campaign. Additionally, this is the first time in program history that teams have started 8-0 or better in back-to-back seasons.
Best Starts in Program History:
- 8-0: 2023, 2022, 1964, 1961, 1949, 1937, 1913
- 9-0: 2022, 1964, 1961, 1949, 1937, 1913
- 10-0: 2022, 1964, 1961, 1949, 1913
- 11-0: 2022, 1961, 1949
- 12-0: 1949
- 13-0: 1949
- 14-0: 1949
- 15-0: 1949
Coming into the weekend, Wake Forest was just one of three Power-5 schools to have won five games already in 2023 (South Carolina and Alabama).
Over the last two seasons, Wake Forest is now 33-4 against non-ACC competition. The Deacs have outscored opponents 368-128 in those games.
On Deck
Wake Forest wraps up the second weekend of the season with another matchup against Mount St. Mary's on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. at The Couch. The game can be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
The Deacs will be back on the diamond on Tuesday, Feb. 28 against UNC Wilmington in its first home midweek contest of the year.
Deacon Nation and college baseball fans across the state of North Carolina will have the opportunity to select from various season-ticket packages that include general admission options, reserved chairback seating, as well as multiple premium season ticket options to catch all 33 home contests inside David F. Couch Ballpark. Click here for all the exciting season ticket opportunities.
Single-game offerings include general admission, reserved chairback, premium reserve chairback premium high tops and premium third base loge box ticketing options. Click here for all the exciting single-game ticket opportunities.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Keener, Seth (2-0)
L: Shayne Clowar (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Casey Bishop 1
RBI: Casey Bishop 1
SH: James Moses 1 ; Casey Bishop 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jordan Peyton 1
SB: Casey Bishop 1
Batting:
2B: Hawke, Tommy 1 ; Wilken, Brock 1 ; Katz, Chris 2 ; Joye, Kyle 1
HR: Cecere, Adam 1
RBI: Hawke, Tommy 2 ; Bennett, Pierce 3 ; Wilken, Brock 1 ; Cecere, Adam 2 ; Johnson, Justin 1 ; Katz, Chris 4 ; Joye, Kyle 1 ; Lee, Bennett 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Hawke, Tommy 3 ; Bennett, Pierce 1 ; Winnay, Jack 1 ; Cecere, Adam 4 ; Johnson, Justin 2 ; Corona, Danny 1 ; Katz, Chris 2 ; Joye, Kyle 2 ; Lee, Bennett 2
SB: Corona, Danny 1
HBP: Winnay, Jack 1 ; Johnson, Justin 2 ; Corona, Danny 1
