Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Falls in Finale; Takes Series at Pitt
4/5/2026 5:01:00 PM | Baseball
The Demon Deacons earned their sixth straight series win over the Panthers with victories on Friday and Saturday.
PITTSBURGH – Despite taking the first two games of the series, the Wake Forest baseball team (23-10, 8-7 ACC) fell against Pitt (21-9, 6-6 ACC), as a pair of sac flies in the bottom of the ninth helped the Panthers secure the walk off win over the Demon Deacons, 4-3, in the finale.
Junior Javar Williams extended his hit streak to six games with a double to right field to open the fourth inning, matching his longest streak of the season. On the season, Williams is hitting .373 in ACC play to pace the Demon Deacons, including a team-high 18 runs scored out of the leadoff spot in league action.
Despite not factoring into the decision, sophomore starting pitcher Cameron Bagwell logged another solid outing on the mound for the Deacs, allowing just one run over the course of six innings. Bagwell recorded 11 ground ball outs, including a pair of double plays, to get through the first 5.0 innings scoreless.
Wake Forest added a pair of two-out RBIs in the sixth and seventh innings, as junior first baseman Kade Lewis drove in a run on a single up the middle in the sixth to give him 26 RBIs on the season.
Meanwhile, freshman shortstop JD Stein added a two-out RBI single of his own in the top of the seventh.
Stein came alive over the last two games of the series, finishing .500 (3-for-6) at the plate with a home run, double and four RBIs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
"That's a game that we should have found a way to win. [The] pitching decisions late, I'm going to be thinking about those for a while. [I] could have extended [Cameron] Bagwell a little longer. His pitch count was in good shape, and his velocity was still good. [I] certainly could have left [Rhys] Bowie in there for a few more hitters. [I] wanted to go to Slim [Zach Johnston] in the ninth there and didn't pull the trigger on it. That's on me. If we make a play on a bunt, or even the second bunt, don't hit the guy with two strikes, we probably found a way to win that game. [We had] some situational at-bats along the way, man on second, nobody out in the first inning, first and second, nobody out later in the game. We didn't cash in and it came back to haunt us. On Sundays, you can't expect three runs to win. You've got to find a way to score more than that on a Sunday in our league. We didn't do that today." - Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons continue their nine-game road stretch with a neutral-site contest against No. 14 Coastal Carolina at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
FOLLOW THE DEACS
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Junior Javar Williams extended his hit streak to six games with a double to right field to open the fourth inning, matching his longest streak of the season. On the season, Williams is hitting .373 in ACC play to pace the Demon Deacons, including a team-high 18 runs scored out of the leadoff spot in league action.
Despite not factoring into the decision, sophomore starting pitcher Cameron Bagwell logged another solid outing on the mound for the Deacs, allowing just one run over the course of six innings. Bagwell recorded 11 ground ball outs, including a pair of double plays, to get through the first 5.0 innings scoreless.
Wake Forest added a pair of two-out RBIs in the sixth and seventh innings, as junior first baseman Kade Lewis drove in a run on a single up the middle in the sixth to give him 26 RBIs on the season.
Meanwhile, freshman shortstop JD Stein added a two-out RBI single of his own in the top of the seventh.
Stein came alive over the last two games of the series, finishing .500 (3-for-6) at the plate with a home run, double and four RBIs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Starting pitcher Cameron Bagwell pitched a three-up, three-down frame in the first inning.
- Despite allowing a one-out double, Bagwell managed to get out of danger with another scoreless inning in the second.
- The Wake Forest defense kept the score deadlocked in the bottom of the third, highlighted by a 5-4-3 double play.
- After a leadoff double by junior center fielder Javar Williams, the Deacs plated the opening run of the game on an RBI groundout by sophomore right fielder Luke Costello.
- The Demon Deacons turned another double play as they held Pitt off the board once again in the bottom of the fourth.
- Bagwell tossed a clean inning in the fifth as the Deacs maintained their one-run lead.
- Wake Forest extended its advantage to 2-0 in the top of the sixth as junior first baseman Kade Lewis ripped a single up the middle to score freshman shortstop JD Stein from second.
- The Panthers cut the lead in half with a run in the bottom of the sixth.
- Wake Forest responded immediately in the top of the seventh with an RBI single by Stein.
- Pitt made it a one-run game in the bottom of the seventh.
- Relievers Rhys Bowie and Marcelo Harsch combined to get out of a bases-loaded jam with no outs to limit the damage and hold onto the lead.
- The Deacs threatened with a runner in scoring position in the eighth, but were unable to extend their lead.
- Harsch continued to deal on the mound as he added three strikeouts in a scoreless eighth inning.
- The Panthers walked it off in the ninth as the Deacs fell, 4-3.
"That's a game that we should have found a way to win. [The] pitching decisions late, I'm going to be thinking about those for a while. [I] could have extended [Cameron] Bagwell a little longer. His pitch count was in good shape, and his velocity was still good. [I] certainly could have left [Rhys] Bowie in there for a few more hitters. [I] wanted to go to Slim [Zach Johnston] in the ninth there and didn't pull the trigger on it. That's on me. If we make a play on a bunt, or even the second bunt, don't hit the guy with two strikes, we probably found a way to win that game. [We had] some situational at-bats along the way, man on second, nobody out in the first inning, first and second, nobody out later in the game. We didn't cash in and it came back to haunt us. On Sundays, you can't expect three runs to win. You've got to find a way to score more than that on a Sunday in our league. We didn't do that today." - Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons continue their nine-game road stretch with a neutral-site contest against No. 14 Coastal Carolina at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
FOLLOW THE DEACS
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
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