Wake Forest University
22-3, 7-2
Miami
15-9, 5-4
No. 2 Wake Forest Sweeps No. 17 Miami For First Time Ever
3/26/2023 6:17:00 PM | Baseball
The Deacs swept the Hurricanes for the first time in program history in front of 5,967 fans, the largest regular season weekend crowd in program history, across three wins inside David F. Couch Ballpark.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The No. 2 Wake Forest baseball team earned a sweep over No. 17 Miami with a 4-1 win in the series finale on Sunday afternoon inside David F. Couch Ballpark.
The Deacs (22-3, 7-2 ACC) earned its first sweep of the Hurricanes (15-9, 5-4 ACC) in program history in front of 5,967 fans, the largest regular season weekend crowd ever. Over the three weekend wins, Wake Forest outscored Miami by a mark of 19-2.
The Deacs have compiled a 44-8-1 record inside David F. Couch Ballpark over the last two seasons, highlighted by its 18-1 mark this year. Overall, the Deacs have outscored opponents, 502-172, at The Couch since last year.
Trailing 1-0 with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Pierce Bennett worked a full count before launching a three-run home run to give Wake Forest its first lead.
After scoreless innings on the mound from Josh Hartle and Seth Keener in the sixth and seventh, Gio Cueto increased Wake Forest's advantage to 4-1 with a solo home run over the left field wall in the Demon Deacons' final offensive opportunity.
In his sixth start of the 2023 campaign, Hartle tallied nine strikeouts over 6.0 innings to earn his fifth win of the year. The sophomore from King, N.C. allowed six baserunners (four hits and two walks) in the contest, holding the Miami offense to just one run. In his final inning of work, Hartle recorded his eighth strikeout of the contest which set his career high in strikeouts for a season (55) before punching out the final batter of his outing.
In the process of earning his first career save, Keener forced the final six outs on the mound, highlighted by four strikeouts.
Overall, the Wake Forest pitching staff held Miami to just two runs over the three contests, its lowest-scoring conference weekend since at least 2010. Additionally, the Deacs held the Hurricanes to 15 hits and seven walks while striking out 39 Hurricane hitters.
After taking two games against Duke and Notre Dame in the first two conference weekends, Wake Forest has now won its first three ACC series to open a season since 2017.
How It Happened
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After Miami led off the game with a single, Josh Hartle punched out two batters before Gio Cueto threw out the Hurricane base runner trying to steal second.
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Nick Kurtz walked with two outs in the bottom of first, but a pop up in foul territory stranded the sophomore and ended the frame.
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Hartle responded with another scoreless inning in the second, striking out two more batters.
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Kurtz made a jumping play at first base on a groundout for the first out of the inning before Hartle fanned a batter.
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Following a walk, Hartle caught Miami looking with his fourth strikeout of the game to end the frame.
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Wake Forest loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the second as Jake Reinisch (walk), Gio Cueto (hit by pitch) and Marek Houston (walk) reached safely. A hard-hit groundout ended the scoring opportunity.
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Miami got on the scoreboard with a solo home run to right center field in the top of the third.
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Hartle opened the inning with his fifth strikeout of the game.
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Justin Johnson fired a single up the middle and Bennett walked to place a pair on base in the bottom half of the inning, but a double play ended the inning.
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Hartle tossed a perfect three-up, three-down frame to open the fourth with a fly out, strikeout and groundout.
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Cueto notched Wake Forest's fourth walk of the game with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but a fielder's choice concluded the fourth frame.
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With one out in the top of the fifth, Miami put runners on first and second. Undaunted, Hartle fanned his seventh batter of the game before Justin Johnson made a diving play on a grounder to second base to strand the pair.
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A Pierce Bennett three-run home run with two outs put Wake Forest ahead in the bottom of the fifth inning.
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Tommy Hawke singled to lead off the frame before Johnson was hit by a pitch. After a strikeout and fly out, Bennett launched a three-run shot over the left field wall after a full count (six-pitch at-bat) to give the Deacs a 3-1 advantage.
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Hartle notched a shutdown 1-2-3 inning in the top of the sixth with a groundout and two punchouts as Wake Forest took its 3-1 lead to the bottom of the sixth.
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The Deacs placed two runners in scoring position, but were unable to add insurance runs to its two-run lead after six full frames.
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Hawke singled to leadoff the inning before a wild pitch advanced the sophomore to second.
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The Deacs put runners on the corners after a fielder's choice allowed Hawke to reach third safely as well as Johnson at first.
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Seth Keener kept Wake Forest's lead at two with a scoreless top of the seventh, working around a two-out single with his second punchout of the frame.
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The Deacs extended its lead to 4-1 courtesy of a Gio Cueto solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
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Keener slammed the door in the eighth, recording the three final outs of the contest to secure the 4-1 victory and the series sweep.
Words From Walter
"Huge win for the program. Any time you get a sweep in this league, against anybody, that is a great weekend. Especially against a club like Miami coming in playing as well as they did.
"Josh Hartle battled early and then I thought he settled down and threw the ball really great. Really clutch sixth inning for us. He came out after we took the lead and got us a big shutdown inning. Seth Keener was fantastic in the seventh and eighth. We were probably one hitter away from going to Cam Minacci there, but he was cruising and we did not want to change up the mojo.
"Offensively, we knew we would have our hands full with Alejandro Rosario. He is super talented and has a big arm. We knew it would be a tough day at the plate. They also had Walters coming in behind him so we knew between those two guys, runs would be hard to come by, especially on a day like today when the wind is blowing in.
"We did just enough to win offensively. Two games in a row where we did just enough to win, thanks to our pitching and defense. Pierce Bennett had a clutch home run. Gio Cueto gave us some breathing room in the seventh, which was great.
"Our defense was the story. Gio Cueto makes a big throw in the first inning. Justin Johnson makes a really good play to end the fifth inning. Nick Kurtz made a great play on the leadoff hitter of an inning on the ball he came off the bag for and tagged the runner on. Those are three huge defensive plays that put the momentum back in our dugout."
Standout Stat
Over the last two seasons, Wake Forest has compiled a 44-8-1 record inside David F. Couch Ballpark, highlighted by its 18-1 mark this season.
In 19 home games this season, Wake Forest has scored 194 runs, averaging 10.21 runs per game. Overall, the Deacs have outscored opponents, 502-172, at The Couch since the start of the 2022 season.
Wake Forest has outscored opponents by double-digits in seven innings this season.
Wake Forest Scoring Summary by Inning (Wake Forest-Opponent)
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First Inning: 49-8
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Second Inning: 25-10
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Third Inning: 36-10
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Fourth Inning: 36-7
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Fifth Inning: 41-10
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Sixth Inning: 21-2
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Seventh Inning: 19-6
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Eighth Inning: 22-13
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Ninth Inning: 2-5
Overall, the Deacs are outscoring opponents by a 251-71 mark this season.
A key to Wake Forest's early success has been the strong performances from its starting pitching.
The Demon Deacon weekend rotation of Rhett Lowder, Sean Sullivan and Josh Hartle has posted 14 wins with a combined ERA of 1.66 in 103.2 innings. Lowder, Sullivan and Hartle have combined to strike out 162 batters while allowing just 19 earned runs and walking just 21 batters.
All three rank in top 10 among ACC foes in almost every pitching category.
In its last two ACC series, Wake Forest pitchers have shut down opposing ACC offenses. Overall, eight arms have combined to allow just 32 hits and seven earned runs while striking out 79 batters.
This weekend, the Wake Forest pitching staff held Miami to just two runs over the three contests, its lowest-scoring conference weekend since at least 2010. Additionally, the Deacs held the Hurricanes to 15 hits and seven walks while striking out 39 Hurricane hitters.
In The Spotlight
The Deacs earned its first ACC sweep of the Hurricanes in program history in front of 5,967 fans, the largest regular season weekend crowd in program history.
Attendance By Game
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Game 1: 1,707
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Game 2: 2,312 (second-largest crowd in program history)
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Game 3: 1,948
Josh Hartle earned the fifth win of his sophomore season on Sunday, tossing six innings of one run baseball, while only allowing six baserunners and setting down nine hitters on strikes.
With his eighth punchout in the sixth inning, Hartle set a new season high in strikeouts.
Hartle has struck out at least 10 batters in three of his four starts this season and has walked more than one batter in just two of his outings. In each of his first three appearances, Hartle either set or tied his previous career-high strikeout mark.
In his career, Hartle has allowed two earned runs or less in 13 of his 20 starts.
Hartle has accumulated a 1.80 ERA through 35.0 innings to go along with 56 strikeouts. The lefthander has allowed just seven earned runs and has only walked six batters.
Coming into the weekend, Hartle was the ACC leader in strikeout-to-walk ratio (11.75) and ranked in the top five in strikeouts (second), strikeouts-per-nine (third), walks-per-nine (third) and WHIP (ninth).
On Deck
The Demon Deacons head out on the road for five-straight, beginning with a midweek matchup at High Point on Tuesday, March 28 at 6:00 p.m.
Wake Forest then travels to Clemson for a three-game set that will begin on Thursday, March 30 at 7 p.m. on ACC Network.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hartle, Josh (5-1)
L: Alejandro Rosario (1-3)
S: Keener, Seth (1)
Batting:
HR: Carlos Perez 1
RBI: Carlos Perez 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Carlos Perez 1
CS: CJ Kayfus 1
Batting:
HR: Bennett, Pierce 1 ; Cueto, Gio 1
RBI: Bennett, Pierce 3 ; Cueto, Gio 1
SH: Johnson, Justin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hawke, Tommy 1 ; Johnson, Justin 1 ; Bennett, Pierce 1 ; Cueto, Gio 1
HBP: Johnson, Justin 1 ; Kurtz, Nick 1 ; Corona, Danny 1 ; Cueto, Gio 2
