Friday, April 26
South Bend, IN
4 p.m.
Wake Forest University
27-14, 0
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Notre Dame
20-20, 0
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Wake Forest
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Notre Dame
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Photo by: Trevor Bowens
No. 8 Wake Forest Grinds Out Series Opening Win at Notre Dame
4/26/2024 8:44:00 PM | Baseball
Starting pitcher Chase Burns struckout 10 or more for the eighth time this season and freshman Antonio Morales delivered the big hit for the Deacs in the eighth inning.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Behind another stellar performance from junior starting pitcher Chase Burns, the No. 8 Wake Forest baseball team took the opening game of the series against Notre Dame, 4-3, Friday afternoon at Frank Eck Stadium in South Bend, Ind.
Burns fanned 14 of the 26 batters he faced Friday, marking the eighth time this season he struck out at least 10 batters and fourth time he finished with at least 14. He improved to 8-1 as the Demon Deacons (27-14, 12-10 ACC) have won all but one of his 11 starts so far this campaign. He allowed just three runs on four hits, matching a career-high with 7.0 IP and only gave up two free passes.
In total, 17 of the 27 outs Wake Forest recorded came via the strikeout as graduate student Cole Roland struckout the side in the bottom of the ninth and earned his second save of the season. Also in relief, freshman Josh Gunther threw a perfect eighth as the Deacs retired the final eight batters of the game in order.
Offensively, senior Jake Reinisch has now homered in three of the last four games after his two-run shot in the top of the eighth to tie the game at 3-3. Following walks from junior Seaver King and sophomore Jack Winnay, freshman Antonio Morales gave the Deacs their first lead of the game with an RBI double, which later proved to be the winning run.
Morales was the lone Wake hitter to record multiple hits Friday afternoon and marked his first multi-hit game of his young Demon Deacon career.
HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
STAGGERING STATISTICS
T3. Chase Burns 14 April 26, 2024
T3. Chase Burns 14 March 29, 2024
T3. Chase Burns 14 March 9, 2024
T3. John Stokoe 14 1957
T3. Tim Cooney 14 March 6, 2011
T7. Chase Burns 13 March 16, 2024
T7. Nine other tied 13 Last: June 2, 2023
FROM COACH WALTER
"That's a really great win for us. Bedford was really good all day for them. Chase Burns matched him pitch-for-pitch. Give credit to their two guys who took Chase out of the yard. Huge play in the game was Chase being able to finish that seventh inning. He was able to shorten our bullpen from needing to get eight outs to needing to get six.
Josh Gunther and Cole Roland were awesome out of the pen to shut things down over the final two innings.
Defensively, Cameron Gill did a really good job with Burns. He made two huge plays with the caught stealing and the catch of the pop-up on the bunt.
The story of the game was our two-out hitting in the bottom of the eighth. We got a good walk out of Kurtz and Reinisch capitalized on it. We got another two walks from Seaver King and Jack Winnay. Antonio Morales really clutched up for us there. I'm really proud of Antonio. That's his first start in a big situation and he came through with a couple of hits, a good walk and was solid in left field.
That's a great team win today." - head coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
The Deacs will look to clinch the series with the Irish tomorrow at 7 p.m on the ACC Network.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Burns fanned 14 of the 26 batters he faced Friday, marking the eighth time this season he struck out at least 10 batters and fourth time he finished with at least 14. He improved to 8-1 as the Demon Deacons (27-14, 12-10 ACC) have won all but one of his 11 starts so far this campaign. He allowed just three runs on four hits, matching a career-high with 7.0 IP and only gave up two free passes.
In total, 17 of the 27 outs Wake Forest recorded came via the strikeout as graduate student Cole Roland struckout the side in the bottom of the ninth and earned his second save of the season. Also in relief, freshman Josh Gunther threw a perfect eighth as the Deacs retired the final eight batters of the game in order.
Offensively, senior Jake Reinisch has now homered in three of the last four games after his two-run shot in the top of the eighth to tie the game at 3-3. Following walks from junior Seaver King and sophomore Jack Winnay, freshman Antonio Morales gave the Deacs their first lead of the game with an RBI double, which later proved to be the winning run.
Morales was the lone Wake hitter to record multiple hits Friday afternoon and marked his first multi-hit game of his young Demon Deacon career.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Sophomore Marek Houston led off the game with a single through the shift on the right side of the infield but a strikeout and double play got Notre Dame out of the inning.
- Righty Chase Burns struckout a pair in the first, working around a two-out double, to get through the first scoreless.
- Notre Dame took the lead on a solo homerun in the bottom of the second.
- Burns struck out the side in the third for his seventh punchout of the game so far.
- The Hendersonville, Tenn. native retired the side in order in the fourth to keep the deficit at one.
- Freshman Antonio Morales reached scoring position for the second time in the fifth but the Deacs were unable to tie the contest.
- Burns retired his ninth-straight batter to get the Deacs back in the dugout.
- First baseman Nick Kurtz reached second on a ball misplayed by the Irish and came home two batters later on a wild pitch to tie the contest at 1-1 in the top of the sixth.
- After a two-out walk in the bottom of the sixth, catcher Cameron Gill put a perfect throw on the bag at second to catch the would-be base stealer and end the inning.
- The Irish took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run homer.
- Wake Forest immediately answered with three runs of their own with two outs in the top of the eighth to take their first lead of the contest.
- Kurtz worked a walk to bring the tying run to the plate for the Deacs.
- Designated hitter Jake Reinisch got the 3-1 pitch he was looking for, tucking the ball inside the left-field foul pole for his 11th of the year to knot the game at 3-3.
- Junior Seaver King and sophomore Jack Winnay continued the two-out rally with a pair of walks.
- Down 1-2 in the count, freshman Antonio Morales came through in the clutch, lacing a ball just over the glove of the Notre Dame shortstop. Morales' second double of the year plated King and gave the Deacs a 4-3 advantage.
- Fellow freshman Josh Gunther entered for Burns in the eighth and needed just 12 pitches in a 1-2-3 frame for a huge shutdown frame for Wake.
- Graduate Cole Roland slammed the door, striking out the side for his second save of the year in a 4-3 victory.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
- In his first start in Atlantic Coast Conference play, freshman Antonio Morales stepped up to the plate, reaching base in three of his four plate appearances.
- Morales took a 0-1 pitch right back up the middle for a single in his first at-bat in the top of the third.
- The Norfolk, Ma. native walked to reach base for the second time in the top of the fifth.
- Down 1-2 in the count, Morales came through in the clutch, lacing a ball just over the glove of the Notre Dame shortstop in the eighth for the winning RBI.
- His second double of the year plated King and gave the Deacs a 4-3 lead that Wake Forest would not relent.
STAGGERING STATISTICS
- In 221.1 career innings pitched, Chase Burns has now struckout 344 career batters. The righty finished last season ranked third nationally with 14.3 K/9 and currently sits at 16.57 K/9 through his first 10 outings.
- For the 13th time in his career and the eighth time as a Deac, the junior struck out 10 or more as he fanned 14 Irish on Friday afternoon.
- Burns (343 career strikeouts) currently leads South Carolina's Ty Good (316 career strikeouts) by 27 strikeouts as the active Division-I baseball strikeout leaders.
- The righty also ranks inside the top-five in strikeout-per-nine among active career players, sitting at 13.86 prior to Friday's start.
- Additionally, 14 strikeouts is the third-highest single-game strikeout total in program history.
Rank Player Strikeout Total Date
1. Erik Hanson 18 April 17, 1985
T3. Chase Burns 14 April 26, 2024
T3. Chase Burns 14 March 29, 2024
T3. Chase Burns 14 March 9, 2024
T3. John Stokoe 14 1957
T3. Tim Cooney 14 March 6, 2011
T7. Chase Burns 13 March 16, 2024
T7. Nine other tied 13 Last: June 2, 2023
FROM COACH WALTER
"That's a really great win for us. Bedford was really good all day for them. Chase Burns matched him pitch-for-pitch. Give credit to their two guys who took Chase out of the yard. Huge play in the game was Chase being able to finish that seventh inning. He was able to shorten our bullpen from needing to get eight outs to needing to get six.
Josh Gunther and Cole Roland were awesome out of the pen to shut things down over the final two innings.
Defensively, Cameron Gill did a really good job with Burns. He made two huge plays with the caught stealing and the catch of the pop-up on the bunt.
The story of the game was our two-out hitting in the bottom of the eighth. We got a good walk out of Kurtz and Reinisch capitalized on it. We got another two walks from Seaver King and Jack Winnay. Antonio Morales really clutched up for us there. I'm really proud of Antonio. That's his first start in a big situation and he came through with a couple of hits, a good walk and was solid in left field.
That's a great team win today." - head coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
The Deacs will look to clinch the series with the Irish tomorrow at 7 p.m on the ACC Network.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Burns, Chase (8-1)
L: Bennett Flynn (1-2)
S: Roland, Cole (2)
Batting:
2B: Morales, Antonio 1
HR: Reinisch, Jake 1
RBI: Reinisch, Jake 2 ; Morales, Antonio 1
SH: Gill, Cameron 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kurtz, Nick 2 ; Reinisch, Jake 1 ; King, Seaver 1
SB: King, Seaver 1
Batting:
2B: Jack Penney 1 ; Estevan Moreno 1
HR: Connor Hincks 1 ; Simon Baumgardt 1
RBI: Connor Hincks 1 ; Simon Baumgardt 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Estevan Moreno 1 ; Connor Hincks 1 ; Simon Baumgardt 1
CS: Jack Penney 1
Game Leaders
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4
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0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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