Wake Forest University
31-5, 14-3
Louisville
26-9, 8-7
No. 2 Wake Forest Falls in Finale at No. 8 Louisville
4/16/2023 4:33:00 PM | Baseball
The Deacs head back to Winston-Salem with its sixth-straight ACC series victory to open the 2023 season as well as the program's first ACC series victory at Louisville ever.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The second-ranked Wake Forest baseball team dropped the series finale against No. 8 Louisville, 7-2, on Sunday afternoon inside Jim Patterson Stadium.
Wake Forest (31-5, 14-3 ACC) heads back to Winston-Salem with its sixth-straight ACC series victory to open the 2023 season as well as the program's first ACC series victory at Louisville (26-9, 8-7 ACC) ever.
The combination of five home runs accounting for all 11 runs and stellar pitching from Sean Sullivan and Seth Keener helped Wake Forest claim the series opener, 11-5, on Friday night.
On Saturday, Rhett Lowder, Michael Massey and Camden Minacci combined to shutout the Cardinals while Justin Johnson and Bennett Lee launched solo homers to clinch the series with a 3-0 victory.
Wake Forest found the scoreboard first on Sunday as Pierce Bennett notched a two-out RBI- single in the opening frame of the finale. After four scoreless innings on both sides, Bennett Lee doubled the Demon Deacon advantage with a solo home run in the top of the sixth, his second long fly of the series.
Louisville plated five runs in the next half inning to take its first lead of the series since the bottom of the first in the series opener on Friday. The Cardinals added two in the seventh to end the scoring by either team.
Josh Hartle retired the first 10 batters he faced while allowing just two baserunners through the first five innings of his ninth start. Overall, the lefthander fanned four batters in 5.1 innings.
Cole Roland, Derek Crum, William Ray and Joe Ariola hit the mound in relief.
Tommy Hawke, Lucas Costello and Pierce Bennett led Wake Forest at the plate with two hits apiece while Brock Wilken reached base three times with a trio of walks.
How It Happened
- Wake Forest found the scoreboard first as Pierce Bennett notched an RBI-single to left center field with two outs to score Lucas Costello (fielder's choice) from second.
- Overall, four Deacs reached base. Tommy Hawke doubled on the first pitch of the game. Brock Wilken notched a walk before Bennett's base knock gave the Deacs an early lead.
- Josh Hartle opened his ninth start of the season with a shutdown inning, retiring the Cardinals in order to end the first.
- Danny Corona reached base thanks to a fielding error on a perfectly laid bunt, but a double play and fly out ended the top of the second.
- Hartle retired the Cardinals in order again in the bottom of the second, highlighted by an inning-ending strikeout.
- Hawke opened the third with another base hit on the first pitch he saw before Costello was hit by a pitch. A double play and groundout ended the inning as Wake Forest continued to lead by one run.
- Hartle once again notched a perfect 1-2-3 inning, highlighted by another inning-ending punchout.
- Justin Johnson worked a leadoff walk to open the fourth, but the next three Deacs were retired to conclude the opening frame of the fourth.
- A Cardinal finally reached base in the bottom of the fourth with a one-out single. Lee caught the base runner trying to steal second before Hartle induced an inning-ending groundout.
- A Costello single and walks to Nick Kurtz and Wilken loaded the bases with one out in the fifth. A fly out and ground out ended the scoring threat.
- Hartle notched two punch outs in another scoreless inning in the bottom of the fifth.
- After Louisville added a one-out base hit, Hartle responded by retiring the next two batters, highlighted by another inning-ending strikeout, to strand the runner and keep Wake Forest's one-run lead intact.
- Bennett Lee doubled Wake Forest's lead (2-0) in the top of the sixth with a solo home run to right center field, his second long fly of the series.
- A three-run home run and two hit batters with the bases loaded gave Louisville a 5-2 lead after six innings.
- A single from Nick Kurtz, the 100th base hit of his career, and a double from Bennett placed a pair in scoring position with two outs. A strikeout ended the scoring opportunity.
- The Cardinals added two runs in the bottom of the seventh to increase its lead to 7-2.
- Will Ray forced all three outs of the inning, highlighted by a pop-up double play to end the frame.
- Joe Ariola posted a perfect 1-2-3 eighth inning with a pair of groundouts and a flyout.
- Louisville clinched the victory in the ninth, working around a one-out Costello single with a strikeout and flyout to end the game.
"Disappointing loss. We had the game right where we wanted it, up 2-0 with 12 outs to get. We walk the leadoff hitter. We get the out on the sac bunt. I really thought the play of the game was the play in the six hole. I feel like that's a play Marek makes most of the time. Then we give up the three-run homer, which it's still 3-2. We walk the next guy. Don't make a play on a bunt. We give up another infield hit and then we hit a couple guys with the bases loaded. In my opinion, we had seven free passes in that five-run inning. We had a couple free passes in that two-run inning too. The free 90s hurt us for sure. Early in the game, we had chances. We had 11 of our first 22 hitters on base. We just couldn't get the big hit. Give credit to Liggett. He battled and found a way to get big outs.
"I'm happy about the series, of course. Any time you win a series on the road in this league, you're happy. We're certainly disappointed with how we played from the sixth inning on today."
Standout Stats
Wake Forest is off to a 14-3 mark in conference play, the program's best start through 17 ACC games since 2002.
The Demon Deacons are +40 in run differential through the first six series, outscoring opponents 96-56.
Wake Forest Series Run Differential
- Duke -3 (14-17)
- Notre Dame +10 (17-7)
- Miami +17 (19-2)
- Clemson +7 (18-11)
- NC State +5 (12-7)
- Louisville +4 (16-12)
- Total +40 (96-56)
Wake Forest returns to David F. Couch Ballpark on Wednesday, April 19 as the Deacs welcome Liberty for the final matchup of the season between the two teams.
First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Tate Kuehner (2-0)
L: Hartle, Josh (6-2)
Batting:
2B: Hawke, Tommy 1 ; Bennett, Pierce 1
HR: Lee, Bennett 1
RBI: Bennett, Pierce 1 ; Lee, Bennett 1
SH: Corona, Danny 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Costello, Lucas 1 ; Lee, Bennett 1
HBP: Costello, Lucas 1
Batting:
HR: JT Benson 1
RBI: JT Benson 3 ; Will Cook 1 ; Eddie King Jr. 2 ; Logan Beard 1
SH: Brandon Anderson 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Christian Knapczyk 2 ; JT Benson 2 ; Will Cook 1 ; Patrick Forbes 1 ; Tyeler Hawkins 1
SB: Christian Knapczyk 1 ; JT Benson 1 ; Haven Mangrum 1
HBP: Eddie King Jr. 1 ; Logan Beard 1
