Wake Forest Selected to Host Winston-Salem NCAA Baseball Regional
5/28/2023 8:36:00 PM | Baseball
For the first time since 2017, the Demon Deacons were selected as one of 16 regional hosts for the 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament.
INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time since 2017, Wake Forest and Winston-Salem was picked by the NCAA Division I Baseball Selection Committee as one of 16 regional hosts for the 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament on Sunday night.
The three other teams that will join the Demon Deacons at the Winston-Salem Regional will be announced on Monday, May 29 at noon ET on ESPN2 when the entire field of 64 for the national tournament is released. A full Winston-Salem Regional schedule will be released at this time as well.
Regional competition is scheduled to take place inside David F. Couch Ballpark on Friday, June 2-Monday, June 5.
Wake Forest earned the top seed in the ACC tournament after claiming its first ACC regular season title thanks to a program-record 45 wins, 22 conference wins and 10 conference series wins. Additionally, the Deacs finished the regular season No. 1 in RPI and posted a 32-9 record against Top-100 RPI teams.
The Deacs clinched the 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship title with a 7-3 win over Florida State in Tallahassee on May 13.
This marked Wake Forest's fourth ACC regular-season title in program history, with the last coming in 1963 (1955, 1962, 1963).
Thanks to its 7-5 win on Friday night against Virginia Tech, the Demon Deacons became the first ACC team to run the table and go a perfect 10-for-10 in conference series since 2017 (North Carolina).
During the 2023 ACC Baseball Championship this past week, Wake Forest became the first No. 1 seed to successfully advance out of pool play since the ACC switched to its current championship format in 2017 after going a perfect 2-0 in the opening games of the tournament against eighth-seeded Notre Dame and 12th-seeded Pitt.
Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter was named the 2023 ACC Coach of the Year, becoming just the third Wake Forest skipper in program history to receive the honor for his effort in leading the Deacs to a historical regular season.
For the second year in a row, Wake Forest baseball righthander Rhett Lowder was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year. After becoming the first Demon Deacon ever to receive the award last season, Lowder is just the second pitcher in conference history to garner back-to-back Pitcher of the Year honors (Danny Hultzen, 2010-11).
Lowder finished the regular season as the conference's leader in ERA (1.73), wins (12), innings pitched (88.2) and strikeouts (108). In ACC play, Lowder also leads the conference in those same categories.
Wake Forest baseball placed a league high and tied a program best with nine selections to the 2023 All-Atlantic Coast Conference teams.
Josh Hartle (first team), Rhett Lowder (first team), Sean Sullivan (first team), Nick Kurtz (first team), Justin Johnson (first team), Tommy Hawke (second team), Brock Wilken (second team), Seth Keener (third team) and Camden Minacci (third team) earned recognition for their efforts in helping Wake Forest post its greatest regular season in program history.
Wake Forest's nine honorees led the league and tied the 2017 team for the most all-conference honorees in program history. Hartle, Lowder, Sullivan, Kurtz and Johnson's selections marked the most first team honors in Wake Forest history.
Ticket Information
All-session tickets for the Winston-Salem Regional are now on sale here.
Single-game session tickets will go on sale Wednesday, May 31 at Noon:
For more ticketing information, please visit the Wake Forest Ticket office here.
Parking Information
Premium Reserved Parking will be sold in advance only to All Session ticket holders for $30. Reserved parking will be at The Couch Ballpark & McCreary Tower Lot.
General public parking will be available at the Starry and Diet Pepsi Lots at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum for $10. Enter from Deacon Blvd.
Record-Breaking Crowds Create Electric Environment at David F. Couch Ballpark in 2023
Deacon Nation showed tremendous support at David F. Couch Ballpark in 2023 as multiple attendance records were broken during the regular season.
Overall, this year's season attendance of 44,650 fans set a new program record.
Over the course of the season, Deacon Nation broke weekend attendance records three times, highlighted by the current weekend attendance record of 8,096 fans over the course of the final weekend series of the regular season.
On May 19, Wake Forest set a new single-game attendance record against Virginia Tech (May 19) with an attendance of 3,023.
NCAA Tournament Information
The field of 64 teams will be placed in 16 different four-team regionals, with teams seeded one through four to compete in a double-elimination format.
The winner of the Winston-Salem Regional will advance to the best-of-three Super Regional to be held the following weekend at eight different sites, which if the Demon Deacons receive a top-eight seed on Monday and win the Regional, will be in Winston-Salem over the second weekend of June.
A complete schedule can be found below:
2023 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament Schedule
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The three other teams that will join the Demon Deacons at the Winston-Salem Regional will be announced on Monday, May 29 at noon ET on ESPN2 when the entire field of 64 for the national tournament is released. A full Winston-Salem Regional schedule will be released at this time as well.
Regional competition is scheduled to take place inside David F. Couch Ballpark on Friday, June 2-Monday, June 5.
Wake Forest earned the top seed in the ACC tournament after claiming its first ACC regular season title thanks to a program-record 45 wins, 22 conference wins and 10 conference series wins. Additionally, the Deacs finished the regular season No. 1 in RPI and posted a 32-9 record against Top-100 RPI teams.
The Deacs clinched the 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship title with a 7-3 win over Florida State in Tallahassee on May 13.
This marked Wake Forest's fourth ACC regular-season title in program history, with the last coming in 1963 (1955, 1962, 1963).
Thanks to its 7-5 win on Friday night against Virginia Tech, the Demon Deacons became the first ACC team to run the table and go a perfect 10-for-10 in conference series since 2017 (North Carolina).
During the 2023 ACC Baseball Championship this past week, Wake Forest became the first No. 1 seed to successfully advance out of pool play since the ACC switched to its current championship format in 2017 after going a perfect 2-0 in the opening games of the tournament against eighth-seeded Notre Dame and 12th-seeded Pitt.
Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter was named the 2023 ACC Coach of the Year, becoming just the third Wake Forest skipper in program history to receive the honor for his effort in leading the Deacs to a historical regular season.
For the second year in a row, Wake Forest baseball righthander Rhett Lowder was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year. After becoming the first Demon Deacon ever to receive the award last season, Lowder is just the second pitcher in conference history to garner back-to-back Pitcher of the Year honors (Danny Hultzen, 2010-11).
Lowder finished the regular season as the conference's leader in ERA (1.73), wins (12), innings pitched (88.2) and strikeouts (108). In ACC play, Lowder also leads the conference in those same categories.
Wake Forest baseball placed a league high and tied a program best with nine selections to the 2023 All-Atlantic Coast Conference teams.
Josh Hartle (first team), Rhett Lowder (first team), Sean Sullivan (first team), Nick Kurtz (first team), Justin Johnson (first team), Tommy Hawke (second team), Brock Wilken (second team), Seth Keener (third team) and Camden Minacci (third team) earned recognition for their efforts in helping Wake Forest post its greatest regular season in program history.
Wake Forest's nine honorees led the league and tied the 2017 team for the most all-conference honorees in program history. Hartle, Lowder, Sullivan, Kurtz and Johnson's selections marked the most first team honors in Wake Forest history.
Ticket Information
All-session tickets for the Winston-Salem Regional are now on sale here.
- All-Session Ticket Options
- Reserved Seats- $90
- General Admission Seats- $75
- All-American Club Add-on- $100
Single-game session tickets will go on sale Wednesday, May 31 at Noon:
- Single-Game Session Ticket Options (Based on Availability)
- Adult Reserved- $20
- Adult General Admission-$15
- Youth Reserved- $15
- Youth General- $10
- All-American Club Add-on- $20
For more ticketing information, please visit the Wake Forest Ticket office here.
Parking Information
Premium Reserved Parking will be sold in advance only to All Session ticket holders for $30. Reserved parking will be at The Couch Ballpark & McCreary Tower Lot.
General public parking will be available at the Starry and Diet Pepsi Lots at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum for $10. Enter from Deacon Blvd.
Record-Breaking Crowds Create Electric Environment at David F. Couch Ballpark in 2023
Deacon Nation showed tremendous support at David F. Couch Ballpark in 2023 as multiple attendance records were broken during the regular season.
Overall, this year's season attendance of 44,650 fans set a new program record.
Over the course of the season, Deacon Nation broke weekend attendance records three times, highlighted by the current weekend attendance record of 8,096 fans over the course of the final weekend series of the regular season.
On May 19, Wake Forest set a new single-game attendance record against Virginia Tech (May 19) with an attendance of 3,023.
NCAA Tournament Information
The field of 64 teams will be placed in 16 different four-team regionals, with teams seeded one through four to compete in a double-elimination format.
The winner of the Winston-Salem Regional will advance to the best-of-three Super Regional to be held the following weekend at eight different sites, which if the Demon Deacons receive a top-eight seed on Monday and win the Regional, will be in Winston-Salem over the second weekend of June.
A complete schedule can be found below:
2023 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament Schedule
- Regional Site Announcements: Approximately 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 28
- Selection show: Noon ET on Monday, May 29 on ESPN2
- Regionals: Friday-Monday, June 2-5
- Super Regionals: Friday June 9- Monday, June 12
- CWS opening celebration day: Thursday, June 15
- First day of MCWS games — Friday, June 16
- MCWS Finals — Start Saturday, June 24 (best out of 3)
- Became the first No. 1 seed to successfully advance out of pool play since the ACC switched to its current championship format in 2017 after going a perfect 2-0 in the opening games of the tournament against eighth-seeded Notre Dame and 12th-seeded Pitt.
- Heads into NCAA Tournament tied for a program-record record in wins (47)
- Finished the regular season with program records in wins (45), conference wins (22) and conference series victories (10)
- Led the nation in wins (45) and winning percentage (.833)
- Posted the eighth 40-win season in program history
- The 2023 Deacs are just the second team in program history to reach the mark in the regular season (2002).
- Became the first team since North Carolina in 2017 to run the table and win all 10 ACC series in a season
- Clinched the program's first Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title since 1963
- ACC Regular Season Championships
- 2023
- 1963
- 1962
- 1955
- ACC Regular Season Championships
- Clinched its first ever ACC Atlantic Division title
- Became the fastest team in program history and the first team in the nation to reach the 40-win mark with its 14-4 win against UNC Greensboro on May 9
- Finished with the third-highest conference winningest percentage in program history (.759)
- Finished regular season No. 1 in the RPI
- After taking two out of three against Duke and Notre Dame to open ACC play, Wake Forest posted three-straight perfect weekends against Miami (first time ever), Clemson (first time since 2012) and NC State (second-straight season). The Deacs earned its first ever series win in Louisville and became the first team since 2021 to win a series at Jim Patterson Stadium. Wake Forest won its fourth-straight series against Pitt, outscoring the Panthers, 40-5, in its two wins. Two weekends ago, the Deacs claimed its third series over a top-25 opponent, taking two out of three from Boston College before claiming its second-straight series in Tallahassee this last weekend. This weekend, Wake Forest earned its first series win over the Hokies since 2019.
- Deacon Nation showed tremendous support at David F. Couch Ballpark in 2023 as this year's season attendance of 44,650 fans set a new program record.
- Broke weekend attendance records three times, highlighted by its regular-season weekend attendance record of 8,096 fans to close out the regular season
- Broke single-game attendance record against Virginia Tech (May 19) with an attendance of 3,023
- Led nation in virtually every pitching category
- ERA
- Hits-per-nine innings
- WHIP
- Strikeouts-per-nine innings
- Strikeout-to-walk ratio
- Strikeouts
- Ranked in the top six in the ACC in every offensive category
- Adam Cecere
- ACC Player of the Week (Feb. 27)
- Josh Hartle
- Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist
- 2023 First Team All-ACC
- Golden Spikes Midseason Watch List
- Perfect Game Midseason All-American
- D1Baseball Midseason All-American
- Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week (March 6)
- Tommy Hawke
- 2023 Second Team All-ACC
- Perfect Game Midseason All-American
- Justin Johnson
- 2023 First Team All-ACC
- Seth Keener
- 2023 Third Team All-ACC
- Nick Kurtz
- Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist
- 2023 First Team All-ACC
- 2023 ACC All-Tournament Team
- ACC Player of the Week (April 24)
- Perfect Game Midseason All-American
- D1Baseball Midseason All-American
- ACC Player of the Week (Feb. 20)
- D1 Baseball Player of the Week (Feb. 20)
- Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week (Feb. 20)
- Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List
- D1Baseball First Team Preseason All-America
- Perfect Game Second Team Preseason All-America
- Baseball America Third Team Preseason All-America
- Perfect Game Preseason All-ACC
- Rhett Lowder
- 2023 ACC Pitcher of the Year
- Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist
- 2023 First Team All-ACC
- 2023 ACC All-Tournament Team
- 2023 ACC Pitcher of the Week (May 9)
- 2023 ACC Pitcher of the Week (April 17)
- Golden Spikes Midseason Watch List
- D1Baseball Midseason All-American
- Perfect Game Midseason All-American
- 2023 ACC Pitcher of the Week (March 27)
- 2023 Perfect Game Pitcher of the Week (March 27)
- Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List
- Collegiate Baseball First Team Preseason All-America
- D1Baseball First Team Preseason All-America
- NCBWA First Team Preseason All-America
- Perfect Game First Team Preseason All-America
- Baseball America First Team Preseason All-America
- D1Baseball Preseason ACC Pitcher of the Year
- Perfect Game Preseason ACC Pitcher of the Year
- Perfect Game Preseason All-ACC
- Teddy McGraw
- Perfect Game Third Team Preseason All-America
- Prospects Live Third Team Preseason All-America
- Perfect Game Preseason All-ACC
- Camden Minacci
- Third Team All-ACC
- D1Baseball Third Team Preseason All-America
- Perfect Game Third Team Preseason All-America
- Sean Sullivan
- First Team All-ACC
- Golden Spikes Midseason Watch List
- Perfect Game Midseason All-American
- D1Baseball Midseason All-American
- ACC Player of the Week (Feb. 27)
- Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week (Feb. 27)
- ACC Pitcher of the Week (Feb. 20)
- Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week (Feb. 20)
- Tom Walter
- 2023 ACC Coach of the Year
- Brock Wilken
- Second Team All-ACC
- Perfect Game Midseason All-American
- Collegiate Baseball Second Team Preseason All-America
- NCBWA Second Team Preseason All-America
- Perfect Game Second Team Preseason All-America
- Prospects Live Second Team Preseason All-America
- Baseball America Third Team Preseason All-America
- Perfect Game Preseason All-ACC
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