Sunday, May 7
Winston-Salem, N.C.
12:00 p.m.
Wake Forest University
39-7, 18-5
4
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Boston College
30-16, 14-13
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9
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BC
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Wake Forest
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7
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No. 2 Wake Forest Wins Eighth ACC Series of Season; Defeats No. 17 Boston College 4-2 in Finale
5/7/2023 4:23:00 PM | Baseball
As has been the case for the entire 2023 season, Deacon Nation continued to create an outstanding atmosphere at David F. Couch Ballpark. Wake Forest’s weekend attendance of 6,155 set a new regular season series record.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Behind seven strong innings by Josh Hartle, the second-ranked Wake Forest baseball team won its eighth Atlantic Coast Conference series of the season, defeating No. 17 Boston College, 4-2, in the rubber match on Sunday afternoon inside David F. Couch Ballpark.
As has been the case for the entire 2023 season, Deacon Nation continued to create an outstanding atmosphere at David F. Couch Ballpark. Wake Forest's weekend attendance of 6,155 set a new regular season series record.
After shutting out the nationally-ranked Eagles in the series opener on Friday night, the Deacs (39-7, 18-5 ACC) are believed to be the only team in program history to win its first eight conference series to open a season.
The Demon Deacons are +78 in run differential in conference play, outscoring opponents 155-77 in 23 games.
Wake Forest has been impressive on its home turf after the last two seasons, accumulating a 52-9-1 record at The Couch, highlighted by its impressive 26-2 record this year.
Overall, the Deacs have outscored opponents, 585-202, in home games since last year.
Early scoring, a strength for the Demon Deacons throughout the 2023 season, continued Sunday. With two outs in the first, Nick Kurtz smacked his third home run of the series and 17th of the season, giving Wake Forest a 1-0 lead.
After Boston College tied the game at one, Danny Corona gave Wake Forest its one-run lead back with a solo home run over the right field fence.
From the second inning forward, starter Josh Hartle and relievers Seth Keener and Joe Ariola held the Eagles scoreless in six straight innings.
Hartle was dominant in his 11th start of the year, earning his ninth win of the season. The lefty hurled seven innings of one-run baseball, recording eight punchouts in the process. Hartle's eight punchouts moved him into first in the ACC in strikeouts, ahead of his two teammates Sean Sullivan and Rhett Lowder.`
Additionally, he is seven strikeouts away from entering the top 10 in single-season strikeouts in Wake Forest history.
Wake Forest added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh as back-to-back doubles by Brock Wilken and Pierce Bennett scored the first run of the frame. Bennett later scored the second run of the seventh on a Bennett Lee sacrifice fly.
Keener and Ariola combined to pitch a scoreless eighth before handing pitching duties to Michael Massey, who recorded the final three outs of the contest in the ninth.
This performance earned Massey his first save of the season and secured the finale win and series victory.
How It Happened
"Great series win. It was a hard fought game by both teams and both teams played well. I think the difference in today's game was Josh Hartle who was obviously outstanding today. You can not throw a whole lot better than that. He made the one mistake on the hanging breaking ball to Joe Vetrano but other than that, Hartle locked it down.
We had some situational at-bats early in the game where we left some guys on third base with less than two outs. Each time that happened they grabbed momentum, but Hartle came out and was able to grab a first at-bat strikeout and get us in the dugout pretty quickly to keep the momentum in our dugout.
Later in the game we ended up having some good situational at-bats. Pierce Bennett doubled down the line after Brock Wilken's double and Bennett Lee had a sacrifice fly to give us a little bit of cushion.
Really proud of Seth Keener for getting two outs and really proud of Joe Ariola for coming in and getting a huge out for us against a really good hitter. Obviously things got hairy in the ninth inning for us, but Justin Johnson makes a really good throw on the relay from the outfield and then makes another great play to throw the runner out at the plate. Whether we get a 4-2 or 4-3 win, we do not care. We will take them anyway they come.
Great team win. The crowd was awesome today. They were really into the game all weekend. Deacon fans showed up and we are really thankful for that. We are ready for a big game on Tuesday, so hopefully we have a big crowd for that too."
Standout Stats
As has been the case for the entire 2023 season, Deacon Nation continued to create an outstanding atmosphere at David F. Couch Ballpark. Wake Forest's weekend attendance of 6,155 set a new regular season series record.
After shutting out the nationally-ranked Eagles in the series opener on Friday night, the Deacs are believed to be the only team in program history to win its first eight conference series to open a season.
The Demon Deacons are +78 in run differential in conference play, outscoring opponents 155-77.
After taking two out of three against Duke and Notre Dame, 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 also earned its first ever series win in Louisville and became the first team since 2021 to win a series at Jim Patterson Stadium.
Two weekends ago, Wake Forest won its fourth-straight series against Pitt, outscoring the Panthers, 40-5, in its two wins.
Wake Forest has now won five-straight series over Boston College.
In conference play, Wake Forest's 2.84 ERA is the lowest in the conference and is almost two full runs less than the next closest team. Additionally, the Demon Deacons have shut out three ACC opponents this season (Miami, Louisville and Boston College), the most in the conference.
In The Spotlight
Hartle was dominant in his 11th start of the year, earning his ninth win of the season. The lefty hurled seven innings of one-run baseball, recording eight punchouts in the process. Hartle's eight punchouts moved him into first in the ACC in strikeouts, ahead of his two teammates Sean Sullivan and Rhett Lowder.
Additionally, he is seven strikeouts away from entering the top 10 in single-season strikeouts in Wake Forest history.
Wake Forest Single-Season Strikeouts
1. Mike Buddie 1992 138
2. Griffin Roberts 2018 130
3. Mike MacDougal1999 117
4. Kyle Sleeth 2002 113
5. Parker Dunshee 2017 111
John Hendricks 1998 111
7. Mark Seaver 1996 109
8. Ryan Cusick 2021 108
9. Bret Wagner 1994 107
10. Rhett Lowder 2022 105
– Josh Hartle 98
On Deck
The Deacs then return to the diamond on Tuesday, May 9 in its final home midweek game of the season against UNC Greensboro.
First pitch at The Couch is scheduled for 6 p.m. and can be seen on ACC Network Extra.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
As has been the case for the entire 2023 season, Deacon Nation continued to create an outstanding atmosphere at David F. Couch Ballpark. Wake Forest's weekend attendance of 6,155 set a new regular season series record.
After shutting out the nationally-ranked Eagles in the series opener on Friday night, the Deacs (39-7, 18-5 ACC) are believed to be the only team in program history to win its first eight conference series to open a season.
The Demon Deacons are +78 in run differential in conference play, outscoring opponents 155-77 in 23 games.
Wake Forest has been impressive on its home turf after the last two seasons, accumulating a 52-9-1 record at The Couch, highlighted by its impressive 26-2 record this year.
Overall, the Deacs have outscored opponents, 585-202, in home games since last year.
Early scoring, a strength for the Demon Deacons throughout the 2023 season, continued Sunday. With two outs in the first, Nick Kurtz smacked his third home run of the series and 17th of the season, giving Wake Forest a 1-0 lead.
After Boston College tied the game at one, Danny Corona gave Wake Forest its one-run lead back with a solo home run over the right field fence.
From the second inning forward, starter Josh Hartle and relievers Seth Keener and Joe Ariola held the Eagles scoreless in six straight innings.
Hartle was dominant in his 11th start of the year, earning his ninth win of the season. The lefty hurled seven innings of one-run baseball, recording eight punchouts in the process. Hartle's eight punchouts moved him into first in the ACC in strikeouts, ahead of his two teammates Sean Sullivan and Rhett Lowder.`
Additionally, he is seven strikeouts away from entering the top 10 in single-season strikeouts in Wake Forest history.
Wake Forest added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh as back-to-back doubles by Brock Wilken and Pierce Bennett scored the first run of the frame. Bennett later scored the second run of the seventh on a Bennett Lee sacrifice fly.
Keener and Ariola combined to pitch a scoreless eighth before handing pitching duties to Michael Massey, who recorded the final three outs of the contest in the ninth.
This performance earned Massey his first save of the season and secured the finale win and series victory.
How It Happened
- Josh Hartle retired the Eagles in order with a strikeout, fly out and groundout in the top of the first.
- A solo home run to center field with two outs from Nick Kurtz gave Wake Forest a 1-0 lead after one frame.
- Boston College responded with a solo home run in the top of the second to tie the game at 1.
- Hartle induced a double play for the opening outs of the frame before working around a two-out single with another groundout.
- Wake Forest regained a one-run lead (2-1) courtesy of another solo home run from Danny Corona.
- Bennett Lee doubled and advanced to third with two outs, but a fly out stranded the catcher.
- Hartle notched a shutdown inning in the top of the third, highlighted by his second strikeout to end the frame.
- The lefthander stranded a base runner at second as Boston College tallied a one-out walk followed by a stolen base.
- The Deacs were held off the scoreboard in the bottom of the third as a groundout stranded Costello at second (error and sacrifice bunt).
- Hartle fanned three batters in the top of the fourth, increasing his game total to five.
- The King, N.C. native worked around a one-out single with back-to-back punchouts to end the inning.
- Wake Forest was unable to capitalize on a bases-loaded opportunity with one out in the bottom of the frame after free passes to Corona (walk), Lee (hit by pitch) and Hawke (walk).
- Hartle worked another scoreless frame in the fifth, fanning the leadoff hitter before working around a one-out single with consecutive ground outs.
- Wilken opened the bottom of the frame with a leadoff single and advanced to second on an error. A fly out moved Wilken up to third, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the scoring opportunity.
- Hartle continued to deal in the sixth, tossing a 1-2-3 frame with two strikeouts and a groundout.
- The Deacs placed runners on second and third in the bottom of the inning, but the Eagles got out of the jam with a ground out and foul out.
- Hartle allowed a leadoff single, but responded by retiring three-straight batters to end his start and preserve Wake Forest's one-run lead.
- Back-to-back doubles from Wilken and Bennett as well as a sacrifice fly extended the Wake Forest advantage to 4-1 after seven full innings.
- Seth Keener and Joe Ariola combined to throw a scoreless top of the eighth.
- Keener induced the opening outs of the inning with a strikeout and groundout before Ariola fanned the only batter he faced, stranding a base runner at first in the process.
- Wake Forest was held scoreless in the bottom of the eighth.
- Michael Massey entered to close the game in the ninth.
- Boston College was able to add a run courtesy of an RBI-single before Massey recorded the final out of the contest on a fielder's choice therefore securing the 4-2 Wake Forest victory.
"Great series win. It was a hard fought game by both teams and both teams played well. I think the difference in today's game was Josh Hartle who was obviously outstanding today. You can not throw a whole lot better than that. He made the one mistake on the hanging breaking ball to Joe Vetrano but other than that, Hartle locked it down.
We had some situational at-bats early in the game where we left some guys on third base with less than two outs. Each time that happened they grabbed momentum, but Hartle came out and was able to grab a first at-bat strikeout and get us in the dugout pretty quickly to keep the momentum in our dugout.
Later in the game we ended up having some good situational at-bats. Pierce Bennett doubled down the line after Brock Wilken's double and Bennett Lee had a sacrifice fly to give us a little bit of cushion.
Really proud of Seth Keener for getting two outs and really proud of Joe Ariola for coming in and getting a huge out for us against a really good hitter. Obviously things got hairy in the ninth inning for us, but Justin Johnson makes a really good throw on the relay from the outfield and then makes another great play to throw the runner out at the plate. Whether we get a 4-2 or 4-3 win, we do not care. We will take them anyway they come.
Great team win. The crowd was awesome today. They were really into the game all weekend. Deacon fans showed up and we are really thankful for that. We are ready for a big game on Tuesday, so hopefully we have a big crowd for that too."
Standout Stats
As has been the case for the entire 2023 season, Deacon Nation continued to create an outstanding atmosphere at David F. Couch Ballpark. Wake Forest's weekend attendance of 6,155 set a new regular season series record.
After shutting out the nationally-ranked Eagles in the series opener on Friday night, the Deacs are believed to be the only team in program history to win its first eight conference series to open a season.
The Demon Deacons are +78 in run differential in conference play, outscoring opponents 155-77.
After taking two out of three against Duke and Notre Dame, 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 also earned its first ever series win in Louisville and became the first team since 2021 to win a series at Jim Patterson Stadium.
Two weekends ago, Wake Forest won its fourth-straight series against Pitt, outscoring the Panthers, 40-5, in its two wins.
Wake Forest has now won five-straight series over Boston College.
| Team | 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) |
| Pitt | +32 (40-8) |
| BC | +6 (19-13) |
| Overall | +78 (155-77) |
In conference play, Wake Forest's 2.84 ERA is the lowest in the conference and is almost two full runs less than the next closest team. Additionally, the Demon Deacons have shut out three ACC opponents this season (Miami, Louisville and Boston College), the most in the conference.
In The Spotlight
Hartle was dominant in his 11th start of the year, earning his ninth win of the season. The lefty hurled seven innings of one-run baseball, recording eight punchouts in the process. Hartle's eight punchouts moved him into first in the ACC in strikeouts, ahead of his two teammates Sean Sullivan and Rhett Lowder.
Additionally, he is seven strikeouts away from entering the top 10 in single-season strikeouts in Wake Forest history.
Wake Forest Single-Season Strikeouts
1. Mike Buddie 1992 138
2. Griffin Roberts 2018 130
3. Mike MacDougal1999 117
4. Kyle Sleeth 2002 113
5. Parker Dunshee 2017 111
John Hendricks 1998 111
7. Mark Seaver 1996 109
8. Ryan Cusick 2021 108
9. Bret Wagner 1994 107
10. Rhett Lowder 2022 105
– Josh Hartle 98
On Deck
The Deacs then return to the diamond on Tuesday, May 9 in its final home midweek game of the season against UNC Greensboro.
First pitch at The Couch is scheduled for 6 p.m. and can be seen on ACC Network Extra.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hartle, Josh (9-2)
L: Eric Schroeder (5-4)
S: Massey, Michael (1)
Batting:
HR: Joe Vetrano 1
RBI: Barry Walsh 1 ; Joe Vetrano 1
SH: Adonys Guzman 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Joe Vetrano 1 ; Chris Markovich 1
SB: Barry Walsh 1
Batting:
2B: Wilken, Brock 1 ; Bennett, Pierce 1 ; Lee, Bennett 1
HR: Kurtz, Nick 1 ; Corona, Danny 1
RBI: Kurtz, Nick 1 ; Bennett, Pierce 1 ; Corona, Danny 1 ; Lee, Bennett 1
SH: Kurtz, Nick 1 ; Houston, Marek 1
SF: Lee, Bennett 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kurtz, Nick 1 ; Wilken, Brock 1 ; Bennett, Pierce 1 ; Corona, Danny 1
SB: Kurtz, Nick 1
HBP: Kurtz, Nick 1 ; Bennett, Pierce 1 ; Lee, Bennett 2
Game Leaders
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