Tuesday, April 15
Winston-Salem, NC
6 p.m.
Wake Forest University
25-13
16
vs
5
Coastal Carolina
27-10
1
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3
4
5
6
7
8
R
H
E
Coastal Carolina
2
0
0
3
0
0
0
0
5
9
0
Wake Forest
3
0
5
0
0
0
1
7
16
16
1
Freshmen Power Wake Forest to Midweek Win Over No. 21 Coastal Carolina
4/15/2025 10:03:00 PM | Baseball
The season sweep of the Chanticleers marks the first for the Demon Deacons since the 2017 season.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Freshmen Luke Costello and Dalton Wentz combined for three home runs to power Wake Forest past No. 21 Coastal Carolina, 16-5, in eight innings on Tuesday evening at David F. Couch Ballpark.
Costello left the yard twice for the first multi-HR game of his career. Entering the midweek with one home run so far this season, Costello blasted a 419-foot grand slam to extend the Wake Forest lead in the third for his second. The Erie, Pa. deposited a solo shot to straightaway center in the seventh to extend the advantage for the Demon Deacons.
Costello finished the night 3-for-5 with the two homers and six RBI for the most by a Demon Deacon freshman since Nick Kurtz also drove in six back in 2022.
Second baseman Dalton Wentz gave Wake Forest the lead in the bottom of the first with a three-run homer. The blast marked the seventh of the year for Wentz and his fifth in the last eight contests.
Sophomore Kade Lewis put together his 16th multi-hit effort of the season, leading the Demon Deacons with a 3-for-4 evening, with a double and a pair of runs scored.
Five relievers combined to go the final 5.1 innings on the mound, holding Coastal Carolina to just one hit with six punchouts. Graduate transfer Matt Bedford earned the win, as he escaped a jam in the fourth and retired Coastal in order in the fifth.
HOW IT HAPPENED
STAGGERING STATISTIC
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
FROM COACH WALTER
"After this weekend, that was a much-needed win. Coastal's got a great program and a top 10 RPI, so it's always good to get a win against those guys. And get back on a winning track before a big series against [Boston College] starting on Thursday. I was glad we didn't have to throw Haiden [Leffew]. We were planning on throwing Haiden there in the ninth, and I was glad we didn't have to do that, so he'll be fresh on Thursday. I was really happy with our bullpen today. Matt Bedford, [Luke] Schmolke, [Joe] Ariola and [Griffin] Green all threw the ball really well. Matt Dallas was solid today, too. I felt like his line score didn't really reflect how well he threw. We made a couple of errors behind him, and then there were a couple of walks in there. Luke Costello had a really good day. Good to see Matt Scannell, Kade Lewis, Jack Winnay; all those guys had good days. In the first inning, the two-out home run by Dalton Wentz was huge to answer after we went down 2-0. Good team win, and look forward to getting back at it on Thursday against B.C." - Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest stays at home to take on Boston College in a three-game ACC set starting on Thursday, April 17. First pitch from David F. Couch Ballpark is set for 6 p.m. ET.
FOLLOW THE DEACS
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Costello left the yard twice for the first multi-HR game of his career. Entering the midweek with one home run so far this season, Costello blasted a 419-foot grand slam to extend the Wake Forest lead in the third for his second. The Erie, Pa. deposited a solo shot to straightaway center in the seventh to extend the advantage for the Demon Deacons.
Costello finished the night 3-for-5 with the two homers and six RBI for the most by a Demon Deacon freshman since Nick Kurtz also drove in six back in 2022.
Second baseman Dalton Wentz gave Wake Forest the lead in the bottom of the first with a three-run homer. The blast marked the seventh of the year for Wentz and his fifth in the last eight contests.
Sophomore Kade Lewis put together his 16th multi-hit effort of the season, leading the Demon Deacons with a 3-for-4 evening, with a double and a pair of runs scored.
Five relievers combined to go the final 5.1 innings on the mound, holding Coastal Carolina to just one hit with six punchouts. Graduate transfer Matt Bedford earned the win, as he escaped a jam in the fourth and retired Coastal in order in the fifth.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Coastal Carolina took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.
- Wake Forest responded immediately with three runs in the bottom half to grab the lead back.
- Shortstop Marek Houston singled to left field for the Demon Deacons' first hit of the contest.
- Sophomore Kade Lewis laced a single through the right side to put two on with one away.
- Trailing 0-2 in the count, second baseman Dalton Wentz tattooed the pitch over the wall in right field to give Wake the 3-2 lead.
- The homer marked the seventh of the year for the freshman.
- Starter Matthew Dallas left a runner stranded at third base for the shutdown frame in the top of the second.
- Dallas picked up his third strikeout of the evening in the third inning.
- The Demon Deacons took control with five runs in the bottom half of the frame.
- Houston led the frame off with a walk.
- Lewis lifted a bloop double to left to put two in scoring position.
- First baseman Jack Winnay took the first pitch he saw into right field to extend the lead to 4-1 in favor of the home team.
- A walk to Wentz loaded the bases with one away.
- Freshman Luke Costello delivered the big blow of the inning, depositing a 3-1 pitch to right center for a grand slam to put Wake Forest ahead, 8-2, after three innings.
- Coastal made it 8-5 on a miscue from the Demon Deacons in the top of the fourth.
- Reliever Matt Bedford worked a three-up, three-down fifth inning with a strikeout to end the frame.
- Junior Luke Schmolke retired the Chanticleers in order for the second-straight inning in the sixth.
- After a walk to start the seventh, junior Joe Ariola punched out the next three hitters to keep the Chanticleers off the board for the third-straight inning.
- The Demon Deacons added a run in the bottom half of the inning as Costello blasted his second home run of the game, going 408 feet to center.
- Griffin Green tossed a scoreless top of the eighth that included the ninth strikeout recorded of the night.
- With a flurry of seven runs in the bottom half of the eighth inning, Wake Forest closed out the game, winning 16-5.
- Nelson reached on a walk to open the frame, advancing to second on a stolen base before eventually scoring on a single to left from Winnay.
- Consecutive singles from Hawke and Costello plated both Lewis and Winnay, making it 12-5 with just one out.
- A hit by pitch loaded the bases before Conte forced home a run on a walk.
- The lead grew to 14-5 as Williams' fielder's choice to second plated Costello from third.
- Two batters later, Houston ended the game when he singled to first, driving in a pair of runs.
- The Deacs claimed a 16-5 run-rule victory.
STAGGERING STATISTIC
- With a clear home-field advantage, Wake Forest has gone 103-22-1 since 2022 at The Couch, including a stellar 34-3 mark on their way to a program-record 54 wins in 2023. Over the past four seasons, the Demon Deacons have outscored their opponents by almost 700 runs at The Couch, with a 1,208 to 511 margin in 126 contests.
- Wake Forest is 18-5 at The Couch this season, including a 12-2 mark in non-conference action.
- With the win, the Demon Deacons completed the season sweep of Coastal Carolina for the first time since 2017.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
- The Freshmen duo of Luke Costello and Dalton Wentz powered the Demon Deacons on Tuesday night as Costello recorded the first multi-HR game of his career and Wentz moved to fourth on the team with his seventh homer of the year.
- Entering the midweek with one home run so far this season, Costello blasted a 419-foot grand slam to extend the Wake Forest lead in the third for his second. The Erie, Pa. deposited a solo shot to straightaway center in the seventh to extend the advantage for the Demon Deacons.
- Costello finished the night 3-for-5 with the two homers and six RBI for the most by a Demon Deacon freshman since Nick Kurtz also drove in six back in 2022.
- Wentz gave Wake Forest the lead in the bottom of the first with a three-run homer. The blast marked his fifth in the last eight contests.
FROM COACH WALTER
"After this weekend, that was a much-needed win. Coastal's got a great program and a top 10 RPI, so it's always good to get a win against those guys. And get back on a winning track before a big series against [Boston College] starting on Thursday. I was glad we didn't have to throw Haiden [Leffew]. We were planning on throwing Haiden there in the ninth, and I was glad we didn't have to do that, so he'll be fresh on Thursday. I was really happy with our bullpen today. Matt Bedford, [Luke] Schmolke, [Joe] Ariola and [Griffin] Green all threw the ball really well. Matt Dallas was solid today, too. I felt like his line score didn't really reflect how well he threw. We made a couple of errors behind him, and then there were a couple of walks in there. Luke Costello had a really good day. Good to see Matt Scannell, Kade Lewis, Jack Winnay; all those guys had good days. In the first inning, the two-out home run by Dalton Wentz was huge to answer after we went down 2-0. Good team win, and look forward to getting back at it on Thursday against B.C." - Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest stays at home to take on Boston College in a three-game ACC set starting on Thursday, April 17. First pitch from David F. Couch Ballpark is set for 6 p.m. ET.
FOLLOW THE DEACS
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Wood, Tyler (4-3)
L: Appelman, Jaxon (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Barthol, Blake 1
RBI: Dooley, Ty 1 ; Barthol, Blake 2 ; Alexander, Sebastian 2
SH: Dooley, Ty 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mihos, Dean 1 ; Bodine, Caden 2 ; Dooley, Ty 1 ; Sykes, Wells 1
SB: Mihos, Dean 1 ; Mitchell, Walker 2 ; Sykes, Wells 1
HBP: Mihos, Dean 1
Batting:
2B: Lewis, Kade 1 ; Matt Scannell 1
HR: Wentz, Dalton 1 ; Costello, Luke 2
RBI: Schaaf, Blake 2 ; Miller, Jackson 2 ; Wentz, Dalton 3 ; Hawke, Austin 1 ; Costello, Luke 6 ; Conte, Matt 1 ; Williams, Javar 1
SH: Williams, Javar 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Roper, Jackson 1 ; Schaaf, Blake 2 ; Lewis, Kade 3 ; Miller, Jackson 2 ; Wentz, Dalton 2 ; Hawke, Austin 1 ; Costello, Luke 3 ; Matt Scannell 1 ; Williams, Javar 1
SB: Roper, Jackson 1 ; Matt Scannell 1
HBP: Matt Scannell 1 ; Conte, Matt 1
Game Leaders
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5
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3
RBI
6
AB
5
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2
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2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
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