Friday, May 10
Winston-Salem, NC
6 p.m.
Wake Forest University
34-16, 13-12
4
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Clemson
37-11, 17-8
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3
4
5
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8
9
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H
E
Clemson
0
0
0
1
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5
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Wake Forest
0
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3
0
0
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X
4
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1
Burns Breaks Single-Season Strikeout Record as Wake Forest Downs No. 2 Clemson in Series Opener
5/10/2024 10:45:00 PM | Baseball
Junior Chase Burns became the single-season program record holder with 156 strikeouts after a career-high 16 on Friday night.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – On a night that saw junior right-handed pitcher Chase Burns become the Demon Deacon single-season strikeout record holder with 156 punchouts in 13 appearances, the No. 12 Wake Forest baseball team defeated Clemson, 4-2, in the series opener at David F. Couch Ballpark Friday night.
With the win in front of the seventh sellout crowd of the season, the Demon Deacons (34-16, 13-12 ACC) have now officially clinched a spot in the ACC Championship which is set to be played May 21-26 in Charlotte, N.C.
Burns fanned a career-high 16 of the 26 batters he faced Saturday, marking the 10th time in 13 starts this season he struck out at least 10 batters and second time he finished with at least 15 punch outs. He improved to 10-1 as the Deacs have won all but one of his 13 starts so far this campaign.
He allowed just one run on two hits over 7.0 innings and only gave up one free pass. The outing also marked his ninth quality start of his junior season. His 16 strikeouts in a single outing rank second in program history behind only Erik Hanson (18) on April 17, 1985. Additionally, Burns now holds seven of the top 10 single-game strikeout performances in Wake Forest history.
In total, the Deacs combined for 19 strikeouts Friday night against the Tigers (37-11, 17-8) as sophomore Zach Johnston and graduate student Cole Roland combined for three punchouts across the final two innings. Roland earned his team-high fifth save of the season as he got the final four outs of the contest without allowing a hit or walk.
With the victory, Wake Forest extended its winning streak to seven games, its longest since the start of conference play.
Offensively, all four of the Demon Deacons runs Friday night came via the long ball. Sophomore Jack Winnay opened the scoring with a solo shot to right in the bottom of the second before freshman Antonio Morales busted the game open with a three-run bomb in the fourth.
Winnay ranks second on the team with 17 big flies this campaign while all three of Morales' home runs have come in the last eight games this season.
With a walk, junior Nick Kurtz is now just nine walks away from setting the career walk record in program history. His 171 career base on balls entering the night led all Division-I players by six and he has averaged 1.1 walks per game over the course of his career.
HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
3. Chase Burns 15 April 6, 2024
T4. Chase Burns 14 April 26, 2024
T4. Chase Burns 14 March 29, 2024
T4. Chase Burns 14 March 9, 2024
T4. John Stokoe 14 1957
T4. Tim Cooney 14 March 6, 2011
T9. Chase Burns 13 May 4, 2024
T9. Chase Burns 13 March 16, 2024
STAGGERING STATISTICS
Top-10 Regular Season David F. Couch Ballpark Crowds
FROM COACH WALTER
"That's a really great college baseball game. That's what Friday night in the ACC is supposed to look like, two really good pitchers battling it out. Chase Burns was obviously the story. He can't pitch any better than that. He kept his pitch count down, only allowed one walk and one hit by pitch with 16 strikeouts. That's as dominant of a pitching performance as I've ever seen in college baseball. It was really special.
It was an electric sell-out crowd today. I sat with David Couch and Ron Wellman many moons ago about what we wanted this facility to look like and what we wanted to build here. This was the vision. A night like this in front of a crowd with a super-regional type atmosphere. Thanks to Deacon Nation for showing up.
We didn't have great at-bats tonight. Jack Winnay did. We made nine outs on first pitches, we made another four outs on two pitches. So 13 of our first 18 outs came on one or two pitches. We have to do a better job grinding at-bats. Give Darden credit, he made pitch after pitch and he was throwing strike after strike. I thought he threw the ball as well as anybody we've seen all year. We did just enough offensively, we had the two big walks right before Antonio's home run. Jack Winnay got a fastball up and hit the home run early. Nights like this when the wind is blowing out to right field, no lead feels safe, so you're always holding your breath. Probably the story of the game as much as anything were the two big double plays. The other thing that does besides kill rallies is it saves bullets, after the one in the first inning Chase Burns could have gone out there and thrown 25-30 pitches in the first inning.
Slim Johnson got a big strikeout of Cam Cannarella who is as good of a hitter as there is. Roland comes in and gets a huge strikeout with two guys on and then gets the strikeout to leadoff the night, the double play ball and then the flyball to right to close it out. It's good to have Cole out there always. It's a good win." - head coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest continues the three-game set against No. 2 Clemson tomorrow at 4 p.m. on the ACC Network.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
With the win in front of the seventh sellout crowd of the season, the Demon Deacons (34-16, 13-12 ACC) have now officially clinched a spot in the ACC Championship which is set to be played May 21-26 in Charlotte, N.C.
Burns fanned a career-high 16 of the 26 batters he faced Saturday, marking the 10th time in 13 starts this season he struck out at least 10 batters and second time he finished with at least 15 punch outs. He improved to 10-1 as the Deacs have won all but one of his 13 starts so far this campaign.
He allowed just one run on two hits over 7.0 innings and only gave up one free pass. The outing also marked his ninth quality start of his junior season. His 16 strikeouts in a single outing rank second in program history behind only Erik Hanson (18) on April 17, 1985. Additionally, Burns now holds seven of the top 10 single-game strikeout performances in Wake Forest history.
In total, the Deacs combined for 19 strikeouts Friday night against the Tigers (37-11, 17-8) as sophomore Zach Johnston and graduate student Cole Roland combined for three punchouts across the final two innings. Roland earned his team-high fifth save of the season as he got the final four outs of the contest without allowing a hit or walk.
With the victory, Wake Forest extended its winning streak to seven games, its longest since the start of conference play.
Offensively, all four of the Demon Deacons runs Friday night came via the long ball. Sophomore Jack Winnay opened the scoring with a solo shot to right in the bottom of the second before freshman Antonio Morales busted the game open with a three-run bomb in the fourth.
Winnay ranks second on the team with 17 big flies this campaign while all three of Morales' home runs have come in the last eight games this season.
With a walk, junior Nick Kurtz is now just nine walks away from setting the career walk record in program history. His 171 career base on balls entering the night led all Division-I players by six and he has averaged 1.1 walks per game over the course of his career.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Starter Chase Burns picked up a pair of strikeouts in the top of the first.
- The righty broke the Wake Forest single-season strikeout record with his 144 of the year and fourth of the game in the top of the second.
- Left fielder Jack Winnay gave the Deacs an early lead, depositing the first pitch of his at-bat 404-feet over the right field wall to make it 1-0.
- The homer marked the 17th of his sophomore campaign.
- Burns K'd the side in the top of the third.
- The Tigers tied the game in the fourth with a solo home run as Burns immediately responded with three more strikeouts.
- Wake Forest grabbed the lead back with three runs in the bottom half, all coming with two outs.
- Winnay and second baseman Adam Tellier got the two-out rally started with a pair of five-pitch walks.
- Freshman Antonio Morales delivered the big blow of the inning, taking a 1-1 pitch just over the wall in right field for his third of the season to make it 4-1 in favor of the Deacs.
- With a runner in scoring position after a hit by pitch and stolen base, Burns barred down with his 11th punchout of the evening.
- The nation's leader in strikeouts added three more in the sixth to run his total to 14 on the night.
- Burns ended the outing with his career-high 16th punchout in the seventh.
- Clemson got a run back in the top of the eighth to make it 4-2.
- Closer Cole Roland slammed with a 1-2-3 top of the ninth to clinch the win.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
- In 234.1 career innings pitched, Chase Burns has now struckout 373 career batters. The righty finished last season ranked third nationally with 14.3 K/9 and currently sits at 17.1 K/9 through 13 starts.
- For the 15th time in his career and the 10th time as a Deac, the junior struck out 10 or more as he fanned a career-high 16 Tigers on Friday night.
- Burns (373 career strikeouts) currently leads South Carolina's Ty Good (337 career strikeouts) by 36 strikeouts as the active Division-I baseball strikeout leaders.
- The righty also ranks inside the top-three in strikeout-per-nine among active career players, sitting at 13.99 prior to Saturday's start.
- Additionally, 16 strikeouts is the second-highest single-game strikeout total in program history.
Rank Player Strikeout Total Date
1. Erik Hanson 18 April 17, 1985
3. Chase Burns 15 April 6, 2024
T4. Chase Burns 14 April 26, 2024
T4. Chase Burns 14 March 29, 2024
T4. Chase Burns 14 March 9, 2024
T4. John Stokoe 14 1957
T4. Tim Cooney 14 March 6, 2011
T9. Chase Burns 13 May 4, 2024
T9. Chase Burns 13 March 16, 2024
STAGGERING STATISTICS
- After a season record-setting attendance during the 2023 season, Deacon Nation has set the tone throughout the 2024 season as tonight's crowds tied the largest regular season crowds in program history, marked the eighth sellout of the season and is the ninth top-10 regular season crowd in program history this season.
Top-10 Regular Season David F. Couch Ballpark Crowds
| Rank | Attendance | Date | Opponent |
| T1. | 3,514 | May 10, 2024 | Clemson |
| T1. | 3,514 | Apr. 20, 2024 | Florida State (DH) |
| T1. | 3,514 | Apr. 20, 2024 | Florida State (DH) |
| T1. | 3,514 | Mar. 31, 2024 | North Carolina |
| T1. | 3,514 | Mar. 30, 2024 | North Carolina |
| T1. | 3,514 | Mar. 29, 2024 | North Carolina |
| T1. | 3,514 | Feb. 16, 2024 | Fordham |
| 7. | 3,275 | April 19, 2024 | Florida State |
| 8. | 3,023 | May 19, 2023 | Virginia Tech |
| 9. | 2,847 | March 8, 2024 | Duke |
- With a walk, junior Nick Kurtz is now just nine walks away from setting the career walk record in program history:
| Rank | Player | Career Walks |
| 1. | Pat Blair (2010-13) | 180 |
| 2. | Nick Kurtz (2022-Pres.) | 172 |
| 3. | Allan Dykstra (2006-08) | 170 |
| 4. | Matt Antonelli (2004-06) | 128 |
| 5. | Brock Wilken (2021-23) | 126 |
- His 171 career base on balls entering Friday night led all Division-I players by six and he has averaged 1.1 walks per game over the course of his career.
- Additionally, his 199 runs scored in his career ranks third in program history and is only 31 away from the program record of 230 runs scored (Jon Palmieri, 1996-99)
- His next home run would move him to second alone in program history as he is currently tied for second with 58 career round trippers.
- With his single in the bottom of the seventh, junior Seaver King has now reached base safely in 23-consecutive games, including nine-consecutive games with a hit.
FROM COACH WALTER
"That's a really great college baseball game. That's what Friday night in the ACC is supposed to look like, two really good pitchers battling it out. Chase Burns was obviously the story. He can't pitch any better than that. He kept his pitch count down, only allowed one walk and one hit by pitch with 16 strikeouts. That's as dominant of a pitching performance as I've ever seen in college baseball. It was really special.
It was an electric sell-out crowd today. I sat with David Couch and Ron Wellman many moons ago about what we wanted this facility to look like and what we wanted to build here. This was the vision. A night like this in front of a crowd with a super-regional type atmosphere. Thanks to Deacon Nation for showing up.
We didn't have great at-bats tonight. Jack Winnay did. We made nine outs on first pitches, we made another four outs on two pitches. So 13 of our first 18 outs came on one or two pitches. We have to do a better job grinding at-bats. Give Darden credit, he made pitch after pitch and he was throwing strike after strike. I thought he threw the ball as well as anybody we've seen all year. We did just enough offensively, we had the two big walks right before Antonio's home run. Jack Winnay got a fastball up and hit the home run early. Nights like this when the wind is blowing out to right field, no lead feels safe, so you're always holding your breath. Probably the story of the game as much as anything were the two big double plays. The other thing that does besides kill rallies is it saves bullets, after the one in the first inning Chase Burns could have gone out there and thrown 25-30 pitches in the first inning.
Slim Johnson got a big strikeout of Cam Cannarella who is as good of a hitter as there is. Roland comes in and gets a huge strikeout with two guys on and then gets the strikeout to leadoff the night, the double play ball and then the flyball to right to close it out. It's good to have Cole out there always. It's a good win." - head coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest continues the three-game set against No. 2 Clemson tomorrow at 4 p.m. on the ACC Network.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Burns, Chase (10-1)
L: Ethan Darden (5-3)
S: Roland, Cole (5)
Batting:
HR: Jacob Hinderleider 1
RBI: Jacob Hinderleider 1 ; Blake Wright 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Alden Mathes 1 ; Jacob Hinderleider 1
SB: Nolan Nawrocki 1
HBP: Nolan Nawrocki 1
Batting:
HR: Winnay, Jack 1 ; Morales, Antonio 1
RBI: Winnay, Jack 1 ; Morales, Antonio 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Winnay, Jack 2 ; Tellier, Adam 1 ; Morales, Antonio 1
SB: Kurtz, Nick 1
HBP: Winnay, Jack 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
2
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
RHP
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LHP
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/ Baseball
UTL
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RHP
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INF
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