Runs and records: What to know as No. 1-ranked Wake Forest readies for super regional
The Wake Forest baseball team hosted the program’s first regional since 2017 last weekend and is now set to play in its first super regional at home in Winston-Salem.
And that’s just the beginning.
It’s hard to overstate what the Demon Deacons (50-10, 22-7 ACC) have accomplished in 2023 — on the season as well as in their near-perfect performance last weekend to open what could be a deep playoff run.
To help with that, here are five things you should know ahead of the super regional series between Wake Forest and Alabama this weekend, which begins on Saturday at noon on ESPN.
1. Let’s start with last weekend’s Regional virtuoso. Wake Forest’s three straight wins last weekend in Winston-Salem — wins over George Mason (twice) and Maryland — made this 2023 team the first in program history to reach 50 wins.
It reached that mark in historic fashion, too: Wake Forest notched 16 runs per game in those three contests, and the Deacs’ +41 run differential is tied for fourth-most nationally since the start of the current NCAA format in 1999. The others on that list? Florida State in 2009 (+49), Notre Dame in 2021 (+45), Arizona State in 2003 (+42) and LSU in 2000 (+41). (LSU was the only team in the list to win a national championship after such a dominant weekend.)
2. As Wake Forest fans will tell you: The Deacs have been doing this all year. Wake Forest earned the top seed in the college baseball playoffs after a season that saw the team earn its first ACC regular-season championship since 1963. Clemson took the league tournament title, but that didn’t dissuade the selection committee from properly rating the Deacs, who are home to two-time ACC pitcher of the year Rhett Lowder and two 20-plus home-run hitters (Brock Wilken and Nick Kurtz).
It’s worth noting, too, that the hype began early in 2023: Wake Forest made a regional and finished 41-19-1 last year — and Top 10 wins over Coastal Carolina (an 11-1 win in seven innings) and Louisville only added to that lore. The team boasted its all-time best total attendance this year: 54,721.
3. What is there to know about head coach Tom Walter? Walter is in the midst of his 14th season as Wake Forest’s head coach and sits as the second-winningest coach in program history with 416 wins. (George Greer has 608 wins.) The 2023 ACC Coach of the Year has only seen two losing seasons in his tenure.
4. More about Rhett Lowder. A lot of attention gets brought to Lowder, the right-handed 6-foot-2 junior with a Samson-like head of hair that brings a unique flair to his work. This year alone he’s notched the most single-season wins in Wake Forest history (14) and the third-most strikeouts in WF history (125) en route to a 1.77 ERA in 101.2 innings.
The Albemarle, N.C., native and North Stanly High School graduate and economics major has 29 career victories — the most among active pitchers in Division I baseball. (He, of course, is backed up by a two other pitchers who might be considered aces on most other teams in the country. Those guys: Josh Hartle (10 wins, first-team All-ACC player) and Sean Sullivan (five wins, another first-team All-ACC selection).)
5. That’s not to say Wake Forest won’t have its hands full. Alabama will be a tough test. The 16th-ranked Crimson Tide advanced to their first super regional since 2010 last weekend. They’ve posted a 43-19 record and emerged from the powerful SEC with a winning conference record, which includes a 2-1 series win over a Top 5 Vanderbilt team last month.
Alabama is led on offense by redshirt senior outfielder Tommy Seidl and redshirt junior Andrew Pinckney — both of whom are hitting just about .350 on the year — and freshman Colby Shelton, who was a Freshman All-SEC selection this year. The team’s two starters on the mound are Luke Holman and Jacob McNairy; both right-handed pitchers have notched seven wins on the season.
Winston-Salem Super Regional schedule
Game 1: Saturday, June 10 at noon | ESPN | David F. Couch Ballpark
Game 2: Sunday, June 11 at TBD | TBD | David F. Couch Ballpark
Game 3 (If necessary): Monday, June 12 at TBD | TBD | David F. Couch Ballpark
The winner advances as one of eight teams to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, next weekend.
This story was originally published June 9, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
