No. 24 Wake Forest Evens Series with No. 9 Virginia Behind Big Third Inning

Saturday, March 21

Charlottesville, VA

4 p.m.

Wake Forest University

17-6, 4-4

Virginia

19-5, 5-3

Wake Forest

Virginia

Photo by: Whetstone Photography

No. 24 Wake Forest Evens Series with No. 9 Virginia Behind Big Third Inning

3/21/2026 8:44:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Junior Boston Torres collected three hits in his first start as a Demon Deacon.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Behind an eight-run third inning that featured six, two-out RBIs, the No. 24 Wake Forest baseball team (17-6, 4-4 ACC) evened the series at a game apiece with No. 9 Virginia (19-5, 5-3 ACC), taking game two of the series 13-4 on Saturday afternoon at Disharoon Park.

Seven different Wake Forest hitters drove in a run, led by three RBIs from freshman JD Stein and two RBIs each from juniors Kade Lewis and Javar Williams. Additionally, the Demon Deacons pounded out a season-high 16 hits, with seven going for extra bases.

Stein mashed his first career home run, sending a 362-foot two-run blast deep into the left field bleachers. The Carmel, Ind., native finished the game with a pair of hits, tying his career high with a trio of RBIs.

Williams continued to see the ball well with a 3-for-4 day, including his fifth home run of the year to open the scoring for Wake Forest. Williams also roped a double down the line in right field and drove in his second run of the day with a bases-loaded walk in the third inning.

Making his first start as a Demon Deacon, left fielder Boston Torres showed out in his home state, finishing the contest with a trio of hits, including an RBI double in the fourth inning, a pair of singles and a walk.

Junior second baseman Blake Schaaf logged his first three-hit performance as a Demon Deacon, finishing a home run shy of the cycle.

Starting pitcher Chris Levonas picked up his fifth win of the season on the mound, tossing 5.0 innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits and striking out five. The sophomore entered the game leading the nation in strikeouts per nine innings, and now sits at 16.4 K/9 with 56 punchouts in 30.2 innings pitched.

Senior Zach Johnston recorded the final four outs on the mound for the Demon Deacons, with all four outs coming via the strikeout to preserve the victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Despite a leadoff single by junior center fielder Javar Williams, the Demon Deacons were unable to strike in the top of the first.
Working around a two-out walk, starting pitcher Chris Levonas put up a zero, including his first strikeout of the afternoon.
Virginia grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on a Wake Forest miscue.
The Demon Deacons responded immediately with eight runs in the top of the third.
- Williams stayed red hot, blasting his fifth home run of the year over the wall in left to tie the contest at 1-1.
- After a walk and a stolen base from first baseman Kade Lewis, sophomore Dalton Wentz lasered a double 111 mph off the bat to plate Lewis and give Wake Forest the lead.
- Fighting off a 1-2 pitch, designated hitter Matt Conte poked a single to center to drive in Wentz and stretch the Deacs' advantage.
- Left fielder Boston Torres roped a double into the gap in left-center to plate Conte and make it 4-1.
- Back-to-back bases-loaded walks to shortstop JD Stein and Williams plated two more.
- Lewis laced a two-RBI single to left field to cap the scoring, as the Demon Deacons scored six of their eight runs in the inning with two away.
A solo home run got a run back for the Cavaliers in the bottom of the third.
Virginia cut the Wake lead to 8-3 with a run in the bottom of the fourth.
Wake Forest loaded the bases in the fifth but was unable to add on to its advantage.
Levonas worked a clean frame in his final inning of work to keep Wake's lead at 8-3 after five complete innings.
Sophomore reliever Nate Whysong entered in the sixth and made quick work of the Hoos, picking up a pair of strikeouts in the frame.
The Demon Deacons tacked on two more on a bases-loaded walk and a wild pitch to stretch the lead to 10-3 in the seventh.
Sophomore Rhys Bowie entered with the bases juiced in the bottom of the seventh, escaping the jam with a groundout to short to keep the lead at seven through seven.
After a leadoff triple by second baseman Blake Schaaf down the right field line, Stein launched his first career home run deep into the bleachers in right field to push the lead out to 12-3 in the top of the eighth.
A solo homer got a run back for UVA in the bottom half of the inning.
Catcher Jimmy Keenan added an RBI single in the ninth to stretch the lead to nine.
Senior Zach Johnston worked a clean bottom of the ninth to cap the 13-4 victory and even the series.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Junior Javar Williams has been phenomenal in his five career games played at Disharoon Park, going 13-for-25 (.520) with three doubles and a home run. The Dartmouth, Mass., native has also scored eight times while driving in five runs.
- Williams continues to tear up conference pitching, as he is 18-for-33 (.545) with eight RBIs, four home runs and a trio of doubles in ACC play.

STAGGERING STATISTICS

The Demon Deacons move to 10-0 this season when scoring 10 or more runs, and are 210-15 in such games in 17 seasons under head coach Tom Walter.

FROM COACH WALTER
"That's a great win. We needed it. Chris Levonas clutched up for us. His pitch count was high at about 48 pitches through two innings. I was worried we wouldn't be able to get five out of him, but we had a quick 12-pitch third inning, which was huge. He managed to gut it out in the fourth and the fifth and get three big outs in a big situation. JD Stein makes that big play to end the fifth. Offensively, we finally put some timely hitting together in that third inning where we exploded. We got some big two-out RBIs from [Boston] Torres and Kade Lewis. I'm really pleased with our offensive effort today. We haven't used Evan Jones yet, or Will Ray, or Troy Dressler, so we feel good going into tomorrow. It's a big game and we need to find a way to get a series win on the road." - Head Coach Tom Walter

UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons and Cavaliers square off in the rubber game of the series tomorrow, Mar. 22, at 1 p.m. ET on the ACC Network.

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