Last night, the Wake Forest baseball team fell to the surging High Point Panthers in a brutal 1-0 loss. After losing the final game of the weekend against Cal at home, dropping a mid-week game against an in-state rival was less than ideal for the Demon Deacons.
It all started with the offense for both sides, or lack thereof, as neither team could squander a run for the first six innings. Javar Williams and Dalton Wentz were the only two Demon Deacons to reach base multiple times, giving Wake Forest very minimal chances to cash in runs.
A significant reason as to why the Deacs couldn’t get anything across could be attributed to the pitcher-friendly conditions at Williard Stadium, as winds gusting up to 15 mph blew in from left field all game long. Wake Forest Head Coach Tom Walter cited this as a big reason for the Deacs’ offensive struggles.
“On a different day where the ball isn’t blowing straight in, we could have probably hit seven or eight homers,” Walter said. “Today, we saw that those balls were not getting out, and we needed to be able to get inside the baseball and have a little bit better of an approach.”
While it was a similar story for High Point offensively, a go-ahead double in the seventh by catcher Seojun Oh broke the seal. The red-hot Oh extended his hitting streak to eight games last night and has been a huge contributing factor to the Panthers’ success. His run-scoring knock would end up being the only run scored for the Panthers on Tuesday.
Amidst all of the poor performances last night from the Demon Deacons, Duncan Marsten outshone them all. Marsten, who has recently cooled off after an incredible start to his season, found his groove once again facing the Panthers. Getting pushed to his absolute limit, the right-hander went for a season-high 6.1 innings while striking out 6.
Along with the right-hander’s blazing fastball, all of his offspeed offerings seemed to work in perfect harmony. Aside from the one mistake he made against Oh, Marsten certainly did his part in keeping this game as close as it was.
This is the second consecutive game in which a strong performance from a Wake Forest starting pitcher did not get the job done. Last Sunday, Troy Dresslor’s 1-run outing against Cal was not enough to give the Deacs a weekend sweep, as bullpen woes and offensive struggles were the tale of the tape.
“That is two games in a row that we have wasted a really good start,” Walter said. “I thought Duncan was fantastic today. We should have found a way to get that win for him.”
Ahead of this afternoon’s game against Clemson in Charlotte, Wake Forest will need to prioritize getting runs on the board early. Rhys Bowie will get the start for the Deacs in a potential bullpen game against the Tigers. Game time is at 6:30 p.m. Eastern with ACCNX broadcasting the matchup.
