Wake Forest Baseball faced a tall task, going against the No. 4 Florida State Seminoles, a program that was on a hot streak going into the weekend.
They needed to bounce back in conference play after being swept by the then-unranked Virginia Tech Hokies the weekend beforehand. Between the team’s top arms and intimidating lineup, the difficulty of winning the weekend appeared hard.
The Demon Deacons dispatched the Seminoles, winning two out of three games to take the series. Freshman Dalton Wentz had a monster outing in all three games at the plate, hitting a home run in each outing and earning ACC Player of the Week honors for his performance. Between a mix of hot bats and stellar arms, the Demon Deacons run-ruled the Seminoles twice.
The Heartbreaker
Wake Forest began the weekend with a devastating loss, losing on a ninth-inning walk-off to the Seminoles.
The Demon Deacons started pitcher Luke Schmolke for the first time this year, after the junior had taken a relief role throughout the season. Schmolke let up four runs through 3.1 innings pitched.
Wake Forest attempted a comeback from 4-0 down, scoring four runs across the sixth and seventh innings. Third baseman Wentz kicked off an ultimately stellar weekend by hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth, and Marek Houston hit an RBI single in the seventh to tie the game at four apiece.
However, in the bottom of the ninth, the Demon Deacons could not keep the Seminoles off the board, being walked off and losing the series opener, 5-4.
“Offensively, we just didn’t quite get it done,” said Head Baseball Coach Tom Walter via post-game statement. “We needed to take the lead there early and be able to go to our closer in that situation, which hopefully we can do tomorrow. I’m proud of the way we battled back and tied this game up, we just didn’t find a way to punch across the key run.”
The tremendous two wins
Despite the loss, the Demon Deacons came firing the next day, backed by a bounce-back outing for Logan Lunceford, who had struggled against Virginia Tech the weekend before. The right-hander came out dealing, notching nine strikeouts through 5.2 innings and holding the Seminoles scoreless.
The Demon Deacons continued this momentum at the plate, notching nine runs in the third and fourth innings to increase the gap to an 11-0 lead. Wentz bombed a three-run home run in the bottom half of the third inning to set the Demon Deacons apart, while outfielder Matt Scannell followed up with a three-run shot of his own in the bottom of the fourth.
After going 95 pitches and only allowing three hits, Lunceford was backed up by 1.1 innings of hitless ball from Zach Johnston and Troy Dressler, who kept the Seminoles off the board to complete a stellar 12-0 shutout that saw pitching performances shine.
“That’s a great win that we had to have,” Walter said via post-game statement. “Lunceford was the story with four shutdown innings… [Florida State’s] starter is really good and I thought we had a great plan, so give credit to Coach [Bill] Cilento and Coach [Matt] Wessinger for putting a good plan together and for our guys executing it.”
Similar praise can be said for Sunday’s pitching performances, when starting pitcher Blake Morningstar continued the Demon Deacons’ stretch of terrific pitching performances. Morningstar went five innings and let up two runs.
“Blake Morningstar set the tone for us,” Walter said via post-game statement. “He just kept battling and kept battling until we got a chance to break through, and I was just so proud of Blake. He just kept coming and kept making pitches when we needed him to, and that was huge.”
The Demon Deacons continued their hot stretch at the plate, too. The bats were set alight in the fourth inning when Wentz hit his third home run of the weekend to knot the score at two. Outfielder Cam Nelson followed up with his first career home run, and the Demon Deacons wouldn’t end there.
In the following frame, Wake Forest scored seven runs, as Kade Lewis notched two hits and three RBIs in the same half-inning to put the game out of reach.
Wake Forest experienced top-notch relief performances from Josh Gunther, Haiden Leffew, Nate Whysong and Griffin Green, each of whom did not let up a run in their appearances.
The Demon Deacons finished off the Seminoles, 17-2, and took a crucial series against ranked competition.
A Devastating Loss
Despite winning the weekend series, the Demon Deacons did not come out of the weekend unscathed.
On Monday, it was revealed that Wake Forest star outfielder Ethan Conrad was ruled out for the season with a lower back injury, which had sidelined him for the past few weeks. Conrad elected to have surgery, which is expected to take place on Thursday, April 10.
The Marist transfer more than lived up to expectations, hitting at a .372 batting average and .495 on-base percentage this season, the latter of which was a career-high. Conrad also knocked in 27 RBI,
Conrad also scored via the long-ball, hitting seven home runs through 21 games and 78 at-bats. He had a season-high in RBIs (4) against Long Island earlier this season.
In his stead comes Nelson, who started in the midweek matchups against High Point and UNC-Greensboro, as well as the series against the Seminoles. Nelson had a productive weekend against Florida State, putting up four RBI and a home run during Sunday’s 17-2 win against the Seminoles.
It will be hard to replace Conrad’s talent, but the Demon Deacons need Nelson to continue his improved performance as the team travels to play No. 16 North Carolina this weekend. Wake Forest expects to start a rotation of Chris Levonas, Lunceford and Morningstar on the mound.
