Saturday, February 24
Winston-Salem, NC
4 p.m.
Wake Forest University
5-1
9
vs
3
Dayton
3-3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Dayton
0
2
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
3
5
5
Wake Forest
0
3
2
2
0
1
1
0
X
9
8
1
Photo by: Callie Moreland
No. 1 Wake Forest Clinches Series With 9-3 Win Over Dayton
2/24/2024 8:40:00 PM | Baseball
Marek Houston and Seaver King each had multiple hits and drove in a combined four runs to lead the Demon Deacons offense in a win over Dayton on Saturday afternoon at David F. Couch Ballpark.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Junior right-hander Chase Burns registered eight strikeouts and allowed just three runs on five hits across five-plus innings to lead the Demon Deacons to their first series-clinching win of the 2024 season. Offensively, sophomore Marek Houston and junior Seaver King went a combined five-for-eight with four runs batted in. Additionally, King tallied his second long ball of the season with a solo shot in the sixth inning.
The Demon Deacons (5-1) remained unbeaten at home this season as they improved to 34-3 at The Couch over the last two seasons. Meanwhile, the Flyers (3-3) fell to .500 on the year and 1-2 on the road.
In 163.2 career innings pitched, Burns has now struckout 235 career batters and last season ranked third nationally with 14.3 K/9. Through two starts, the junior holds a 14.6 K/9 to start 2024.
As a team, the Deacs notched eight hits and drew a season-high 13 walks en route to the victory.
Junior reliever William Ray pitched two scoreless innings in relief with no hits allowed and punched out three batters. Graduate transfer David Falco closed out the contest as he struck out two of the four batters he faced and didn't allow a baserunner.
HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
STAGGERING STATISTICS
FROM COACH WALTER
"First and foremost, great win today for Coach Steve Forbes and his team. What a clutch win for those guys. I am really proud of that program and they are going to be a really tough out in the NCAA Tournament. I am looking forward to continuing to watch them down the stretch. I am really proud of Chase Burns tonight. He just battled through some adverse conditions - a bases loaded nobody out situation and one run already in - he just buckled down and got a big strikeout and then the big doubleplay. Also, Nick Kurtz made an unbelievable pick on that ball. It was a clutch situation in the game with the game certainly still in the balance at that moment. I am really proud of the way Will Ray pitched out of the bullpen today and David Falco in behind him. Also, Cameron Gill had another big throw to get us out of the eighth inning. Again, it was a really good day on the mound for us. Offensively, Seaver King had a big day for us today. When the score got tight there and they started to grab some momentum, Seaver's home run and his two-out RBI in the eighth inning were both clutch performances. It was good to see him get going. I felt like we did not capitalize on the free passes as well as we should have today so we need to do a better job of capitalizing on that moving forward. We did an OK job today in our situational at-bats today, but we need to do better in that area too as we move forward – and we will. Big game tomorrow with Michael Massey on the mound. Dayton has their closer ready who is really good and he can throw four innings or more. We have to come out tomorrow ready to play." -head coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
The Deacs are back at David F. Couch Ballpark tomorrow for the series finale against the Flyers. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. For fans not in attendance at The Couch on Sunday, the game can be seen on ACC Network Extra.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
The Demon Deacons (5-1) remained unbeaten at home this season as they improved to 34-3 at The Couch over the last two seasons. Meanwhile, the Flyers (3-3) fell to .500 on the year and 1-2 on the road.
In 163.2 career innings pitched, Burns has now struckout 235 career batters and last season ranked third nationally with 14.3 K/9. Through two starts, the junior holds a 14.6 K/9 to start 2024.
As a team, the Deacs notched eight hits and drew a season-high 13 walks en route to the victory.
Junior reliever William Ray pitched two scoreless innings in relief with no hits allowed and punched out three batters. Graduate transfer David Falco closed out the contest as he struck out two of the four batters he faced and didn't allow a baserunner.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Burns needed just nine pitches to get through the first inning, hitting 101 mph on his fastball to strikeout Cazorla looking to end the frame.
- Wake threatened getting a pair of runners in scoring position but were unable to scratch a run across.
- Dayton grabbed the lead on a two-run homer to right field in the top of the second.
- Loading the bases with no outs, Wake Forest got on the board with an RBI fielder's choice by Cameron Gill to cut the Dayton lead in half.
- Sophomore Marek Houston sent a laser right back up the middle, driving in Austin Hawke to knot the game at 2-2.
- Trying to backpick Houston at second base, the Dayton catcher's throw found its way into the outfield to bring Gill home on the error and give Wake Forest the lead.
- Burns responded with a shutdown frame, including his third strikeout of the afternoon.
- Jack Winnay added his third RBI of the weekend with a ball laced back up to extend the Demon Deacon lead in the bottom of the third.
- Houston stayed hot with his second hit and second RBI of the afternoon on a comebacker to the left of the pitcher that the sophomore beat out.
- Pitching with a three-run advantage, Burns K'd the side in the top half of the fourth, including a nasty breaking ball to end the inning with his sixth strikeout.
- Hawke added his ninth RBI in five games with a sacrifice fly to right field to plate Seaver King and push the Wake lead to 7-2 after four innings.
- Dayton loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the fifth and got a run back on a walk.
- Burns struck out the next Dayton looking and had a weak ball hit back to him that he fired to Gill at catcher, who threw down to first baseman Nick Kurtz, Kurtz dug the ball out of the turf to preserve the 7-3 lead.
- After reliever Will Ray got out of the top of the sixth with a 6-4-3 double play, King deposited the first pitch of the bottom half over the right field wall for his second home run of the season to extend the Demon Deacon lead.
- Wake's final run of the night came home on King's third hit of the afternoon in the bottom of the seventh.
- For King it marked the first three-hit game of his Wake Forest career and second multi-RBI effort for the junior.
- Ray allowed no hits over a career-high matching 2.0 innings of work to go along with three punchouts.
- Graduate transfer David Falco slammed the door over the final 1.2 innings, needing just 21 pitches to secure the series for the Deacs.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
- Dating back to the 2023 season, starter Chase Burns extended his career-long scoreless inning streak to 17.0 IP, before allowing a run in the top half of the second.
- During the stretch, Burns struck out 25 batters, walked just six and allowed only six hits.
STAGGERING STATISTICS
- In 158.1 career innings pitched, Chase Burns has now struckout 227 career batters and last season ranked third nationally with 14.3 K/9.
- The Demon Deacons improved to 5-0 at home this season and 34-3 since the beginning of the 2023 campaign.
FROM COACH WALTER
"First and foremost, great win today for Coach Steve Forbes and his team. What a clutch win for those guys. I am really proud of that program and they are going to be a really tough out in the NCAA Tournament. I am looking forward to continuing to watch them down the stretch. I am really proud of Chase Burns tonight. He just battled through some adverse conditions - a bases loaded nobody out situation and one run already in - he just buckled down and got a big strikeout and then the big doubleplay. Also, Nick Kurtz made an unbelievable pick on that ball. It was a clutch situation in the game with the game certainly still in the balance at that moment. I am really proud of the way Will Ray pitched out of the bullpen today and David Falco in behind him. Also, Cameron Gill had another big throw to get us out of the eighth inning. Again, it was a really good day on the mound for us. Offensively, Seaver King had a big day for us today. When the score got tight there and they started to grab some momentum, Seaver's home run and his two-out RBI in the eighth inning were both clutch performances. It was good to see him get going. I felt like we did not capitalize on the free passes as well as we should have today so we need to do a better job of capitalizing on that moving forward. We did an OK job today in our situational at-bats today, but we need to do better in that area too as we move forward – and we will. Big game tomorrow with Michael Massey on the mound. Dayton has their closer ready who is really good and he can throw four innings or more. We have to come out tomorrow ready to play." -head coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
The Deacs are back at David F. Couch Ballpark tomorrow for the series finale against the Flyers. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. For fans not in attendance at The Couch on Sunday, the game can be seen on ACC Network Extra.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Burns, Chase (2-0)
L: MAJICK, E. (1-1)
Batting:
HR: MACDOUGALL,R 1
RBI: TOMAINI, P. 1 ; MACDOUGALL,R 2
Base Running:
RUNS: WATSON, N. 1 ; MACDOUGALL,R 1 ; ADAIR, M. 1
SB: WATSON, N. 1
CS: CAZORLA, A. 1
HBP: CAZORLA, A. 1
Batting:
HR: King, Seaver 1
RBI: Houston, Marek 2 ; King, Seaver 2 ; Hawke, Austin 1 ; Winnay, Jack 1 ; Gill, Cameron 1
SF: Hawke, Austin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Houston, Marek 1 ; Kurtz, Nick 1 ; King, Seaver 2 ; Reinisch, Jake 1 ; Ballestero, Tate 2 ; Hawke, Austin 1 ; Gill, Cameron 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
RHP
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C
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INF
/ BaseballUTL
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OF/INF
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RHP
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INF
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