Wake Forest University
40-18-1
UConn
47-13
Wake Forest Falls to UConn in Opening Game of College Park Regional
6/3/2022 5:51:00 PM | Baseball
The Demon Deacons tied the game in the bottom of the eighth with RBIs from Nick Kurtz and Brock Wilken as well as a two-run home run from Adam Cecere.
COLLEGE PARK, Md.- The Wake Forest baseball team fell just short in the opening game of the College Park Regional to UConn, 8-7, on Friday afternoon at Bob Smith Stadium.
The Demon Deacons (40-18-1) scored the game's first run as Nick Kurtz knocked in a two-out RBI-single in the bottom of the first inning. The Huskies (47-13) tied the game in the top of the third before another two-out RBI-single from Jake Reinisch gave Wake Forest the lead back.
The Deacs battled their way back from a five-run deficit with a Lucas Costello solo home run and a four-run eighth inning. An RBI-groundout from Kurtz, an RBI-single from Brock Wilken and a game-tying two-run home run from Adam Cecere locked the game at seven heading into the ninth.
UConn ultimately took the first game of the College Park Regional with an unearned run in the next half inning.
Rhett Lowder made his 16th start of the season, striking out seven in 6.1 innings. The Albemarle, N.C. native started strong, retiring the first eight batters he faced.
With his seven punchouts today, Lowder has fanned the 10th most batters in a single season by a Wake Forest pitcher in program history (105).
Gabe Golob gave the Deacs 1.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen, allowing no hits and walking just one batter.
Wilken led the way at the plate with two hits, his 21st multi-hit game of the season, while Cecere and Kurtz each drove in a team-high two runs.
Cecere's game-tying two-run blast in the eighth marked the second-straight game the Adams Township, Pa. native has hit a home run.
Lucas Costello's pinch hit home run in the bottom of the seventh also marked the second-straight game the Miami, Fla. native has homered. Minutes after his fourth long fly of the season, Costello made a jumping catch in center field to end the eighth inning and allowed Wake Forest's four runs in the next half inning to tie the game.
How It Happened
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Rhett Lowder retired the Huskies in order to open up the game, highlighted by an inning-ending strikeout.
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Wake Forest took a 1-0 lead thanks to a two-out RBI-single from Nick Kurtz in the bottom of the first.
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Tommy Hawke scored on Kurtz's base knock to right field after walking to lead off the inning.
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Brendan Tinsman also walked to extend the bottom of the first.
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Lowder tossed another 1-2-3- inning in the top of the second, highlighted by his second strikeout.
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To end the inning, Brock Wilken fielded a bunt down the third-base line and fired the ball to Kurtz at first for the third out of the frame.
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UConn tied the game at 1 in the top of the third with back-to-back base hits. Lowder induced an inning-ending groundout to Wilken to strand a Huskie base runner at second.
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After Lowder tossed a scoreless fourth, highlighted by his fourth strikeout, Wake Forest retook the lead (2-1) with another two-out RBI-single in the bottom of the inning.
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Jake Reinisch pushed a ball through to right field, scoring Wilken from second.
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Wilken singled to center field to start off the two-out rally. Adam Cecere walked to push Wilken to second.
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Four runs on four hits in the top of the fifth gave UConn a 5-2 lead.
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Lowder struck out his sixth batter of the game to end the inning and strand a base runner on first.
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After a leadoff single, Lowder retired three-straight Huskies for a scoreless top of the sixth.
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Lowder fanned his seventh batter of the game for the second out.
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A two-run home run extended UConn's lead to 7-2 in the top of the seventh. Gabe Golob took over and retired the only two batters he faced in the inning.
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Lucas Costello blasted a solo shot over the scoreboard in the left field to trim UConn's lead to 7-3 after seven innings.
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Golob returned in the eighth and tossed a scoreless frame, highlighted by a leaping catch by Costello at the center field wall to end the inning.
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The Deacs tied the game at seven in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI-ground from Kurtz, RBI-single from Wilken and an equalizing two-run home run from Adam Cecere.
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Michael Turconi singled and came around to score Wake Forest's first run of the inning.
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Tinsman doubled down the right field line and was plated on Wilken's 74th RBI of the season.
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A fielding error followed by a walk and bloop base hit to center field in the top of the ninth gave UConn a one-run lead (8-7).
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Wake Forest was retired in order in the bottom of the ninth as UConn clinched a 8-7 victory.
Words from Walter
"Tough game. Both teams had chances to win and obviously UConn came out on top. Our defense let us down there. A couple big walks. A couple of errors. A couple of plays I feel like we should have made. Give UConn credit. They got the job done when they needed to. I was pleased with the way we battled back. We're down 7-2 and Costello homers. We put together four really good at-bats with Turc, Tinny, Brock and then Cec to tie it up and then we got a walk right after that. We just needed to put a little more pressure on them there in the eighth after that walk, which unfortunately we didn't do. I didn't think we played a very good game today on either side of the ball. We'll come ready to go tomorrow."
College Park Regional Information
Teams and Seeds
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Maryland- 45-12 (Big Ten)
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Wake Forest- 40-18-1 (ACC)
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UConn- 47-13 (Big East)
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Long Island- 37-19 (Northeast Conference)
Schedule
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Game 1: No. 2 Wake Forest, 7 vs. No. 3 UConn, 8
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Game 2: No. 1 Maryland vs. No. 4 Long Island | Fri., June 3 | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
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Game 3: No. 2 Wake Forest vs. Game 2 loser | Sat., June 4 | 1 p.m. | TBD
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Game 4: No. 3 UConn vs. Game 2 winner | Sat., June 4 | 7 p.m. | TBD
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Game 5: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser | Sun., June 5 | 1 p.m. | TBD
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Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner | Sun., June 5 | 7 p.m. | TBD
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Game 7*: Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser | Mon., June 6 | 7 p.m. | TBD
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*-Game 7 will only be necessary if the winner of Game 5 also wins Game 6.
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Pairings for Super Regionals
The College Park Regional is paired with the Stanford Regional. The winners of those two regionals will play in a Super Regional the following weekend (Friday, June 10-Monday, June 13). In addition to No. 2 national seed Stanford, the regional features Texas State, UC Santa Barbara and Binghamton.
NCAA Tournament Information
The field of 64 teams was placed in 16 different four-team regions, with teams seeded one through four to compete in a double-elimination format.
Games then start with regionals and continue on to super regionals before the College World Series begins Friday, June 17 at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.
A complete schedule can be found below:
2022 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament Schedule
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Regionals: Friday, June 3 through Monday, June 6
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Super Regionals: Friday, June 10 through Monday, June 13
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CWS opening celebration day: Thursday, June 16
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First day of CWS games — Friday, June 17
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CWS Finals — Start Saturday, June 25 (best out of 3)
On Deck
Wake Forest will return to the diamond on Saturday, June 4 at 1 p.m. against the loser of Maryland and Long Island in the third game of the College Park Regional.
TV designations will be determined at a later time.
Tickets can be purchased here.
Follow The Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Willis, Justin (2-1)
L: Minacci, Camden (2-4)
Batting:
2B: Dana, Casey 1 ; Huber, Ben 1 ; Bushling, Zach 1
3B: Stock, Erik 1
HR: Dana, Casey 1 ; Padilla, Bryan 1
RBI: Smith, David 1 ; Dana, Casey 2 ; Huber, Ben 2 ; Padilla, Bryan 2
SH: Simmons, T.C. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Smith, David 1 ; Stock, Erik 2 ; Dana, Casey 2 ; Simmons, T.C. 1 ; Padilla, Bryan 1 ; Bushling, Zach 1
CS: Bushling, Zach 1
Batting:
2B: Tinsman, Brendan 1
HR: Cecere, Adam 1 ; Costello, Lucas 1
RBI: Kurtz, Nick 2 ; Wilken, Brock 1 ; Cecere, Adam 2 ; Reinisch, Jake 1 ; Costello, Lucas 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hawke, Tommy 1 ; Turconi, Michael 1 ; Tinsman, Brendan 1 ; Wilken, Brock 2 ; Cecere, Adam 1 ; Costello, Lucas 1
SB: Hawke, Tommy 1
