Coming off a bounce-back, mercy-rule win over Liberty on Tuesday night, Wake Forest took the road trip up to Charlottesville to play a red-hot No. 9 UVA team. The weekend slate tested the Deacs with their second consecutive weekend series against ranked ACC opponents. They looked to continue their momentum from Tuesday’s victory and get back on track in conference play after a disappointing showing against Florida State last weekend.
The Deacs took the field at Disharoon Park Friday evening with hopes of entering the series with the same effort on the mound that they brought to the Couch on Tuesday. Despite the momentous ambition, the Cavaliers came out strong in the bottom of the first, putting 5 runs on the board against Deacon ace Blake Morningstar. Morningstar pitched only three innings, giving up 5 hits and 5 earned runs.
The early ‘hoos offensive effort served as a strong tempo setter, as the Deacs couldn’t climb back for the rest of the game. Wake scored three runs in the last two innings and brought the tying runner to the plate in the ninth, but couldn’t convert.
While able to rally 11 hits throughout the game, led by Dalton Wentz’s 3-for-4 performance, they left runners in scoring position in key moments and failed to keep up with the Virginia offense. With a 10-6 now looming large for the Demon Deacons, a win in Game 2 would be crucial.
Saturday afternoon’s game told a different story from the start, as the Deacs came out fast and grabbed the lead early. Starter Chris Levonas limited the Virginia offense to 2 runs through his five innings pitched, picking up another 5 strikeouts and increasing his record to 5-1 on the year.
Backboned by an 8-run third inning, the Deacs beat the ‘hoos with their own game, building an insurmountable lead early and managing to maintain a 5-run margin throughout the game. Notable Deacon performances included Junior Boston Torres, who went 3-for-4 in his first game as a starter, and Blake Schaff who finished the day a home run shy of the cycle.
Coming off the series-tying win, the Deacs headed into the final game with a chance to clinch the series in a deciding Game 3. The series finale brought a slightly unique theme that we hadn’t seen in the first games. In a back-and-forth battle, unlike the previous outings, neither team grabbed control of the game early. Both a 3-run inning and a 1-run fourth by Wake Forest were quickly answered by UVA punching back with 2 and 5 runs of their own.
Virginia took advantage of a late-struggling Deacs offense and scored 6 runs in the sixth and seventh innings, before icing the game with one more to win by a mercy-rule of 14-4 after eight.
“I needed to do a better job managing our bullpen in that game,” said Coach Tom Walter after the loss. “We knew we wouldn’t get a ton of length out of Troy [Dressler].”
Following the series-deciding loss, the Deacs return home for a non-conference game against Elon on Tuesday night, followed by a weekend series vs Cal. Wake will surely be looking to get back in the win column and get a few ACC wins on their side this weekend at the Couch.
