By Andrew Kube
Coming into Friday's series opener with St. John's, Wake Forest was 4-1 coming off a midweek loss at UNC-Greensboro, where they were shut out 4-0 and mustered only two hits. Wake needed a bounce-back weekend, and they got it with a sweep over the Red Storm. Let's take a look at how the weekend went for the Deacs.
Game 1: Win, 7-0
Logan Lunceford took the mound for game one on Friday Night and was, in a word, PHENOMENAL. He struck out 13 batters in just 5.1 innings of work while allowing just one hit and walking two. Will Ray, Zach Johnston, and Luke Schmolke closed out game one for the Deacs, going 3.2 innings and allowing zero runs on five hits, striking out seven hitters. Matt Scannell started the scoring with a grand slam in the 5th inning for his first home run as a Demon Deacon. Kade Lewis and Freshman Dalton Wentz both added their first home runs for Wake in this one as well.
Game 2: Win, 11-0
Matthew Dallas got the start for game two, and he was very sharp, allowing just one hit, four walks, and striking out four over his six innings of work. Matt Bedford, Griffin Green, and Haiden Leffew closed this one out for Wake Forest, and they all threw fewer than ten pitches in each of their innings of work.
The lineup looked a little bit more like the first weekend, as they scored 11 runs on 12 hits, and worked 7 walks. Jack Winnay had a monster game for Wake as he went 2-for-3 with two home runs, adding three RBI and working a walk. Lewis went back-to-back with Winnay in the five-run third inning with an opposite-field home run that broke the game open.
Ethan Conrad added another double to his season total with a 2-hit, 3-RBI night. Antonio Morales also had a big game in this one, going 3-for-5 with an RBI, as well as making two web-gem defensive plays, definitely a spark for this Wake Forest team this weekend.
Game 3: Win, 9-6
The Sunday finale was a little bit more nail-biting than the first two games of this series. Joe Ariola got the start for Wake and struggled early, working only 1.2 innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits, and walking another two hitters. Blake Morningstar relieved Ariola and was sharp, striking out seven hitters over 4.1 innings of work, allowing only one hit and one walk.
Will Ray pitched a scoreless 7th, striking out two. Zach Johnston failed to get out of the 8th inning, giving up two runs on three hits in just 2/3 of an inning. Josh Gunther entered and closed it out, getting the last out of the 8th, then striking out the side in the 9th.
Scannell hit another home run this weekend, going 2-for-3 with a walk. Marek Houston had a couple of big hits in this game, including a 2-RBI single in the 8th to make it a 9-6 ballgame. Morales added another two-hit day, working two walks and adding an RBI. Winnay had a big two-RBI double to get the scoring started for Wake Forest in the three-run 1st inning.
With the sweep, Wake Forest improves to 7-1 on the season and will host a fairly difficult Elon squad Tuesday night before hosting Princeton and Maryland for four games on the weekend. For the single Friday and Saturday games and the Sunday doubleheader, Coach Tom Walter will likely go with the same rotation we saw in the season-opening four-game weekend.
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