Thursday, April 17
Winston-Salem, NC
6 p.m.
Wake Forest University
26-13, 10-9
5
vs
4
Boston College
17-20, 7-12
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Boston College
0
1
2
0
0
0
1
0
0
4
6
0
Wake Forest
0
4
0
0
0
0
0
1
X
5
6
2
Lewis and Leffew Push Wake Forest to 5-4 Victory over Boston College
4/17/2025 9:41:00 PM | Baseball
Kade Lewis’ eighth-inning blast broke a tied game up in the eighth inning before Haiden Leffew slammed the door shut in the opening game of the series against Boston College.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest baseball team took the opening game of the series against Boston College, as the Demon Deacons defeated the Eagles, 5-4, on Thursday night at David F. Couch Ballpark.
Sophomore Kade Lewis blasted his team-leading 11th home run in the bottom of the eighth to put Wake Forest (26-13, 10-9 ACC) ahead for good, before sophomore Haiden Leffew earned his second win of the season with five strikeouts and no hits allowed over the final 2.1 innings. The lefty retired all seven batters he faced in one of the most dominant performances of his young career.
Catcher Jimmy Keenan got the Deacs on the board early, as he drove in his 17th RBI of the year with a sac fly in the second inning.
Sophomore Cam Nelson also collected his seventh extra-base hit in the last 10 games to spark the offense in the second inning. The Baltimore native roped a two-RBI triple to the wall in center for the first three-bagger of his career.
Reliever Luke Schmolke retired eight of the 11 Boston College (17-20, 7-12 ACC) hitters he faced, including the first six after entering the contest in the fifth inning. The junior allowed just one hit with a strikeout and an unearned run over 2.2 innings on the bump.
HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
STAGGERING STATISTIC
FROM COACH WALTER
"That's a great team win. We needed that. Lev [Chris Levonas] got us a big zero in the fourth. I thought that was huge for us to not have to go to [Luke] Schmolke there in the fourth inning. Lev got us three outs and then Luke Schmolke and Haiden Leffew were really good. I thought we ran ourselves out of an inning there. First and third, and one out with our best hitter up. We've got to do a better job on the bases tomorrow and a little better job cashing in runs, but a good win. Kade Lewis came up with a big home run and then Haiden Leffew with seven huge outs there at the end. Really proud of our club, and the way we fought, and the way we played, and looking forward to playing baseball tomorrow." - Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest and Boston College continue the series tomorrow at David F. Couch Ballpark. First pitch in the middle game is set for 6 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra.
FOLLOW THE DEACS
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Sophomore Kade Lewis blasted his team-leading 11th home run in the bottom of the eighth to put Wake Forest (26-13, 10-9 ACC) ahead for good, before sophomore Haiden Leffew earned his second win of the season with five strikeouts and no hits allowed over the final 2.1 innings. The lefty retired all seven batters he faced in one of the most dominant performances of his young career.
Catcher Jimmy Keenan got the Deacs on the board early, as he drove in his 17th RBI of the year with a sac fly in the second inning.
Sophomore Cam Nelson also collected his seventh extra-base hit in the last 10 games to spark the offense in the second inning. The Baltimore native roped a two-RBI triple to the wall in center for the first three-bagger of his career.
Reliever Luke Schmolke retired eight of the 11 Boston College (17-20, 7-12 ACC) hitters he faced, including the first six after entering the contest in the fifth inning. The junior allowed just one hit with a strikeout and an unearned run over 2.2 innings on the bump.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Starter Chris Levonas worked a three-up, three-down top of the first.
- Boston College grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
- The Demon Deacons responded with four runs in the bottom half.
- Freshman Dalton Wentz blooped a single into right field and moved to third on a single back up the middle by left fielder Luke Costello.
- Graduate transfer Matt Scannell was hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out.
- Catcher Jimmy Keenan lifted a sac fly to center to tie the game at 1-1.
- After a walk to junior Austin Hawke, Costello came home on a wild pitch to give Wake Forest the lead.
- Center fielder Cam Nelson delivered the big blow of the inning with a 105-mph rocket to the deepest part of the ballpark for a two-RBI triple to push the Wake advantage to 4-1.
- A two-run home run from B.C. trimmed the lead to 4-3 in the top of the third.
- Reliever Luke Schmolke needed just eight pitches to get through the fifth, retiring Boston College in order.
- Schmolke used a flyout and a pair of groundouts for his second-straight three-up, three-down inning.
- Boston College tied the game at 4-4 on an unearned run in the seventh.
- With the game still even in the top of the eighth, Leffew retired the side in just 12 pitches including a pair of strikeouts.
- Wake Forest took the lead in the bottom half of the inning as Lewis launched a solo shot to left for his 11th home run of the year.
- Leffew returned to the mound in the ninth and once again retired the Eagles in order, as he added two more strikeouts and secured his second win of the season.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
- Haiden Leffew powered through the Boston College lineup in 2.1 innings of work, tallying five strikeouts without a single hit allowed.
- Of his 31 pitches, 22 were strikes as he recorded two of his five punchouts in the ninth inning.
- This was the Kannapolis, N.C., native's second win of the year (Elon, Feb. 25) and his five strikeouts were the second-most this season (6 vs. Maryland, March 1).
STAGGERING STATISTIC
- Wake Forest has cashed in on the big inning with four or more runs in a frame on 35 occasions through the first 39 games of the 2025 campaign.
- The Deacs sent eight batters to the plate for four runs on three hits in the second inning of Thursday's contest, with Nelson delivering the key hit on a two-RBI triple.
FROM COACH WALTER
"That's a great team win. We needed that. Lev [Chris Levonas] got us a big zero in the fourth. I thought that was huge for us to not have to go to [Luke] Schmolke there in the fourth inning. Lev got us three outs and then Luke Schmolke and Haiden Leffew were really good. I thought we ran ourselves out of an inning there. First and third, and one out with our best hitter up. We've got to do a better job on the bases tomorrow and a little better job cashing in runs, but a good win. Kade Lewis came up with a big home run and then Haiden Leffew with seven huge outs there at the end. Really proud of our club, and the way we fought, and the way we played, and looking forward to playing baseball tomorrow." - Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest and Boston College continue the series tomorrow at David F. Couch Ballpark. First pitch in the middle game is set for 6 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra.
FOLLOW THE DEACS
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Leffew, Haiden (2-0)
L: Ryan, J. (2-2)
Batting:
2B: Johnson, G. 1 ; Magpoc, A. 1
HR: Toomey, J. 1
RBI: Toomey, J. 2 ; Johnson, G. 1 ; Magpoc, A. 1
SH: Larson, C. 1 ; McNulty, S. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ragsdale, J. 1 ; Toomey, J. 1 ; Wolff, K. 1 ; Frederking,N 1
SB: Ragsdale, J. 1 ; Roche, P. 1 ; Johnson, G. 1 ; Magpoc, A. 1
PO: Magpoc, A. 1
Batting:
2B: Costello, Luke 1
3B: Nelson, Cam 1
HR: Lewis, Kade 1
RBI: Nelson, Cam 2 ; Lewis, Kade 1 ; Keenan, Jimmy 1
SF: Keenan, Jimmy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lewis, Kade 1 ; Wentz, Dalton 1 ; Costello, Luke 1 ; Scannell, Matt 1 ; Hawke, Austin 1
SB: Williams, Javar 1
HBP: Wentz, Dalton 1 ; Scannell, Matt 1
PO: Houston, Marek 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
OF/LHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
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