Top-ranked Wake Forest dominates Alabama, 22-5, for College World Series berth
Wake Forest smashed nine home runs, pummeled Alabama 22-5, and is heading to the College World Series for the first time since … well, since Wake Forest was in another town.
So it might seem strange to talk about a conversation between a Demon Deacons coach and a pitcher as the key moment in Sunday’s game, but consider this ...
The Deacons (52-10), top-seeded in the NCAA tournament and trying to sweep the best-of-3 super regional series against the Crimson Tide in two games, jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. They led 5-2, entering the bottom of the second, thanks to three home runs.
But Alabama’s Colby Shelton homered, cutting the deficit to 5-3, and then Ed Johnson walked. Wake Forest coach Tom Walter was a little worried about his starting pitcher, Josh Hartle.
“The ball was flying out of here,” Walter said of David F. Couch Ballpark in Winston-Salem.
So pitching coach Corey Muscara went out to the mound and talked to Hartle. The Demon Deacons starter responded by striking out three in a row.
And when Hartle returned to the dugout after the bottom of the third, he told his teammates to relax.
“We’re good, boys,” Hartle told the Deacons, according to Walter. “I found my cutter.”
Wake pulls away
By then, Hartle’s team led 10-3.
Wake Forest had added five runs in the top of the third, on home runs by Brock Wilken, Danny Corona, and Bennett Lee.
Wilken finished with three for the day, and Lee had a pair of home runs. Wilken’s three long balls gave him 70 for his career, setting an ACC record.
Hartle worked six innings, allowing only one run after Muscara’s visit. Then a trio of relievers finished, each pitching one inning and limiting the Crimson Tide to two hits and a single run.
Alabama’s pitching staff didn’t enjoy any such success.
Wake Forest added two runs in the top of the sixth (Shocker! No home runs were involved.) and exploded for six more in the eighth. Four of those scored on Marek Houston’s grand slam.
Then the Deacons added four in the ninth, on Wilken’s third home run and a three-run shot by Corona.
Homer to remember
Wilken’s ninth-inning shot put him in the ACC record book.
“It’s one of those things when you remember everything that happened on a certain day,” he said after the game. “This is one of those moments I will never forget.”
That gave the Deacons nine home runs on the day — three by Wilken, two for Corona, and one each by Tommy Hawke, Nick Kurtz, Houston and Lee. It tied an NCAA tournament single-game record.
Wake Forest went to its closer, Camden Minacci, in the ninth, and he retired the Crimson Tide on a single, a short flyout, and two infield grounders.
“I don’t think it hit me until we came out for the bottom of the ninth,” Wilken said. “With our dude, Cam Minacci, on the mound, it was over, then and there.”
After the final out, the Demon Deacon players jumped on one another in the infield in celebration.
“That dogpile was surreal,” Wilken said.
Third time in CWS
Wake Forest has appeared in the College World Series twice — in 1949 and in 1955, when the Deacons won it all.
Their last CWS appearance was so long ago that Wake Forest at the time was located in the town of Wake Forest, outside Raleigh. The school moved to its current location in Winston-Salem a year later.
Until Sunday, Walter was known in college baseball circles as an outstanding coach whose team had never reached Omaha. He made news in 2011 by donating a kidney to one of his players, Kevin Jordan.
Two years ago, the Deacons seemed to be struggling, after a 20-27 season.
Walter, however, never gave up hope.
“I just knew we could get there,” he said.
The Demon Deacons rebounded to 43-19-1 last season, reaching the NCAA regionals. And then came this season, which included a single-season school record for victories and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
“The higher the expectations got, the more these guys showed up,” Walter said Sunday. “This is a big day for our program.”
Alabama coach Jason Jackson’s take on the Deacons: “They’re going to make a deep run in Omaha.”
Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle
This story was originally published June 11, 2023 at 4:25 PM with the headline "Top-ranked Wake Forest dominates Alabama, 22-5, for College World Series berth."