Friday, March 8
Winston-Salem, NC
6 p.m.
Wake Forest University
5
vs
8
Duke
Demon Deacons Drops ACC Opener, 8-5
3/8/2024 11:27:00 PM | Baseball
Junior outfielder Seaver King had his best showing at the plate, finishing the night 3-of-5 with a double, home run and four RBIs.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – In the first game of ACC play, the No. 1 Wake Forest baseball team dropped a closely-contested 8-5 contest against No. 12 Duke Friday night at David F. Couch Ballpark.
Junior outfielder Seaver King had his best game as a Demon Deacon (11-2, 0-1 ACC) to date as he went 3-of-5 at the plate with a double, home run and four RBIs on the night.
Both extra-base hits came at crucial times and gave Duke (12-1, 1-0 ACC) starting pitcher and projected first rounder Jonathan Santucci his shortest outing of the season. In the first, King found the gap in left center to plate the first run of the game and he came around to score later in the inning.
In the third, King gave the Deacs their only lead of the game when he blasted his fifth home run of the season. The three-run home run put Wake Forest in front, 5-4.
Junior Nick Kurtz pushed his on-base streak to nine games with a pair of walks and a run scored to his line. He now has recorded 17 walks in the last nine games and his 129 career walks now ranks third in program history.
The Wake Forest bullpen shined with sophomore lefthander Zach Johnston leading the way. The North Yarmouth, Maine native tossed 2.2 innings with three strikeouts and just one base runner allowed.
HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Top-10 Regular Season David F. Couch Ballpark Crowds
STAGGERING STATISTICS
FROM COACH WALTER
"That was a disappointing loss, they all are. We grabbed the lead there, 5-4. I'm really proud of our hitters for their performance early in the game. They did a great job against a talented arm in Santucci. We put some at-bats together there in the first couple of innings that grabbed us the lead. We had a chance at a shutdown inning. We got the big double play ball, walked the next batter with two strikes then gave up an 0-2 homer. Which is obviously uncharacteristic of Josh. It just wasn't his day today. I think Duke had seven hits with two strikes against Josh. Josh is as good as anyone in the country at putting guys away.
We have to take a look at the tape. I don't know if we were tipping pitches or if Gill was setting up a certain way. We gave up another home run later, Shenosky gave up a home run with two strikes as well. We felt like he executed the pitch there. We need to go back and look at the tape to see if we were doing something there to let them know when we were throwing certain pitches.
Later in the game we did a great job of loading the bases with nobody out. That was a big turning point in the game and give Beilenson some credit that is why he is the best in the country. He got out of the jam with a tapper out in front of the plate, strikeout and a pop up. We had those counts where we wanted them and didn't get it done. I was happy with the way we fought and battled today. They used their better bullpen pieces and we didn't. We certainly feel good going into these next two games with a chance to win the series." - head coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Weather permitting, Wake Forest continues the series with No. 12 Duke at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Mar. 9 at David F. Couch Ballpark.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Junior outfielder Seaver King had his best game as a Demon Deacon (11-2, 0-1 ACC) to date as he went 3-of-5 at the plate with a double, home run and four RBIs on the night.
Both extra-base hits came at crucial times and gave Duke (12-1, 1-0 ACC) starting pitcher and projected first rounder Jonathan Santucci his shortest outing of the season. In the first, King found the gap in left center to plate the first run of the game and he came around to score later in the inning.
In the third, King gave the Deacs their only lead of the game when he blasted his fifth home run of the season. The three-run home run put Wake Forest in front, 5-4.
Junior Nick Kurtz pushed his on-base streak to nine games with a pair of walks and a run scored to his line. He now has recorded 17 walks in the last nine games and his 129 career walks now ranks third in program history.
The Wake Forest bullpen shined with sophomore lefthander Zach Johnston leading the way. The North Yarmouth, Maine native tossed 2.2 innings with three strikeouts and just one base runner allowed.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Trailing going into the bottom of the first, the Demon Deacons responded quickly.
- Marek Houston sent a rocket off the center field wall for a leadoff double to put himself into scoring position.
- Two batters later, Seaver King found the left-center gap, scoring Houston.
- Jake Reinisch followed that up with a single to score King and even the game at 2-2.
- Lefthander Josh Hartle responded in the second, tossing a scoreless frame.
- After two Duke runners scored in the top of the third, Wake Forest again had an answer in the bottom half.
- To leadoff the bottom half, Adam Tellier and Nick Kurtz both walked, setting the table for King in the four spot.
- On the first pitch of the at-bat, King lasered a hanging breaking ball over the left field fence, giving the Deacs their first lead of the night at 5-4.
- To leadoff the bottom half, Adam Tellier and Nick Kurtz both walked, setting the table for King in the four spot.
- Duke plated three more runs in the next two frames to take the lead back at 7-5 through the fifth frame.
- The Blue Devils added the final run of the night in the sixth to extend their lead to 8-5.
- Wake Forest had a strong start to the seventh when the first three batters reached base.
- Nick Kurtz walked, King singled up the middle and Reinisch walked to load the bases with no outs.
- The Deacs were unable to push a run across the plate as the bases loaded sequence was followed up by a fielder's choice, strikeout and pop out to short, leaving all three runners on base.
- Over the last three innings on the mound, Zach Johnston and Blake Moringstar combined to have four strikeouts and no runs allowed with just two Blue Devil runners reaching base.
- Wake Forest dropped the ACC opener, 8-5.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
- After a season record-setting attendance during the 2023 season, Deacon Nation has set the tone throughout the first 13 games of the season as this is the fourth top-10 regular season crowd in program history.
Top-10 Regular Season David F. Couch Ballpark Crowds
| Rank | Attendance | Date | Opponent |
| 1. | 3.514 | Feb. 16, 2024 | Fordham |
| 2. | 3,023 | May 19, 2023 | Virginia Tech |
| 3. | 2,847 | March 8, 2024 | Duke |
| 4. | 2,750 | March 29, 2002 | Florida State |
| 5. | 2,568 | May 20, 2023 | Virginia Tech |
| 6. | 2,563 | March 3, 2024 | Elon |
| 7. | 2,519 | April 7, 2003 | North Carolina |
| 8. | 2,505 | May 18, 2023 | Virginia Tech |
| 9. | 2,477 | April 12, 2023 | NC State |
| 10. | 2,458 | April 23, 2016 | North Carolina |
STAGGERING STATISTICS
- In addition to a run scored, Kurtz earned two walks against the Blue Devils, which marked his ninth-consecutive game with at least one free pass.
- Kurtz entered the contest ranked first in the ACC and eighth in the nation with 1.33 bases on balls per game and has now drawn 18 total.
- Additionally, the Pennsylvania-native now sits third all-time in Wake Forest history with 129 career walks, surpassing Matt Antonelli (2004-06).
- Rank Name Years Career Walks
- 1. Pat Blair 2010-13 180
- 2. Allan Dykstra 2006-08 170
- 3. Nick Kurtz 2022-Pres. 129
- 4. Matt Antonelli 2004-06 128
- 5. Brock Wilken 2021-23 126
FROM COACH WALTER
"That was a disappointing loss, they all are. We grabbed the lead there, 5-4. I'm really proud of our hitters for their performance early in the game. They did a great job against a talented arm in Santucci. We put some at-bats together there in the first couple of innings that grabbed us the lead. We had a chance at a shutdown inning. We got the big double play ball, walked the next batter with two strikes then gave up an 0-2 homer. Which is obviously uncharacteristic of Josh. It just wasn't his day today. I think Duke had seven hits with two strikes against Josh. Josh is as good as anyone in the country at putting guys away.
We have to take a look at the tape. I don't know if we were tipping pitches or if Gill was setting up a certain way. We gave up another home run later, Shenosky gave up a home run with two strikes as well. We felt like he executed the pitch there. We need to go back and look at the tape to see if we were doing something there to let them know when we were throwing certain pitches.
Later in the game we did a great job of loading the bases with nobody out. That was a big turning point in the game and give Beilenson some credit that is why he is the best in the country. He got out of the jam with a tapper out in front of the plate, strikeout and a pop up. We had those counts where we wanted them and didn't get it done. I was happy with the way we fought and battled today. They used their better bullpen pieces and we didn't. We certainly feel good going into these next two games with a chance to win the series." - head coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Weather permitting, Wake Forest continues the series with No. 12 Duke at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Mar. 9 at David F. Couch Ballpark.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
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