Tuesday, March 18
Lynchburg, VA
4 p.m.
Wake Forest University
8
at
11
Liberty
No. 11 Wake Forest Baseball Comeback Bid Comes Short at Liberty
3/18/2025 8:06:00 PM | Baseball
Junior Jack Winnay launched his team-high ninth home run of the season.
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Despite bringing the tying run to the plate in the seventh and ninth innings, the No. 11 Wake Forest baseball team fell to Liberty, 11-8, in a midweek contest on Tuesday afternoon.
The Deacs (18-4, 6-0 ACC) got off to a hot start offensively as junior Jack Winnay launched his team-best ninth home run of the season on a grand slam in the top of the first inning. Graduate student Matt Scannell continued the hot-hitting with a solo shot of his own in the second, as Wake Forest built up an early 5-0 lead.
After the Flames (16-6, 0-0 C-USA) scored 11 unanswered, sophomore Kade Lewis extended his hit streak to 12 games with an RBI double in the fifth inning. Over his 12-game hit streak, Lewis has recorded 22 of his 35 hits on the season while driving in 22 runs.
Wake Forest moved within three in the top half of the sixth inning as sophomore Antonio Morales added the Deacs' third long shot of the afternoon with a two-run bomb to make it 11-8.
With their three home runs against Liberty, the Demon Deacons brought their season home run total to 45, which is the most in the ACC this season. Wake Forest has now recorded at least one home run in all but one of their 22 games this campaign, including one in each of the last 17 outings. Additionally, the Deacs have recorded multiple homers in six of the last seven games.
On the mound, freshman Chris Levonas earned the start for the Demon Deacons, recording four strikeouts across 2.1 innings in the longest outing of his college career.
Following the 11-run swing by Liberty, the Demon Deacon bullpen responded with 4.2 scoreless innings down the stretch to give the Deacs a chance. Of note, junior Zach Johnston threw 1.2 innings without allowing a base runner during the seventh and eighth innings.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FROM COACH WALTER
"We got a good start out of Chris Levonas. I was really pleased with that. We just didn't get it done on the mound or defensively during the third and fourth innings. We gave away too many free 90s. I know a bunch of those balls went down as hits, but those are plays that we should make. I like the way that we fought back and gave ourselves a chance. We had traffic on the base paths during the seventh with runners on first and second with nobody out and our leadoff hitter up to bat. We had more traffic in the eighth and the ninth, but we just weren't able to get the big hit to tie it up. Proud of the way we fought and how Chris Levonas threw the baseball. We just got to do a better job in those middle innings by making pitches and making plays." - Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest faces its toughest test to this point of the season with a three-game ACC series at No. 7 Clemson this weekend. First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra.
FOLLOW THE DEACS
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
The Deacs (18-4, 6-0 ACC) got off to a hot start offensively as junior Jack Winnay launched his team-best ninth home run of the season on a grand slam in the top of the first inning. Graduate student Matt Scannell continued the hot-hitting with a solo shot of his own in the second, as Wake Forest built up an early 5-0 lead.
After the Flames (16-6, 0-0 C-USA) scored 11 unanswered, sophomore Kade Lewis extended his hit streak to 12 games with an RBI double in the fifth inning. Over his 12-game hit streak, Lewis has recorded 22 of his 35 hits on the season while driving in 22 runs.
Wake Forest moved within three in the top half of the sixth inning as sophomore Antonio Morales added the Deacs' third long shot of the afternoon with a two-run bomb to make it 11-8.
With their three home runs against Liberty, the Demon Deacons brought their season home run total to 45, which is the most in the ACC this season. Wake Forest has now recorded at least one home run in all but one of their 22 games this campaign, including one in each of the last 17 outings. Additionally, the Deacs have recorded multiple homers in six of the last seven games.
On the mound, freshman Chris Levonas earned the start for the Demon Deacons, recording four strikeouts across 2.1 innings in the longest outing of his college career.
Following the 11-run swing by Liberty, the Demon Deacon bullpen responded with 4.2 scoreless innings down the stretch to give the Deacs a chance. Of note, junior Zach Johnston threw 1.2 innings without allowing a base runner during the seventh and eighth innings.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Demon Deacons took an early 4-0 lead following a grand slam from Winnay with no outs in the top of the first.
- It marked Winnay's ninth home run of the season and second grand slam.
- After allowing a leadoff walk, Levonas retired three straight in the home half of the first with a strikeout.
- With two outs in the second, Scannell extended Wake Forest's lead to 5-0 with a solo shot to right field.
- Once again working with the leadoff runner on, Levonas fanned three consecutive batters for another scoreless inning of work.
- Levonas was relieved after 2.1 innings of work with no hits allowed and four strikeouts.
- Liberty took an 11-5 lead with four runs in the bottom of the third and seven in the fourth.
- After going down in order in the top of the third and fourth, the Wake Forest bats got going again in the fifth as Lewis drove in Houston with a stand-up double.
- Taking the mound for the third time this season, Dressler recorded a scoreless bottom half of the fifth.
- Following a base hit from sophomore Cam Nelson while pinch-hitting, Morales cut into the deficit two batters later with a two-run bomb to right.
- Wake Forest left the bases loaded and trailed 11-8 headed into the bottom of the sixth.
- With a runner on and one out, Johnston entered in the sixth and retired five consecutive batters as he kept the Demon Deacons within striking distance going into the eighth.
- After the Demon Deacons posted a fourth-consecutive scoreless inning on the mound courtesy of Zucker in the eighth, Wake Forest had one final chance in the ninth.
- Despite bringing the tying run to the plate, Wake Forest's winning streak came to an end against the Flames.
FROM COACH WALTER
"We got a good start out of Chris Levonas. I was really pleased with that. We just didn't get it done on the mound or defensively during the third and fourth innings. We gave away too many free 90s. I know a bunch of those balls went down as hits, but those are plays that we should make. I like the way that we fought back and gave ourselves a chance. We had traffic on the base paths during the seventh with runners on first and second with nobody out and our leadoff hitter up to bat. We had more traffic in the eighth and the ninth, but we just weren't able to get the big hit to tie it up. Proud of the way we fought and how Chris Levonas threw the baseball. We just got to do a better job in those middle innings by making pitches and making plays." - Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest faces its toughest test to this point of the season with a three-game ACC series at No. 7 Clemson this weekend. First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra.
FOLLOW THE DEACS
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
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