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The Wake Forest Diamond Deacs continued their assault on baseballs this week, defeating High Point 18-8 on Tuesday afternoon. This time around it was Ben Brazeale who did the bulk of the work, hitting three home runs and driving in seven RBI’s to lead the team.
Brazeale joins Gavin Sheets as the second player this season for Wake Forest to club three home runs in a game. This is the first time in Wake history that two players have done that in the same year.
With the win, Wake Forest improved to 13-5 on the year, and have won 12 out of their last 14 games after beginning the year 1-3.
The 18 runs tied a season high for runs (Feb. 26 vs. USC, and Mar. 5 vs. Radford). It also marked the 5th time the Deacs have topped the 15 run mark, and the 6th time scoring more than 10 runs in a game this year.
This weekend the Deacs make the short trip down I-40 to take on the Duke Blue Devils at the Durham Baseball Athletic Complex. Duke enters the series at 10-9 on the year, including a 9-4 record at home. They have bounced back from an 0-4 start on the year to win 10 out of their last 15 games, including a series win vs. Virginia Tech in their ACC opener last weekend.
They fell to East Carolina mid-week by a score of 9-4.
Wake Forest will trot out the same pitching order that they have been using with Parker Dunshee pitching Friday, Connor Johnstone on Saturday, and Donnie Sellers on Sunday
Projected Starting Pitchers:
Friday- Parker Dunshee (Wake) vs. Mitch Stallings (Duke)
Saturday- Connor Johnstone (Wake) vs. Adam Laskey (Duke)
Sunday- Donnie Sellers (Wake) vs. Ryan Day (Duke)
A player to watch for on Duke’s team is reigning ACC Player of the Week Jimmy Herron. The sophomore totaled 10 hits, two doubles, two home runs, eight RBIs, and four stolen bases over 5 games last week.
If Wake Forest gets the series win against Duke, or manages a sweep then there is a decent chance they move into the top 25 in the polls this week. The bats have been extremely hot lately, and the starting pitching is rounding into form a bit as well.
Next week sees the Deacs travel to Charlotte to take on a strong 49ers team before finally returning home March 24-26 for an ACC weekend series vs. Georgia Tech.