The No. 14 Wake Forest baseball team opened their 2025 regular season with wins over Long Island and Marist in an Opening Day doubleheader on Friday afternoon at David F. Couch Ballpark.
The Demon Deacons (2-0) outscored their opponents 25-6 while hitting a combined 26-for-67 (.388 BA) across their opening two games.
In their opening game, the Deacs used a six-run fourth inning that included a 368-foot grand slam from junior Marek Houston, to pull away from LIU (1-1) for a 14-2 mercy-rule victory.
Junior Jack Winnay got the Deacs going in the first inning with a two-run double to drive in Houston and junior Ethan Conrad. Freshman Dalton Wentz then drove in another run with a single out into left field before sophomore Javar Williams hit a line drive to center to give the Deacs a 4-0 lead after the first inning.
The Deacs continued their offensive explosion in the third inning as Conrad recorded a sacrifice fly to score Winnay, making it 5-0. Wentz added his second RBI of the game on a double down the right field line to score sophomore Kade Lewis
. Graduate student Matt Scannell grounded out into a fielder's choice to score another run before Houston closed out the inning with an RBI infield single to extend the Wake lead to 8-0.
Wake tacked on another six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to make it 14-0. Wentz added his third RBI of the game with a double to get the Deacs rolling, while Williams added his second RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly into right to make it 10-0. Houston then ended the inning with his grand slam, as he finished the game with two hits and a team-high five RBIs.
On the mound, junior Logan Lunceford (1-0) made his first start in a Demon Deacon uniform, totaling seven strikeouts across four scoreless innings. Both graduate student Griffin Green and sophomore Nate Brittain also picked up a scoreless inning each in relief, as Green needed only 10 pitches to shut down the Sharks in the fifth inning, while Brittain closed the game for Wake Forest in the seventh.
In the second game, Wake Forest cruised to an 11-4 victory over Marist (0-2).
After falling behind 1-0, Wake Forest responded with three runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead. Houston drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game at one before Conrad shot a two-run double into left field to break the deadlock.
The Demon Deacons added another run in the third inning as Lewis scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-2.
Wake Forest blew the game open with a four-run fourth inning to extend their lead to 8-2. Following another Conrad double and Winnay reaching on an error, Lewis singled to right to drive in Conrad from second to make it 5-2. Wentz added his fourth RBI of the game with an RBI single before Lewis scored on a groundout from Williams.
Freshman Matt Conte capped off the fourth inning with his first collegiate hit as he notched an RBI single into left field.
After the Red Foxes scored two runs in the top of the fifth, Houston launched his second home run of the day on a solo shot over the left field wall to make it 9-4 in the bottom half of the inning.
Wake added two more in the bottom of the seventh to extend the lead to 11-4 and go on to take the second game of the day by that score.
FROM COACH WALTER
"Obviously a good day for us today, anytime you get two wins in one day, it's a good day. I'm really happy with the pitching that we didn't have to use today like [Josh] Gunther, [Zach] Johnston or [Haiden] Leffew which I think is really important as it kept Will Ray, [Luke] Schmolke, [Matt] Bedford, and [Griffin] Green's pitch counts down. With two games to go, I think we have enough pieces to get 18 more innings in. Our two starters didn't throw great; [Logan] Lunceford got too many deep pitch counts and had two two-out walks in those first two innings which ran his pitch count up and then we only got four innings out of him. Joe [Ariola] didn't throw badly but he didn't really have his good stuff. His four walks, we wish we had some of those back. I was really happy with our bullpen. Matt Bedford came in and got two big punchouts in a big situation and Will Ray came in and got a ground ball and a strikeout in a big situation. Luke Schmolke was really good and I thought Luke Billings was great in the ninth inning there as well striking out the side. Offensively, Ethan Conrad was really good in game two and both Marek [Houston] and Kade [Lewis] were good all day, Javar Williams had good at-bats today. I was happy to see Matt Conte get a couple of big hits for us. Defensively in game two I was really happy. Kade Lewis at first base making two great plays, Dalton Wentz with a diving play and then Ethan Conrad
on the ball to left center. All around, it was a good day for the Deacs and hopefully, we find a way to get at least one game in tomorrow with the weather. " - Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons will continue their with another doubleheader against both Long Island and Marist tomorrow. The Deacs open tomorrow's action against the Sharks at 11 a.m., before facing the Red Foxes at 6 p.m. to conclude opening weekend.