In a ballpark where they’ve faced upset for two straight years, Wake Forest Baseball finally took down the UNC Greensboro Spartans on the road Tuesday night, as they won convincingly thanks to yet another stellar pitching performance. Though the final score was only 5-1, the Deacs remained in complete control for the majority of this game.
The Wake Forest offense got started in the first inning as sophomore third baseman Dalton Wentz drew a two-out walk, and after stealing second base, came around to score on an RBI single from sophomore outfielder Luke Costello. Luke, the older of the two Costello brothers on the Wake Forest team, has burst back onto the scene after missing the first week of the season due to injury. He owns a 1.646 OPS and already leads the team in RBIs.
The Spartans responded on home turf in the bottom of the first as they loaded the bases on Deacon starting pitcher Cameron Bagwell, and one run came in to score on a groundout. Thankfully, Bagwell got out of the jam with a strikeout and kept the game at a 1-1 tie.
Things got rather odd in the second inning. Catcher Jimmy Keenan was hit by a pitch, sophomore outfielder and Ole Miss transfer Jackson Miller hit the first pitch he saw over the wall in left-center field and UNCG center-fielder Brantley Truitt couldn’t quite come up with the robbery.
Unfortunately, in the confusion of the attempted catch and uncertainty about whether or not the ball was over the wall, Miller passed Keenan on the basepass rounding second base. By rule, Miller, as the trailing runner, was out. His first collegiate home run was negated, and his run did not score. The play ended up officially scored as a single, and instead of a 3-1 lead, the Wake Forest advantage was just 2-1.
The rest of this game was pure domination from the Deacon pitching staff. From there on out, not a single UNCG runner even reached second base. Bagwell tossed the next four scoreless innings, finishing his outing with 7 strikeouts, while allowing just 4 hits, 2 walks and one run.
“[Bagwell] wasn’t great in the first, but I thought he really settled down after that and threw the baseball like we’ve been seeing him throw it all year,” Head Coach Tom Walter said postgame.
The Demon Deacons got some insurance in the fourth inning, as Miller singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on an error from Spartan first baseman Jake Mueller on a Javar Williams ground ball. Two batters later, Williams and second baseman Blake Schaaf, who reached on a walk, both scored as Deacon second-team All-American Kade Lewis laced a 2-run double down the right field line to make it 5-1 for Wake Forest.
After Bagwell’s exit, the Demon Deacon bullpen dominated the final four innings, as senior Luke Schmolke, senior Zach Johnston, sophomore Troy Dressler and freshman Evan Jones combined to allow just two baserunners, while facing the minimum 12 batters over the final innings, aided by 2 double plays.
“Our bullpen was really good,” Walter said. “It’s a matter of coming in and pitching ahead, and we did that tonight pretty consistently.”
The Demon Deacons moved to 7-1 with the win and took the first true road game of their season.
