Sunday, March 23
Clemson, SC
3 p.m.
Wake Forest University
19-6, 7-2
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Wake Forest
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No. 11 Deacs Drop Closely Contested Series Clincher at No. 7 Clemson
3/23/2025 7:42:00 PM | Baseball
Despite the series loss, the Demon Deacons own a 7-2 record against the Clemson Tigers over the last three seasons including claiming a 12-10 victory on Saturday.
CLEMSON, S.C. – The No. 11 Wake Forest baseball team dropped the series-deciding game to No. 7 Clemson, 7-6, Sunday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, S.C.
Despite the series loss, the Demon Deacons (19-6, 7-2 ACC) own a 7-2 record against the Tigers (23-3, 4-2 ACC) over the last three seasons, including claiming a 12-10 victory on Saturday. Additionally through three weeks of conference play, the Deacs own the most wins in conference play with seven including series sweeps over Notre Dame in the opening weekend and Miami last weekend at David F. Couch Ballpark.
Wake Forest grabbed an early start, with a single from junior Marek Houston and sac fly from sophomore Kade Lewis to advance the runner on base and push in the Deacs' first run of the day.
Sophomore Ryan Preisano blasted a home run to center field to put Wake Forest up 3-0 after the first inning. After a single from junior Jimmy Keenan, graduate Matt Scannell laced an RBI single with bases loaded to add to the Deacs' run total.
Sophomore Kade Lewis wrapped the inning up with a single to left-center and Wake Forest finished the frame with a 6-0 lead. With a pair of hits and two RBI, Lewis extended his hitting streak to 15 games and leads the Demon Deacons with a .461 batting average through 25 games played.
Sophomore Blake Morningstar threw back-to-back scoreless frames to sustain the Deacs' lead through the first four innings. The right-hander tossed an impressive 5.0 innings allowing just one earned run on two hits while fanning four Tiger hitters.
At the bottom of the order, junior Austin Hawke coaxed a team-high three walks, scoring once. In total, seven Demon Deacons accounted for nine walks in the game.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FROM COACH WALTER
"That was a disappointing loss. We got out to a 6-0 lead and a great start out of Blake Morningstar but by my count all seven of their runs got on by free pass and you just can't walk people. We hit a guy on a 0-2 pitch which then led to the game being 6-3. We also had two strikes on a ton of hitters and just couldn't put guys away. I told the guys afterward, that this game was lost yesterday when we had a 10-0 lead and had to use all of our bullpen pieces to win. If we had done our job yesterday, we would've had these guys fresh for today and today probably ends differently. I give credit to Clemson for fighting back two days in a row but it's a ball game we should've won. Now we've got to find a way to respond and play well at Elon on Tuesday." - Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest concludes the road swing on Tuesday, Mar. 25 at Elon. First pitch against the Phoenix is set for 6 p.m. ET from Latham Park.
FOLLOW THE DEACS
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Despite the series loss, the Demon Deacons (19-6, 7-2 ACC) own a 7-2 record against the Tigers (23-3, 4-2 ACC) over the last three seasons, including claiming a 12-10 victory on Saturday. Additionally through three weeks of conference play, the Deacs own the most wins in conference play with seven including series sweeps over Notre Dame in the opening weekend and Miami last weekend at David F. Couch Ballpark.
Wake Forest grabbed an early start, with a single from junior Marek Houston and sac fly from sophomore Kade Lewis to advance the runner on base and push in the Deacs' first run of the day.
Sophomore Ryan Preisano blasted a home run to center field to put Wake Forest up 3-0 after the first inning. After a single from junior Jimmy Keenan, graduate Matt Scannell laced an RBI single with bases loaded to add to the Deacs' run total.
Sophomore Kade Lewis wrapped the inning up with a single to left-center and Wake Forest finished the frame with a 6-0 lead. With a pair of hits and two RBI, Lewis extended his hitting streak to 15 games and leads the Demon Deacons with a .461 batting average through 25 games played.
Sophomore Blake Morningstar threw back-to-back scoreless frames to sustain the Deacs' lead through the first four innings. The right-hander tossed an impressive 5.0 innings allowing just one earned run on two hits while fanning four Tiger hitters.
At the bottom of the order, junior Austin Hawke coaxed a team-high three walks, scoring once. In total, seven Demon Deacons accounted for nine walks in the game.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Demon Deacons took an early lead with three runs in the top of the first inning.
- Graduate Matt Scannell worked a walk to put the leadoff man on.
- Shortstop Marek Houston recorded the first hit of the contest to advance Scannell to third and a sac fly from designated hitter Kade Lewis put Wake's first run on the board.
- First baseman Ryan Preisano homered to center field off a 2-2 pitch to put Wake Forest up 3-0.
- Wake Forest doubled their score with three more runs in the top of the second.
- Sophomore Javar Williams was hit by a pitch to start the frame.
- Keenan continued to challenge the Clemson pitching staff with a first-pitch single out to left field.
- After a walk to second baseman Austin Hawke, Scannell ripped an RBI single to right field to extend the lead.
- Houston recorded his first RBI of the day on a sacrifice fly to add to the Deacons' run total.
- A single to left-center from Lewis brought home the sixth run of the day through just a frame and a half.
- Clemson got their first run of the afternoon in the bottom of the second.
- Right-hander Blake Morningstar needed just ten pitches to keep the Tigers scoreless in his inning of work.
- Morningstar retired the side and kept the Tigers scoreless through another inning in the fourth.
- Wake Forest put runners in scoring position during the fifth frame but were unable to extend their lead.
- The Tigers cut into the Deacs' lead with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth.
- Relievers Haiden Leffew and Griffin Green combined to hold Clemson scoreless in the seventh.
- Clemson tied the contest up in the bottom of the eighth.
- Williams singled in the top of the ninth to put a runner in scoring position, but the Deacs were unable to convert.
- Clemson defeated Wake Forest, 7-6.
FROM COACH WALTER
"That was a disappointing loss. We got out to a 6-0 lead and a great start out of Blake Morningstar but by my count all seven of their runs got on by free pass and you just can't walk people. We hit a guy on a 0-2 pitch which then led to the game being 6-3. We also had two strikes on a ton of hitters and just couldn't put guys away. I told the guys afterward, that this game was lost yesterday when we had a 10-0 lead and had to use all of our bullpen pieces to win. If we had done our job yesterday, we would've had these guys fresh for today and today probably ends differently. I give credit to Clemson for fighting back two days in a row but it's a ball game we should've won. Now we've got to find a way to respond and play well at Elon on Tuesday." - Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest concludes the road swing on Tuesday, Mar. 25 at Elon. First pitch against the Phoenix is set for 6 p.m. ET from Latham Park.
FOLLOW THE DEACS
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lucas Mahlstedt (1-0)
L: Torres, Boston (1-2)
Batting:
HR: Preisano, Ryan 1
RBI: Matt Scannell 1 ; Schaaf, Blake 1 ; Lewis, Kade 2 ; Preisano, Ryan 2
SH: Matt Scannell 1
SF: Schaaf, Blake 1 ; Lewis, Kade 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Matt Scannell 1 ; Schaaf, Blake 1 ; Preisano, Ryan 1 ; Williams, Javar 1 ; Keenan, Jimmy 1 ; Hawke, Austin 1
SB: Schaaf, Blake 1
CS: Williams, Javar 1
HBP: Williams, Javar 2
PO: Williams, Javar 1
Batting:
2B: Dominic Listi 1
RBI: Dominic Listi 3 ; Cam Cannarella 1 ; Luke Gaffney 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cam Cannarella 1 ; Luke Gaffney 1 ; Tryston McCladdie 3 ; Josh Paino 1 ; Andrew Ciufo 1
SB: Tryston McCladdie 2 ; Josh Paino 1 ; Andrew Ciufo 1
HBP: Luke Gaffney 1 ; Andrew Ciufo 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
RHP
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INF
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LHP
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RHP
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OF
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OF
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