Demon Deacons Season Comes to a Close at Morgantown Regional

Sunday, May 31

Morgantown, WV

12 p.m.

Wake Forest University

39-21

West Virginia

41-15

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Wake Forest	0	0	1	2	0	0	1	1	0	5	5	2
West Virginia	0	3	0	0	1	6	0	0	X	10	13	1

Demon Deacons Season Comes to a Close at Morgantown Regional

5/31/2026 4:22:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Wake Forest reached 30 wins for the fifth-straight season.

By: KJ Smith & Grant Keith

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Despite erasing a 3-0 deficit to tie the game in the fourth inning, the Wake Forest baseball team (39-21) saw its 2026 season come to a close on Sunday afternoon, falling 10-5 to host West Virginia at Kendrick Family Ballpark.

Catcher Matt Conte blasted a two-run opposite-field home run for his 12th of the season. For the Regional, Conte went 4-for-13 (.308) with two home runs, a pair of doubles and six RBIs.

Freshman Andrew Costello hit his second home run of the Regional, lifting a solo shot in the seventh inning for his fourth of the year.

Third baseman Dalton Wentz added his third double of the series and 19th of the year, finishing the Regional 6-for-12 (.500) to lead Wake Forest.

Center fielder Javar Williams added his 32nd stolen base of the season to finish fifth in a single season in steals for the Demon Deacons, while recording a double in the ninth to hit safely in all three games of the Regional.

Second baseman Blake Schaaf added his second double of the Regional, later coming around to score the first run of the day for Wake Forest. The junior finished the Regional, going 5-for-11 (.455) with the aforementioned two doubles, three runs scored, two RBIs and a pair of walks.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Starting pitcher Troy Dressler used a groundout and a pair of flyouts to get through the bottom of the first in order.
Junior Boston Torres worked a two-out walk, but that was all for Wake Forest in the top of the second.
West Virginia struck first with three runs in the bottom of the second.
Following a leadoff double to the corner in left field by junior Blake Schaaf, fellow junior Javar Williams drove in Schaaf on an RBI groundout to make it 3-1 in the top of the third.
Dressler bounced back in the bottom of the third as he notched his second strikeout of the game to secure a three-up, three-down frame.
The Demon Deacons tied the game in the top of the fourth as sophomore Matt Conte launched a two-run home run the opposite way to right field.
- Conte's 12th of the year left the bat at 95 mph, traveling 368 feet for the opposite field homer.
Dressler added another punchout to close out a shutdown fourth inning.
The Mountaineers retook a 4-3 lead in the fifth.
- West Virginia tacked on six more in the bottom of the sixth.
Freshman Andrew Costello hit a leadoff solo home run to left field to cut the deficit down to 10-4 in the top of the seventh.
Freshman left-hander Ryan Bosch tossed a pair of strikeouts in a scoreless bottom of the seventh.
Sophomore Dalton Wentz roped his 19th double of the season before coming around to score on a wild pitch to make it a five-run game in the eighth.
Senior Will Ray recorded a pair of strikeouts en route to a scoreless frame in the bottom of the eighth.
The Demon Deacons fell, 10-5.

FROM COACH WALTER
"First off, congratulations to West Virginia and Kentucky. Playing for a Regional final, that's not easy to do. It's been a great venue this weekend. I'm glad we got to play in front of the home crowd. They have built an amazing program here. Like I said a couple days ago, Coach Mazey and Coach Sabins have done an unbelievable job building this place and today was a great win for their program. They played well.

When I look at this weekend, two innings got away from us. One inning on Friday got away from us. We gave away some free 90s and they found some green space. [Kentucky] didn't hit the ball hard particularly hard. We had the same sort of thing happen today with the six-spot. [West Virginia] had a couple balls that just kind of found turf. There were a couple of free 90s that we gave them. Credit to West Virginia. They found a way to put the ball in play when they needed to.

Fell a couple wins short of playing at home, which is always tough, and fell a couple plays short of coming out of this Region. I'm proud of our club.

I'm proud of this gentleman sitting next to us, Will Ray. He's been with us for five years and we've been in five Regionals and been to Omaha. Nobody in the history of Wake Forest baseball has had a more storied career and had more success than Will Ray. His leadership has been a big part of that success. He's battled through some things and come out the other side. The way he pitched this weekend makes me even more proud. I'm proud that he's affiliated with our program." - Head Coach Tom Walter

2026 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

Wake Forest is one of 13 programs to make the NCAA Tournament in each of the last five seasons.
- Additionally, the Demon Deacons are one of just five schools to be a one or two seed in the last four tournaments, joined by Arkansas, Oregon State, Southern Miss and Tennessee.
Wake reached the 30-win mark for the fifth-straight season, the longest such streak since the Deacs won 30 or more in six-straight seasons from 1997-2002.
The Demon Deacons are the only ACC program to win at least 15 conference games for the last five seasons.
For the fifth-straight year, at least three Wake Forest baseball student-athletes were named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference teams, with Chris Levonas (First Team), Kade Lewis (Second Team), Luke Costello (Third Team), Dalton Wentz (Third Team), Javar Williams (Third Team) and Evan Jones (All-Freshman Team) all selected to the all-conference team.
- The Demon Deacons have now placed at least one athlete on the First-Team ballot in 10 of the last 12 All-ACC teams.

With a clear home-field advantage, Wake has gone 134-30-1 since 2022 at The Couch with at least 20 wins at home in each of the last five seasons, including a stellar 34-3 mark on its way to a program-record 54 wins in 2023, 25-7 in 2024, 24-8 in 2025 and finished 2026 with a 25-5 mark.
- Over the past five seasons, the Demon Deacons have outscored their opponents by over 850 runs at The Couch, with a 1,554-695 margin in 165 contests.
- Wake Forest scored seven or more runs in 22 of 30 contests at home this season.
- The Deacs saw a 69-game non-conference home win streak come to an end in 2025, but are 90-2 since 2022, including a perfect 15-0 mark this season.
The Wake Forest pitching staff allowed just one hit on three different occasions this season, doing so against Liberty (3/17), Elon (3/24) and UNCG (4/21).
- The three one-hit efforts mark the most in a single season since the turn of the century.
Over the last five seasons, Wake Forest has totaled 577 home runs, which leads the ACC and also ranks fourth nationally during that time.
With the win on Friday against Duke, the Demon Deacons won 10 consecutive games, the longest since winning 15 straight earlier this season.
- It marked the first time since 2002 that Wake has had two double-digit win streaks in the same season.
- Under head coach Tom Walter, the Demon Deacons have had six streaks of 10 or more wins.