Saturday, May 4
Winston-Salem, NC
6 p.m.
Wake Forest University
30-16
9
vs
2
Western Carolina
23-20
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8
9
R
H
E
Western Carolina
0
0
0
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Wake Forest
3
0
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1
4
1
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X
9
10
0
Deacs Reach 30 Wins with Complete Effort in Series Opener against Western Carolina
5/4/2024 10:07:00 PM | Baseball
Wake Forest reached the 30-win mark for the third-straight season, the longest such streak since the Deacs won 30 or more in six-straight seasons from 1997-2002.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Behind six hitless innings from starter Chase Burns, No. 13 Wake Forest used a balanced attack to defeat Western Carolina, 9-2, on Saturday at David F. Couch Ballpark.
Burns fanned 13 of the 20 batters he faced Saturday, marking the ninth time in 12 starts this season he struck out at least 10 batters and sixth time he finished with at least 13. He improved to 9-1 as the Demon Deacons (30-16, 12-12 ACC) have won all but one of his 12 starts so far this campaign. He allowed no runs on no hits, over 6.0 innings and only gave up two free passes. The outing also marked his eighth quality start of his junior campaign.
The Wake Forest pitching staff nearly matched a season-high of 20 as 19 of the 27 outs the Deacs recorded came via the strikeout as reliever Zach Johnston recorded five of his six outs via the punchout and freshman Andrew Koshy added one in the ninth inning.
Friday's effort on the mound marked the 10th time in 2024 the Deacs pitching staff has struck out 15 or more and 30th time punching out at least 10 hitters as Wake Forest currently sits at 527 strikeouts on the year.
At the plate, Wake Forest launched four homers, including a barrage of solo shots in the first inning.
Sophomore Marek Houston (5), junior Seaver King (14) and sophomore Jack Winnay (15) all deposited balls over the wall in the Deacs first inning at the plate to jump on Western Carolina early.
Senior Jake Reinisch ran his hit streak to six games with a three-run shot in the sixth inning for his 13th roundtripper of the year. Over the last three games, Reinisch is 7-for-15 (.467) with 10 RBI, a pair of doubles and a home run.
Catcher Cameron Gill added a multi-hit night, finishing 2-for-2 with an RBI, while also walking and laying down a sacrifice bunt for the Deacs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
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
T8. Chase Burns 13 May 4, 2024
T8. Chase Burns 13 March 16, 2024
T7. Nine other tied 13 Last: June 2, 2023
STAGGERING STATISTICS
FROM COACH WALTER
"Chase Burns and Zach Johnston were great today and we needed them to be. Our bats weren't great today. Obviously, we hit the three solo home runs in the first inning but overall disappointed in our at-bats today. We did a good job with two outs in the inning where we scored four. We had two-out RBIs from Adam Tellier in the fifth and Nick Kurtz then Jake Reinisch with the big three-run home run to give us some space, which we needed.
Good job by Andrew Koshy coming in there at the end and getting three big outs. It was good to see Hudson Lee out there. Lee didn't throw the ball the way he wanted to but it was still great to see him play. That was a good win and at this point in the year we will take any win we can get but we are going to need better at-bats tomorrow." - head coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest concludes the three-game set with the Catamounts tomorrow. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 1 p.m. with game two scheduled to begin 45 minutes following the conclusion.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Burns fanned 13 of the 20 batters he faced Saturday, marking the ninth time in 12 starts this season he struck out at least 10 batters and sixth time he finished with at least 13. He improved to 9-1 as the Demon Deacons (30-16, 12-12 ACC) have won all but one of his 12 starts so far this campaign. He allowed no runs on no hits, over 6.0 innings and only gave up two free passes. The outing also marked his eighth quality start of his junior campaign.
The Wake Forest pitching staff nearly matched a season-high of 20 as 19 of the 27 outs the Deacs recorded came via the strikeout as reliever Zach Johnston recorded five of his six outs via the punchout and freshman Andrew Koshy added one in the ninth inning.
Friday's effort on the mound marked the 10th time in 2024 the Deacs pitching staff has struck out 15 or more and 30th time punching out at least 10 hitters as Wake Forest currently sits at 527 strikeouts on the year.
At the plate, Wake Forest launched four homers, including a barrage of solo shots in the first inning.
Sophomore Marek Houston (5), junior Seaver King (14) and sophomore Jack Winnay (15) all deposited balls over the wall in the Deacs first inning at the plate to jump on Western Carolina early.
Senior Jake Reinisch ran his hit streak to six games with a three-run shot in the sixth inning for his 13th roundtripper of the year. Over the last three games, Reinisch is 7-for-15 (.467) with 10 RBI, a pair of doubles and a home run.
Catcher Cameron Gill added a multi-hit night, finishing 2-for-2 with an RBI, while also walking and laying down a sacrifice bunt for the Deacs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Starter Chase Burns made quick work of the Catamounts in the first with a pair of strikeouts.
- Wake Forest jumped on Western Carolina with three solo bombs in the first.
- Sophomore Marek Houston launched the first pitch that he saw over the left field wall for his fifth of the year.
- Junior Seaver King followed Houston with a 351-foot drive to right center for his 14th roundtripper of the season.
- Right fielder Jack Winnay got in on the fun with his 15th of the year, attacking a 2-1 pitch to send it over the left field wall for the Deacs third home run of the inning.
- Burns fanned the side in the second to run his total to five through two innings.
- The righty needed just 14 pitches to sit down the Catamounts in order in the third.
- In the fourth, Burns added strikeouts seven and eight to keep WCU off the board.
- For the fourth time, Burns struck out at least two batters, fanning a pair in the fifth to run his total to double digits.
- First baseman Nick Kurtz led the bottom of the fifth with his 57th walk of the season and came home on a two-out RBI single from Adam Tellier to extend the lead to 4-0.
- In his final inning of work, Burns struck out the side for the second time to cap a 13 strikeout performance with no hits over 6.0 innings of work.
- The Deacs opened up the contest with four two-out runs in the bottom of the sixth.
- Catcher Cameron Gill slapped a single through the left side with one-away.
- After Gill moved to second on a wild pitch, Kurtz brought him home with a single to right field to stretch the lead to five.
- King singled to the shortstop to move Kurtz up 90 feet.
- Senior Jake Reinisch delivered the big blow with a missile off the bat at 107 mph that cleared the trees in right field for his 12th of the year.
- Reliever Zach Johnston added to the strikeout total with three of his own in the seventh.
- A pair of walks put a runner in scoring position for Gill, who knocked his second hit of the day to left field to plate Tellier and stretch the lead to 9-0.
- Johnston struck out a pair in the eighth to keep the Catamounts scoreless.
- Freshman Andrew Koshy recorded the final three outs as Wake Forest took the series opener 9-2.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
- In 227.1 career innings pitched, Chase Burns has now struckout 357 career batters. The righty finished last season ranked third nationally with 14.3 K/9 and currently sits at 16.8 K/9 through his first 12 outings.
- For the 14th time in his career and the ninth time as a Deac, the junior struck out 10 or more as he fanned 13 Catamounts on Saturday evening.
- Burns (357 career strikeouts) currently leads South Carolina's Ty Good (323 career strikeouts) by 34 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, 13 strikeouts is the eighth-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
T8. Chase Burns 13 May 4, 2024
T8. Chase Burns 13 March 16, 2024
T7. Nine other tied 13 Last: June 2, 2023
STAGGERING STATISTICS
- Wake Forest's 527 strikeouts through 46 games currently is tops in the ACC and second nationally.
- Additionally, the Deacs rank fourth in the country with a 11.6 K/9 entering the weekend against the Catamounts.
- In 2024, Wake Forest has struck out at least 10 in 30 contests and 15 or more in 10.
- Wake Forest's 84 home runs on the year tie Virginia Tech for the lead in the ACC and ranks tied for 12th nationally.
- The Deacs have homered in all but eight games this season.
- Wake Forest has launched two or more homers in 24 contests this season, including leaving the yard at least four times on seven occasions.
FROM COACH WALTER
"Chase Burns and Zach Johnston were great today and we needed them to be. Our bats weren't great today. Obviously, we hit the three solo home runs in the first inning but overall disappointed in our at-bats today. We did a good job with two outs in the inning where we scored four. We had two-out RBIs from Adam Tellier in the fifth and Nick Kurtz then Jake Reinisch with the big three-run home run to give us some space, which we needed.
Good job by Andrew Koshy coming in there at the end and getting three big outs. It was good to see Hudson Lee out there. Lee didn't throw the ball the way he wanted to but it was still great to see him play. That was a good win and at this point in the year we will take any win we can get but we are going to need better at-bats tomorrow." - head coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest concludes the three-game set with the Catamounts tomorrow. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 1 p.m. with game two scheduled to begin 45 minutes following the conclusion.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Burns, Chase (9-1)
L: Gavin Mortenson (2-5)
Batting:
RBI: Trent Turner 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Zach Ketterman 1 ; Nate Stocum 1
HBP: Zach Ketterman 1
Batting:
HR: Houston, Marek 1 ; King, Seaver 1 ; Reinisch, Jake 1 ; Winnay, Jack 1
RBI: Houston, Marek 1 ; Kurtz, Nick 1 ; King, Seaver 1 ; Reinisch, Jake 3 ; Winnay, Jack 1 ; Tellier, Adam 1 ; Gill, Cameron 1
SH: Gill, Cameron 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Houston, Marek 1 ; Kurtz, Nick 2 ; King, Seaver 2 ; Reinisch, Jake 1 ; Winnay, Jack 1 ; Tellier, Adam 1 ; Gill, Cameron 1
SB: Houston, Marek 1 ; Willson, Liam 1
CS: Gill, Cameron 1
HBP: Kurtz, Nick 1 ; Willson, Liam 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
2
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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1B
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OF
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INF
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