Wake Forest Pitches Its Way To Another Win At Men’s College World Series

OMAHA—Wake Forest piled up a plus-59 run differential through five games of regionals and super regionals. No team in the super regional era, which began in 1999, had ever gone into the College World Series with a bigger run differential in the NCAA Tournament.

Playing at home at David F. Couch Field in each of the first two rounds of the tournament, the Demon Deacons showed off their high-powered offense, averaging 15 runs per game (their season average is 9.3). They twice scored more than 20 runs in a game, putting up 21 on Big Ten champion Maryland in the winner’s bracket game of the Winston-Salem Regional and then scoring 22 against Alabama, the No. 16 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, to complete a super regionals sweep.

So, of course, Wake Forest has won its first two games in Omaha by 3-2 scores and hasn’t led before the eighth inning either time. In Saturday’s opener, Wake trailed Stanford, 2-1, for much of the game before taking the lead in the eighth inning on a two-run single by Danny Corona. On Monday against LSU, the Deacs fell behind 2-0 in the third inning and tied the game at 2 in the sixth. In the eighth, they pushed ahead when Corona doubled and Bennett Lee drove him in with a single through the left side.

Wake’s ability to win games in a variety of ways has been apparent throughout the season. The Deacs are 54-10 and the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for a reason, after all. But for them to flip the switch so thoroughly in Omaha against Stanford, the Pac-12 champion, and LSU, the Preseason No. 1, has stood out.

“We do have the ability to win games in different ways,” coach Tom Walter said. “Because of all our pitching and defense, we can win the 3-2 game. Because of our offense, we can win the 8-6, or 10-8 game. That’s one of the things I really like about this club.

“But it’s a veteran club and we’ve got some toughness to us. That’s the one thing—I said to the guys in the huddle before the game, I said they don’t know how tough we are. We’re a tough team, tough-minded team. We don’t quit. We don’t give up.”

Wake leads the nation with a 2.81 team ERA, nearly a full run better than second-place Tennessee (3.62). In its first game in Omaha, it started All-American righthander Rhett Lowder, who projects as a top-10 pick next month. In its second game, it started All-American lefthander Josh Hartle, who projects as a first-round pick next year. Every pitcher it has called out of the bullpen—closer Camden Minacci, relief ace Seth Keener, lefthander Sean Sullivan and righthanders Michael Massey and Cole Roland—has brought high-end stuff. On the biggest stage, they are showing why they are the nation’s best pitching staff.

After a couple weeks of the offense leading the way, the pitching staff is picking up a lineup that has been held in check in Omaha. Nobody in the Wake locker room is particularly concerned with that, however. The Deacs are all playing for each other and ready to win any way they can.

“I don’t really care how we win, we’ve just got to win,” pitching coach Corey Muscara said. “I don’t care if we score one run, I don’t care if we score 30 runs, I don’t care if we give up 30 runs. A win is a win is a win. They just need to believe they can win, that’s all that matters. This time of year, everybody’s good, everybody’s got stuff.”

Wake’s 1-2 punch of Lowder and Hartle has been strong. Lowder on Saturday held Stanford to two runs in 5.2 innings. Hartle on Monday overcame some uncharacteristic wildness to deliver a quality start. He held LSU to two runs on four hits and four walks in six innings, while striking out nine. The sophomore is now 11-2, 2.73 with 140 strikeouts and 24 walks in 105.1 innings.

Hartle said he knew he would need to be at his best to beat LSU. While he wasn’t quite at the top of his game, he was able to work around the traffic on the basepaths and turn the ball over to the bullpen with the Deacs in a position to have a chance to come back.

“I feel I mixed well all game and had some command issues, I battled through that,” Hartle said. “But just having that unwavering faith. The guy behind me has got my back at all times while I’m coming in, Massey, Cam, any guy. I was just trying to give us as much for as long as I could.”

Wake’s bullpen has been the difference maker in Omaha. In two games against Stanford and LSU, teams that both rank in the top-20 nationally in scoring, Wake’s relievers have combined for 6.2 scoreless innings. They’ve scattered three hits and two walks and struck out eight batters.

Wake is spoiled for choice in the bullpen, which helps it avoid overexposing any one reliever. The Deacs have been able to confidently pass the ball from pitcher to pitcher all season and especially in Omaha.

“Our pitching staff keeps us in it and throws up zeros,” Walter said. “Again, we got down 2-0 early in both the games, and our staff just kept throwing up zeroes after that and we kept making big pitches and kept making plays.”

On Monday, the star was Minacci, who came on in the eighth inning with runners at first and second. The Deacs had just gotten a game-saving out at home when third baseman Brock Wilken and catcher Bennett Lee combined to make a sensational play to catch Tre’ Morgan for the first out of the inning. But there were still two men on and one out in the inning of a tie game. Minacci quickly squahed the threat, getting Gavin Dugas to ground into an inning-ending double play.

After Lee’s go-ahead hit in the bottom of the eighth, Minacci came back out and threw a quick 1-2-3 inning to end the game. It was the first time he got more than three outs in a game since May 14. He also earned the save in Wake’s win against Stanford, which was his first since May 19.

While Minacci—like most of Wake’s relievers—has had a relatively easy last month, pitching primarily in low-leverage situations, he was able to stay sharp for these moments in Omaha.

“Obviously, you can’t complain when you run through a regional or super regional, outscore opponents by 59,” he said. “I love to get my work in up 16 in a postseason game. I’m not going to complain about that.

“But we’ve been working. We all do a lot of visualization work, and we believe. I’ve seen this a hundred times. I knew there would be a one-run save in Omaha.”

After two tense, one-run wins, Wake is 2-0 in the CWS and one win away from advancing to play for the national championship. Wake on Wednesday will play the winner of Tuesday night’s game between LSU and Tennessee. The Tigers or Volunteers will need to beat the Deacs twice to deny them a spot in the CWS finals.

It’s looked different for Wake in Omaha than it did the last two weeks in Winston-Salem, but the result has been the same: a party in the Deacs’ clubhouse at the end of the game. Wake has yet to lose in the NCAA Tournament and has shown it can win in multiple ways against high-level competition. The Deacs are still three wins shy of the biggest party yet, but they’ve shown that any team that beats them is going to have to fight for it.