App State baseball belted 3 home runs in its midweek matchup against No. 15 Wake Forest University Wednesday, but the Demon Deacons thwarted the upset bid and came away with a 9-8 victory inside a packed Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.
The Demon Deacons wasted no time showing why they’re nationally ranked when infielder Dalton Wentz hit a 2-run shot to left-center field in the top of the first inning.
The Mountaineers cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the first inning. Sophomore utility player Riley Luft attacked the first pitch he saw and looped an RBI single into shallow center field, which scored freshman outfielder Nico Soul.
Wake Forest answered with a 4-run outburst in the second inning. Infielder Austin Hawke lined an RBI double to right-center field to restore the 2-run cushion. Infielder JD Stein drove in a run on a sacrifice fly, and infielder Kade Lewis launched a towering 2-run home run off the batter’s eye in center field, giving the Demon Deacons a 6-1 lead.
Lewis recorded a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth inning making it 7-1, and it seemed Wake Forest was poised to run away with the game.
That was until the Mountaineers came to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Soul hammered one to dead center field for a 2-run blast giving App State life. Sophomore infielder Ethan Puig annihilated a baseball into the trees beyond the left-field wall for a solo home run, flipping his bat for good measure to celebrate his first long ball of the season.
The offense didn’t stop there, as junior outfielder Drew DuPont smacked a triple to right-center immediately after Puig’s home run. Luft brought the crowd out of their seats with an RBI single 3 pitches later, and after a Wake Forest pitching change, redshirt junior first baseman Jalen Seward sent the fans into a frenzy with a 2-run bomb to left field. Seward’s first home run in the Black & Gold tied the game at 7.
(Noah Williford)
Wake Forest regrouped and drew a bases-loaded walk to retake the lead in the top of the fifth inning. It didn’t take long for App State to answer, as Puig sliced a triple down the left-field line, then scored on a groundout by Puig in the bottom of the sixth inning to draw the Mountaineers even once again.
The Demon Deacons had opportunities to grab the lead again in the seventh and eighth innings. Senior right-handed pitcher JJ Garcia worked out of a 2-on, 2-out jam in the seventh, and Luft threw out Wentz from left field to end the eighth inning after Wentz tried to stretch a single into a double.
It took Wake Forest until 2 outs in the top of the ninth inning to finally get the go-ahead run, which came on a bases-loaded walk. App State looked to tie it again in the bottom of the ninth when the Mountaineers got 2 runners on with 2 outs, but graduate student infielder Joseph Zamora’s line drive was caught in center field, and Wake Forest held on for the win.
The loss is the Mountaineers’ fourth in a row, and extends the losing streak against the Demon Deacons to 8 games. The last time App State beat Wake Forest was an 11-9 victory Feb. 26, 2020.
App State battles Presbyterian College this weekend, with the series opener Friday in Clinton, South Carolina. The Saturday game will be at LP Frans Stadium in Hickory, and the series finale Sunday will take place in Boone.
