Wake Forest University
48-10
George Mason
34-26
No. 1 Wake Forest Blanks George Mason Behind Career Performance From Keener in Opening Game of NCAA Tournament
6/2/2023 10:57:00 PM | Baseball
Seth Keener fanned a career-high 13 batters to help the Deacs shutout its nation-leading 10th opponent of the season.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – In front of a sell-out, record-breaking crowd at David F. Couch Ballpark, the top-seeded Wake Forest baseball team defeated George Mason 12-0 to begin NCAA Regional play Friday.
The 12-run win helped Wake Forest (48-10) break a program record for wins (48). The Deacs have now broken the program record for regular season wins, ACC wins, ACC series wins and regular season wins in 2023.
Additionally, Deacon Nation continued to pack The Couch as Friday night's attendance of 3,823 set a new single-game attendance record and is the first official sell out in program history. This was the nation's leading 10th shutout of the season, breaking a tie previously with LSU at nine games.
In seven innings of shutout baseball, Seth Keener was dealing. After striking out the side in the second and setting down eight of the first eleven batters he faced on strikes, Keener finished the contest with thirteen punchouts.Â
This mark surpassed his previous career high (8) which he elapsed in the fourth inning, and is the most hitters any Demon Deacon pitcher has struckout in a single appearance this season.
Additionally, this was the ninth time this season that a Wake Forest pitcher has struck out 10 or more batters in a game.
- Sean Sullivan (4)
- Josh Hartle (2)
- Rhett Lowder (2)
- Seth Keener (1)
Also of note, Keener surrendered just three baserunners during Friday's outing and only one runner reached third base in his seven innings.
Cole Roland appeared in relief, tossing a scoreless eighth inning before handing the pitching duties over to Derek Crum. Crum recorded the final three outs of the contest in order, holding the Patriots scoreless.
Wake Forest's offense was equally impressive as they totaled 12 runs in Friday's action. The Deacs opened the contest's scoring in the bottom of the second frame as Adam Cecere launched a line-drive, two-run homerun over the left field wall.
In the following inning, Justin Johnson joined his teammate, driving the ball over the fence as he scored Nick Kurtz and increased the Wake Forest lead to 4-0.
After a leadoff triple by Tommy Hawke in the bottom of the seventh, Nick Kurtz drove him home with a double off the center field wall (5-0). Pierce Bennett recorded an RBI-double of his own, driving home Kurtz, and sending Brock Wilken, who reached on a walk, to third. Bennett Lee extended the Wake Forest lead to 8-0 as his single plated Wilken and Bennett.
The Demon Deacons matched its four-run seventh with a four-run eighth as Johnson crushed a no-doubt grand slam for his second home run of the contest, concluding Wake Forest's scoring at 12. It was the third time this season Johnson has hit a grand slam and the seventh time the Deacs did as a team.
Johnson finished the game with six RBIs to lead the way offensively.Â
How It Happened
- Toeing the rubber in the first game of the weekend, Seth Keener set the tone early with back-to-back punchouts to open the game.
- Keener struck out a third George Mason batter to finish off a strong first inning of work.
- In the bottom of the inning, Lucas Costello got the offense going with a line drive single to left field.
- Two batters later, Brock Wilken collected his first hit of the Winston-Salem Regional with an infield single between shortstop and second base.
- The game remained scoreless as Keener went out for his second inning of work.
- Keener was again strong, striking out the side as his total was at six through two innings of work.
- Pierce Bennett led off the bottom of the inning with a ringing single up the middle.
- Adam Cecere put the Deacs on the board first with a blast over the leftfield wall, netting two runs for the Deacs
- This was the 10th homer of the season for the junior and the 111th as a team.
- Tommy Hawke reached base for the first time in game, accounting for Wake Forest's fifth hit in the opening two frames.
- Adam Cecere put the Deacs on the board first with a blast over the leftfield wall, netting two runs for the Deacs
- Holding a 2-0 lead, Keener collected two more strikeouts to move his total to eight for the game, tying his career high through three innings of work.
- Kurtz worked from behind in the count to get on via a walk to lead off the inning.
- He stole second two batters later to move into scoring position.
- With the second two-run blast of the game, Justin Johnson gave the Deacs a 4-0 lead, lifting one over right center field even with the scoreboard.
- It was the seventh of the year for the junior.
- Bennett followed that by collecting his second base hit of the game, landing one in front of the centerfielder.
- He took second base two pitches later.
- Holding a four-run lead entering the fourth, Keener added another strikeout to his career-high total.
- He got out of the inning 1-2-3 and through four innings only had 56 pitches thrown.
- Nothing was doing for the Deacs in the fifth as Keener resumed his outing in the top half of the fifth with the Deacs still up, 4-0.
- He became the fourth Wake Forest pitcher this season to have 10 or more strikeouts in a game, fanning his 10th to get the second out in the fifth.
- Sean Sullivan (4)
- Josh Hartle (2)
- Rhett Lowder (2)
- Seth Keener (1)
- The Deacs came into the game leading the nation in strikeouts as a staff with 659, 23 more than the next closest team in the nation.
- He became the fourth Wake Forest pitcher this season to have 10 or more strikeouts in a game, fanning his 10th to get the second out in the fifth.
- After a home run in his previous at-bat, Johnson reached base on a four-pitch walk in the bottom of the fifth.
- Keener continued to deal in the sixth, striking out the side for his 11th, 12th and 13th strikeouts of the game.
- It was the most by a Wake Forest pitcher this season as previously Hartle and Lowder held the honor with 12 punchouts.
- The Wake Forest lead held at 4-0 going into the seventh, Keener finished off his masterful start to begin NCAA Regionals by putting up another zero in the run column.
- He finished his day with a career-best 13 strikeouts, allowing just one runner to reach third as only three George Mason players reached base.
- In the bottom half, the Deacs added to their lead with four insurance runs.
- A triple from Hawke set the tone for the offense and two batters later he scored on a double from Kurtz.
- After a Wilken walk, a double down the line from Bennett plated Kurtz and advanced Wilken to third.
- Two more runs came across on a Lee single through the left side.
- Cole Roland took over on the mound.
- He did not allow a hit and put up another zero in the run column for the Deacs pitching staff.
- With the help of two errors and a walk, the Deacs loaded the bases for Johnson with one out in the bottom of the eighth.
- Johnson connected on his second homer of the game with a grand slam to left.
- He had accounted for half of the team's runs batted in at that point, totaling six in the game.
- Johnson connected on his second homer of the game with a grand slam to left.
- Derek Crum entered the game in the top of the ninth.
- Crum held the Patriots scoreless by inducing two groundouts and a flyout, securing the 12-0 Wake Forest win.
Words from Walter
"Seth Keener was clearly the story tonight. You can't throw a whole lot better than that. I was really proud of his performance: thirteen strikeouts, no walks and made big pitch after big pitch. He probably had eight or nine full counts that he won over the course of the game. When you are facing a team like George Mason, who runs a lot and bunts a lot, the best way to control that is to keep people off base. I'm really proud of Seth.Â
"Offensively, their lefty, Ben Shields, is really good and he threw really well against us. I was really impressed with that young man. He kept us at bay all game. Thankfully Adam Cecere hit a big home run on a 0-2 pitch, and then Justin Johnson got another home run with two strikes to get us on the board up 4-0. Fortunately, we were able to spread it out late to save some bullpen arms.Â
"Great crowd, really electric atmosphere and they were into the game all day. It was a really great win for our program."
Standout Stats
After setting program records for regular season wins (45), conference wins (22) and conference series wins (10), the regional victory helped Wake Forest break the program record for total wins with its 48th victory of the 2023 season.
Wake Forest Baseball 40-Win Seasons
- 2023- 48 overall wins (45 regular season, three postseason)
- 2002 - 47 overall wins (42 regular season, five postseason)Â
- 1999 - 47 overall wins (39 regular season, eight postseason)
- 2001- 44 overall wins (37 regular season, seven postseason)
- 2017 - 43 overall wins (38 regular season wins, five postseason)Â
- 1998- 43 overall wins (36 regular season, seven postseason)
- 2000 - 42 overall wins, (38 regular season, three postseason)Â
- 2022 - 41 overall wins (39 regular season, two postseason)
The Deacs have now broken the program record for regular season wins, ACC wins, ACC series wins and regular season wins in 2023.
This year's squad became the fastest team in program history and the first team in the nation this year to reach the 40-win mark with its 14-4 win against UNC Greensboro on May 9.Â
Wake Forest Fastest to 40 Wins
- 2023: 47 games
- 2002: 49 games
- 1999: 53 games
- 2001: 55 games
- 2022: 58 games
- 2017: 58 games
- 2000: 59 games
- 1998: 61 games
In The Spotlight
In seven innings of shutout baseball, Seth Keener was dealing all night long. After striking out the side in the second and setting down eight of the first 11Â batters he faced on strikes, Keener finished the contest with 13 punchouts.
This mark surpassed his previous career high (8) which he elapsed in the fourth inning, and is the most hitters any Demon Deacon pitcher has struckout in a single appearance this season.
Additionally, this was the ninth time this season that a Wake Forest pitcher has struck out 10 or more batters in a game.
- Sean Sullivan (4)
- Josh Hartle (2)
- Rhett Lowder (2)
- Seth Keener (1)
Also of note, Keener surrendered just three baserunners during Friday's outing.
On Deck
Wake Forest will now face Maryland on Saturday, June 3 at 6 p.m. in game four of the Winston-Salem Regional.Â
TV Designations will be announced following the completion of Friday night's action.Â
Stay tuned to Wake Forest's social media accounts (@WakeBaseball) for all in-game updates and information.
A complete schedule can be found below:Â
- Game 1: No. 2 Maryland defeated No. 3 Northeastern | Fri. June 2 | 1 p.m.| ESPN+
- Game 2: No. 1 Wake Forest vs. No. 4 George Mason | Fri. June 2 | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
- Game 3: No. 3 Northeastern vs. No. 4 George Mason | Sat. June 3 | 12 p.m. | TBD
- Game 4: No. 1 Wake Forest vs. No. 2 Maryland | Sat. June 3 | 6 p.m. | TBD
- Game 5: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser | Sun. June 4 | 12 p.m. | TBD
- Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner | Sun. June 4 | 6 p.m. | TBD
- Game 7*: Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser | Mon. June 5 | TBDÂ | TBD
- *-Game 7 will only be necessary if the winner of Game 5 also wins Game 6.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Keener, Seth (7-1)
L: Ben Shields (7-4)
Batting:
SH: Carsen Pracht 1
Base Running:
SB: Jordan Smith 1
Batting:
2B: Kurtz, Nick 1 ; Bennett, Pierce 1
3B: Hawke, Tommy 1
HR: Johnson, Justin 2 ; Cecere, Adam 1
RBI: Kurtz, Nick 1 ; Johnson, Justin 6 ; Bennett, Pierce 1 ; Lee, Bennett 2 ; Cecere, Adam 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Hawke, Tommy 2 ; Costello, Lucas 1 ; Kurtz, Nick 2 ; Wilken, Brock 2 ; Johnson, Justin 2 ; Bennett, Pierce 2 ; Cecere, Adam 1
SB: Kurtz, Nick 1 ; Bennett, Pierce 1
HBP: Lee, Bennett 1
