Hot-hitting Deacons Power Past Miami

Box Score | Bracket | ACC Championship Photos

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – Wake Forest left quite the lasting impression as it wrapped up play in the 2022 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship.

The sixth-seeded Demon Deacons tied an ACC Baseball Championship record with seven home runs – including three on successive at-bats in the top of the sixth inning – and rolled past third-seeded Miami, 16-3, in the closing tournament games for both teams Friday afternoon at Truist Field.

The game was halted at the end of seven innings in accordance with the tournament’s “10-run rule.”

Wake Forest (40-17-1) became the second team to hit seven home runs in a single game since the ACC Championship went to a pool-play format in  2007, tying the record set by Louisville versus Clemson here last season.

The Demon Deacons also became the second team in less than 24 hours to go back-to-back-to-back in this ACC tournament after top-seeded Virginia Tech first did so Thursday night in an 18-6 win over Clemson.

Adam Cecere hit a pair of home runs for Wake Forest, and Nick Kurtz, Brendan Tinsman, Brock Wilken, Jake Reinisch and Lucas Cosetllo also took turns going deep for the Deacons, who tallied 15 hits against seven Miami pitchers.

Wake Forest chased Miami starter Karson Ligon in the top of the third, sending nine men to the plate and scoring six runs. Kurtz’s three-run homer and a solo shot by Cecere keyed the Demon Deacons, who have now scored five-or-more runs in 23 innings this season.

Tinsman hit his 23rd home run of the season in the fourth, a three-run shot that put Wake in front 9-2.

Wilken, Cecere and Reinisch delivered the sixth-inning trifecta, and Costello followed one batter later with his third homer of the year as the Demon Deacons pushed their lead to double digits.

 ACC Pitcher of the Year Rhett Lowder (11-3) was the beneficiary of Wake’s explosion offensive explosion as he gutted out five innings to become the first Demon Deacon pitcher to win at least 11 games in a season since Kyle Sleeth’s perfect 14-0 campaign in 2002.

Lowder worked five innings, allowing three runs on four hits while walking five and striking out four.

Miami grabbed a short-lived 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when CJ Kayfus greeted Lowder with a 412-foot drive over the centerfield wall. It was Kayfus’ first career leadoff homer and his seventh overall this season. But the Demon Deacons got their bats going shortly thereafter.

The Hurricanes slipped to 39-19 with Friday’s loss but will look to regroup as they prepare for next week’s NCAA regionals.

With head coach Tom Walter still sidelined by illness, Wake Forest again played Friday’s game under the watch of associate head coach Bill Cilento. 

A total of 42 home runs have been hit in 11 ACC Baseball Championship games this week, with four games still scheduled to be played. The record for total home runs in a tournament since the ACC switched to a pool-play format in 2007 is the 51 hit in 2010 at Greensboro, North Carolina (13 games). A total of 45 home runs were hit in 15 games here last year.

2022 ACC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE

May 24-29 at Truist Field, Charlotte, N.C.

POOL A – #1 Virginia Tech, #8 North Carolina, #12 Clemson

POOL B – #2 Louisville, #7 Georgia Tech, #11 Pitt

POOL C – #3 Miami, #6 Wake Forest, #10 NC State

POOL D – #4 Notre Dame, #5 Virginia, #9 Florida State

 

Tuesday, May 24

No. 11 Pitt 12, No. 7 Georgia Tech 6

No. 10 NC State 11, No. 6  Wake Forest 8

No. 8 North Carolina 9, No. 12 Clemson 2

 

Wednesday, May 25

No. 11 Pitt 6, No. 2 Louisville 5

No. 9 Florida State 13, No. 5 Virginia 3 (8 innings)

No. 10 NC State 9, Miami 6

 

Thursday, May 26

No. 7 Georgia Tech 9, No. 2 Louisville 4

No. 4 Notre Dame 5, No. 9 Florida State 3

No. 1 Virginia Tech 18, No. 12 Clemson 6

 

Friday, May 27

No. 4 Notre Dame 3, No. 5 Virginia 0

No. 6 Wake Forest 16, No. 3 Miami 3

No. 8 North Carolina vs. No. 1 Virginia Tech, 7 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)

 

Saturday, May 28

Pool A Winner vs. No. 5 Notre Dame, 1 p.m. (ACCN/ACCN Extra)

No. 11 Pitt vs. No. 10 NC State, 5 p.m. (ACCN/ACCN Extra)

Sunday, May 29

ACC Championship, Noon (ESPN2/ACCN Extra)