Wake Forest Athletics
Sunday, March 22
Charlottesville, VA
1 p.m.
Wake Forest University
17-7, 4-5
4
at
14
Virginia
20-5, 6-3
1st innning1
2nd innning2
3rd innning3
4th innning4
5th innning5
6th innning6
7th innning7
8th innning8
RunsR
HitsH
ErrorsE
Wake Forest
0
0
3
1
0
0
0
0
4
7
0
Virginia
0
0
2
5
0
2
4
1
14
12
0
Photo by: Whetstone Photography
No. 24 Wake Forest Falls in Rubber Game at No. 9 Virginia
3/22/2026 5:04:00 PM | Baseball
The Demon Deacons are back in action on Tuesday against Elon at The Couch.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 24 Wake Forest baseball team (17-7, 4-5 ACC) dropped the series finale, 14-4, to No. 9 Virginia (20-5, 6-3 ACC) on Sunday afternoon at Disharoon Park.
Juniors Kade Lewis and Blake Schaaf both collected a pair of hits to pace the Demon Deacons, including a double from each.
Right fielder Luke Costello became the first Deac to reach 30 RBIs this season, collecting his 30th and 31st on a two-RBI single in the third inning to open the scoring.
Freshman JD Stein finished 3-for-8 over the last two games of the series with a double, a homer, and four RBIs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
"I needed to do a better job managing our bullpen in that game. We knew we wouldn't get a ton of length out of Troy [Dressler]. He's just building up. He hadn't thrown more than 55 pitches in an outing. Probably should have made a different pitch call there in the third, maybe would have gotten us out of that inning scoreless. Maybe we could have gotten him through the fourth. Once the third became taxing for him, I probably should have gone to [Evan] Jones to start the fourth. Jones came in and was just uncharacteristically not landing his slider. It's a good teaching moment for him. We'll use this to grow on and get better. We have a big week coming up, Elon at home, and then three games at home against Cal. I like the way we're starting to swing the bats. I like the way our lineup's coming together. We're getting some length in our lineup. I still like our pitching options. We've got a good ball club, and coming into a part of our schedule where we should be successful." - Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest returns home for the next four games, starting with a midweek matchup against in-state foe Elon on Tuesday, Mar. 24, with first pitch set for 6 p.m. from David F. Couch Ballpark.
FOLLOW THE DEACS
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Juniors Kade Lewis and Blake Schaaf both collected a pair of hits to pace the Demon Deacons, including a double from each.
Right fielder Luke Costello became the first Deac to reach 30 RBIs this season, collecting his 30th and 31st on a two-RBI single in the third inning to open the scoring.
Freshman JD Stein finished 3-for-8 over the last two games of the series with a double, a homer, and four RBIs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Starting pitcher Troy Dressler opened things up with a 1-2-3 bottom of the first to keep the game knotted after an inning of play.
- Wake Forest put a runner in scoring position with two away, but was unable to strike first in the top of the second.
- Dressler ran his strikeout total to four through the first two innings, striking out the side in the second.
- The Demon Deacons mounted a two-out rally, striking for three runs with two away to grab an early lead in the top of the third.
- After the first two batters of the inning were retired, junior Javar Williams worked a walk to get things going with two away.
- First baseman Kade Lewis collected the first hit of the contest, singling to center field to move Williams to third.
- Lewis moved to second on a stolen base to put two in scoring position.
- Third baseman Dalton Wentz fought off a pair of pitches to earn a walk and load the bases.
- Sophomore Luke Costello ambushed the first pitch he saw, sending a laser 105 mph off the bat into left field to plate a pair of runs.
- Catcher Matt Conte went the other way on a 1-0 pitch, punching a single to right field to plate Wentz and make it 3-0 in favor of the Demon Deacons.
- Virginia answered with two runs in the bottom of the third.
- Wake Forest punched back with a run in the top of the fourth, as JD Stein continued his outstanding weekend with an opposite-field double down the line in right to bring in Blake Schaaf.
- The Cavaliers took the lead with five runs in the fourth.
- A 6-4-3 double play got the Deacs out of the fifth inning unscathed.
- Virginia added a pair of runs in the sixth to take a 9-4 lead.
- UVA added four runs in the seventh.
- Virginia took the series finale, 14-4, in eight innings.
"I needed to do a better job managing our bullpen in that game. We knew we wouldn't get a ton of length out of Troy [Dressler]. He's just building up. He hadn't thrown more than 55 pitches in an outing. Probably should have made a different pitch call there in the third, maybe would have gotten us out of that inning scoreless. Maybe we could have gotten him through the fourth. Once the third became taxing for him, I probably should have gone to [Evan] Jones to start the fourth. Jones came in and was just uncharacteristically not landing his slider. It's a good teaching moment for him. We'll use this to grow on and get better. We have a big week coming up, Elon at home, and then three games at home against Cal. I like the way we're starting to swing the bats. I like the way our lineup's coming together. We're getting some length in our lineup. I still like our pitching options. We've got a good ball club, and coming into a part of our schedule where we should be successful." - Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest returns home for the next four games, starting with a midweek matchup against in-state foe Elon on Tuesday, Mar. 24, with first pitch set for 6 p.m. from David F. Couch Ballpark.
FOLLOW THE DEACS
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Yoder, Noah (1-0)
L: Jones, Evan (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Stein, JD 1 ; Lewis, Kade 1 ; Schaaf, Blake 1
RBI: Stein, JD 1 ; Conte, Matt 1 ; Costello, Luke 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Wentz, Dalton 1 ; Lewis, Kade 1 ; Schaaf, Blake 1 ; Williams, Javar 1
SB: Lewis, Kade 1 ; Schaaf, Blake 1
HBP: Costello, Luke 1
Batting:
2B: Weatherspoon, Jake 1 ; Gracia, AJ 1
3B: Becker, Eric 1
HR: Johnson, Kyle 1
RBI: Becker, Eric 1 ; Didawick, Harrison 1 ; Enis, Griffin 2 ; Johnson, Kyle 3 ; Harris, Sam 4 ; Tiroly, Joe 1 ; Gracia, AJ 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Becker, Eric 4 ; Didawick, Harrison 1 ; Murray, Noah 2 ; Johnson, Kyle 1 ; Jackson, Zach 1 ; Weatherspoon, Jake 3 ; Gracia, AJ 1 ; Neely, Bryce 1
SB: Harris, Sam 1
HBP: Tiroly, Joe 1 ; Gracia, AJ 1
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
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