Wake Forest (20-9, 7-5) was swept by Virginia Tech (20-8, 7-5) in their third ACC home series behind a disappointing weekend from the Demon Deacon pitching staff. Pitching has been one of Wake Forest’s biggest strengths in the past couple of years, but this weekend, pitching was the biggest weakness, ultimately leading to the Demon Deacons being on the wrong side of a sweep.
The Hokies scored seven runs on Friday starter Logan Lunceford and eight on Saturday starter Matthew Dallas, forcing the Demon Deacons to play catch up against the Hokies in the first two games of the series, leading to the first two losses. After seven very strong innings from Sunday starter Blake Morningstar, the Demon Deacon bullpen gave up four runs in the top of the ninth, which was the nail in the coffin as Wake Forest dropped their third game in a row.
After fighting tooth and nail with a very good Clemson team last weekend on the road, the Demon Deacons shut out Elon 10-0 in the midweek. The Demon Deacons looked to have momentum heading into their first game at home since March 15, but they fell flat on their faces and couldn’t manage a single win against the Hokies.
How it Happened
Game 1 was a nightmare from the start. For the second time in two straight series’ Lunceford walked his first three batters.Three hits and one out later, the Hokies had scored seven runs. Lunceford was pulled, and it took two more pitchers to get the final two outs of the inning, but by the time the Demon Deacons were up to bat, the Hokies already had nine on the board.
The game was all but over after the first inning, and the Hokies were in control for the rest of the game, winning 13-2. The Demon Deacons had nine hits to the Hokies eight, but the game’s story was the 13 free passes that Wake Forest gave up and the superb situational hitting of Virginia Tech.
“I’ve been racking my brain trying to remember a worse Friday night performance than that from a team,” said Wake Forest coach Tom Walter after the game. “It’s not on one guy, but as a team, it’s just very disappointing.”
In front of a record crowd at David F. Couch Ballpark, Game 2 was more of the same for the Demon Deacons. Though Dallas made it past the first inning, he didn’t make it much farther, getting pulled in the third inning after giving up eight runs and only getting six outs. The Demon Deacons roared back to make it 8-7 in the bottom of the fourth, but the Hokies held on and took the series with an 11-8 win behind a two-run home run in the top of the sixth.
“Playing from behind all weekend so far, it’s so hard to play from behind in this league,” said Walter after Saturday’s game. “We couldn’t grab any momentum.”
On Sunday, the Demon Deacons looked to salvage one win out of the weekend and were well on their way after Morningstar’s best start of the season. Morningstar struck out 10, walked none, and only allowed two runs in seven innings against a Virginia Tech team with red-hot bats all weekend. The Demon Deacons took the lead in the bottom of the seventh behind an Antonio Morales RBI triple and a Luke Costello RBI single.
But the Hokies’ bats got hot again at just the right time and they put up four runs in the top of the ninth to make it 6-3. Zach Johnston gave up three runs on three hits, leading Walter to turn to Nate Whysong, who gave up one more run before ending the inning. A two-out triple from Matt Scannell scored two runs, but the Hokies got their final out on a Javar Williams flyout and completed the sweep.
What Went Wrong
This is a serious setback for a team that has lofty postseason expectations. Virginia Tech is a very good team and every ACC series is challenging, but for a team that wants to make it back to Omaha, getting swept by an unranked opponent at home is a cause for concern. The team had glaring recurring issues all weekend that need to be addressed if the Demon Deacons want to make any sort of postseason run.
Getting only 2 1/3 innings from your first two starters will not cut it. Lunceford’s lack of control was evident early on,with his breaking ball hitting in front of home plate in some instances. Lunceford threw 42 pitches in his outing on Friday, only 19 of which were strikes. Dallas couldn’t find a secondary pitch in his start, which led to him struggling to get off the field with two outs. The first five runs scored on Saturday came with two outs.
Dallas, a highly touted transfer from Tennessee, has struggled early this season with control and has only made it more than four innings two times this season. Walter mentioned that he is moving him out of the starting rotation after this weekend, likely slotting in Luke Schmolke in his spot in next weekend’s series.
The defense continues to be an issue as well, as the Demon Deacons lead the ACC in errors as a team. This weekend, in particular, they committed seven, with four coming in at Sunday’s loss. The errors, such as a failed pick-off attempt by Nate Whysong and a throwing error made by center fielder Cam Nelson, were direct contributors to the Hokies’ four runs in the ninth inning.
The combination of lackluster starting pitching with a shaky defense is one that Wake Forest must tighten up if they want any chance of returning to Omaha. With two big series on the road, the Demon Deacons will get an opportunity to address these issues against two tough ACC opponents.
Other Notes
Morningstar certainly made a case for himself to move up in the starting rotation after Sunday’s start. He showed the most control of any Wake Forest pitcher this weekend while attacking hitters with a strong fastball with lots of run and a very effective breaking ball. He notched a career-high 10 strikeouts in his seven innings today.
Center fielder Ethan Conrad did not play this weekend once again. Walter mentioned that he doesn’t see Conrad making his return against Florida St. next weekend. Barring any setbacks, Walter hopes to have Conrad back for the UNC series in two weeks.
Walter also mentioned that he will try and work freshman pitcher Chris Levonas up to around 75 pitches in his start against High Point on Tuesday. Levonas had his best outing of the year last week against Elon, giving up just one hit in four scoreless innings. Walter hopes that Levonas can step into the Saturday starting role for the UNC series.
What’s Next
Wake Forest travels to High Point on Tuesday for their midweek game. This coming weekend the Demon Deacons have a massive series in Tallahassee against No. 4 ranked Florida State, with first pitch slated for 8 p.m. ET Friday.
