Wake Forest Athletics

Wake Forest Drops Finale in Extra Innings; Wins Series Against NC State
4/19/2026 4:59:00 PM | Baseball
Junior Kade Lewis recorded three hits and a season-high four RBIs to lead the Demon Deacons.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Despite securing run-rule wins in the first two games of the series, the Wake Forest baseball team (27-14, 11-10 ACC) dropped the series finale to NC State (26-14, 9-9 ACC) in 10 innings, falling by a score of 6-5 on Sunday afternoon at David F. Couch Ballpark.
Junior Kade Lewis recorded his 19th multi-hit game of the season to lead the Demon Deacon offense, finishing the game with three hits and a season-high four RBIs. Lewis roped a two-run single to give the Demon Deacons the lead in the first inning, before launching his eighth home run of the season in the third. The Sartell, Minn., native also added an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th to make it a one-run game.
Lewis was spectacular throughout the series, finishing 8-for-10 at the plate with nine RBIs, three home runs and five runs scored in the three games against the Wolfpack. He also logged a home run in each game of the series, matching his longest home run streak of the season.
Freshman JD Stein provided the only other run of the game for the Deacs as he launched a solo shot just over the left field wall in the bottom of the seventh, marking his fourth home run of the season and second of the series. Stein also added a two-out single in the ninth to give him his eighth multi-hit performance of the season.
Sophomore starting pitcher Cameron Bagwell recorded a solid outing on the mound as he logged three strikeouts while allowing just two runs in 5.0 innings pitched. Meanwhile, sophomore Rhys Bowie tossed five strikeouts in 2.0 innings of relief.
HOW IT HAPPENED
"That's a bad loss. It's a game that we should have found a way to win. We gave ourselves a chance in the ninth and the 10th, which I'm proud of, but [we] had the lead late and couldn't hold on to it. We had a chance in the first inning to blow the game open. We had runners on first and second, nobody out, two runs already in, and we just had two non-competitive at-bats. Late in the game, we gave up too many free passes and couldn't control the running game. They found a way to punch across runs and unfortunately, we didn't make them earn those runs, which is disappointing. I thought [Rhys] Bowie threw the ball well. I maybe should have gone to [Marcelo] Harsch to start the eighth if I had it to do it over again. That's probably the one decision I would make differently. I know they had a ton of hits, but not a lot of them were hit hard. They just kind of found space, and that's baseball. Our balls didn't find holes, and theirs did. We need to bounce back and find a way to win on Tuesday, and then we have a huge series coming up at Georgia Tech." - Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest will host UNCG for its final home midweek of the season on Tuesday evening, with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m.
FOLLOW THE DEACS
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Junior Kade Lewis recorded his 19th multi-hit game of the season to lead the Demon Deacon offense, finishing the game with three hits and a season-high four RBIs. Lewis roped a two-run single to give the Demon Deacons the lead in the first inning, before launching his eighth home run of the season in the third. The Sartell, Minn., native also added an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th to make it a one-run game.
Lewis was spectacular throughout the series, finishing 8-for-10 at the plate with nine RBIs, three home runs and five runs scored in the three games against the Wolfpack. He also logged a home run in each game of the series, matching his longest home run streak of the season.
Freshman JD Stein provided the only other run of the game for the Deacs as he launched a solo shot just over the left field wall in the bottom of the seventh, marking his fourth home run of the season and second of the series. Stein also added a two-out single in the ninth to give him his eighth multi-hit performance of the season.
Sophomore starting pitcher Cameron Bagwell recorded a solid outing on the mound as he logged three strikeouts while allowing just two runs in 5.0 innings pitched. Meanwhile, sophomore Rhys Bowie tossed five strikeouts in 2.0 innings of relief.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- NC State opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first.
- The Demon Deacons responded in the home half of the first to take a 2-1 lead.
- Junior Javar Williams led off the frame with a double to right field.
- After loading the bases with back-to-back walks by sophomores Dalton Wentz and Luke Costello, junior Kade Lewis roped a two-RBI single to left field to give the Deacs the lead.
- Starting pitcher Cameron Bagwell bounced back with a shutdown frame in the second, highlighted by an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
- Despite a one-out double by junior Blake Schaaf, the Demon Deacons were unable to extend their lead in the bottom of the second.
- Lewis recorded an unassisted double play to keep NC State off the board once again in the third.
- The Sartell, Minn., native belted his eighth home run of the season in the bottom half of the inning to make it a two-run game.
- Bagwell logged his third strikeout of the game to close out another shutdown inning in the fourth.
- NC State cut the lead down to one in the top of the fifth.
- Sophomore reliever Rhys Bowie tossed three strikeouts to leave a pair of runners in scoring position stranded in the sixth.
- The Haworth, N.J., native added two more punchouts in a scoreless top of the seventh.
- Freshman JD Stein pushed the Wake Forest lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh as he skied a solo shot just over the left field wall for his fourth home run of the season and second of the series.
- The Wolfpack tied the game at 4-4 in the eighth.
- Freshman Marcelo Harsch had a pair of strikeouts to keep the game tied heading into the bottom of the ninth.
- Despite getting a pair of runners aboard with two outs, Wake Forest was unable to bring in the winning run in the ninth.
- NC State took the lead in the top of the 10th.
- The Demon Deacons cut it to a one-run game in the bottom of the 10th as Lewis hit a one-out single for his fourth RBI of the game.
- Wake Forest put two runners in scoring position later in the inning, but ultimately fell by a score of 6-5.
- Wake Forest put two runners in scoring position later in the inning, but ultimately fell by a score of 6-5.
"That's a bad loss. It's a game that we should have found a way to win. We gave ourselves a chance in the ninth and the 10th, which I'm proud of, but [we] had the lead late and couldn't hold on to it. We had a chance in the first inning to blow the game open. We had runners on first and second, nobody out, two runs already in, and we just had two non-competitive at-bats. Late in the game, we gave up too many free passes and couldn't control the running game. They found a way to punch across runs and unfortunately, we didn't make them earn those runs, which is disappointing. I thought [Rhys] Bowie threw the ball well. I maybe should have gone to [Marcelo] Harsch to start the eighth if I had it to do it over again. That's probably the one decision I would make differently. I know they had a ton of hits, but not a lot of them were hit hard. They just kind of found space, and that's baseball. Our balls didn't find holes, and theirs did. We need to bounce back and find a way to win on Tuesday, and then we have a huge series coming up at Georgia Tech." - Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
Wake Forest will host UNCG for its final home midweek of the season on Tuesday evening, with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m.
FOLLOW THE DEACS
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Nance, Anderson (2-1)
L: Harsch, Marcelo (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Ryan, Mikey 1
RBI: Head, Ty 2 ; Lanphere, Drew 1 ; DeCarlo, Vincent 1 ; Johnson, Sherman 1 ; Peifer, Wyatt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Head, Ty 2 ; Johnson, Rett 2 ; Ryan, Mikey 2
SB: Head, Ty 2 ; Johnson, Rett 1 ; Ryan, Mikey 3
HBP: Novy, Brandon 1

Batting:
2B: Schaaf, Blake 1 ; Costello, Luke 1 ; Williams, Javar 1
HR: Stein, JD 1 ; Lewis, Kade 1
RBI: Stein, JD 1 ; Lewis, Kade 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Wentz, Dalton 1 ; Stein, JD 1 ; Lewis, Kade 1 ; Costello, Luke 1 ; Williams, Javar 1
SB: Wentz, Dalton 1 ; Williams, Javar 1
Game Leaders
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