Wake Forest continues their eight-game road stretch with a trip to Cullowhee.
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Wake Forest baseball continues their stretch of games on the road with a non-conference matchup at Western Carolina inside Hennon Stadium on April 20 in Cullowhee, N.C.
The Deacs (12-17, 6-14 ACC) square off with the Catamounts (20-9, 8-3 SoCon) in their seventh midweek contest of the 2021 campaign. The two teams will face each other for the first time since 2015, when Wake Forest posted a 10-2 win.
Tuesday night's first pitch is slated for 6:00 p.m. and will be made available through ESPN+. Stay tuned to the Demon Deacons social media accounts (@WakeBaseball) for all in-game updates and information.
Cusick Garners Conference Recognition
Ryan Cusick was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week for the first time of his career after his best performance of the season on Friday, April 16 at Duke. The sophomore struck out 11 batters in seven scoreless innings to help the Deacs take the series opener 11-0.
Cusick, a Preseason All-American by multiple outlets, picked up his second win of 2021 after not allowing more than one hit in any inning while fanning a pair of batters in four separate frames. This season, the Sudbury, Mass. native has reached double-digit strikeouts in four starts and leads the ACC with an average of 15.07 strikeouts per nine innings.
With 17 games left in the season, Cusick has already set a new career high with 67 strikeouts in 40 innings of action. Additionally, the right hander is just 35 K's away from reaching 200 career strikeouts.
In his sixth start of the 2021 season, Wake Forest's Friday night start Ryan Cusick recorded multiple career milestones.With his fifth strikeout in the third inning against Virginia Tech, the Sudbury, Mass. native threw his 150th career strikeout.
Dating back to last season, Cusick has thrown double-digit strikeouts in seven of his previous 11 starts.
Lanzilli Cements Himself Among Wake Forest Greats
In Wake Forest's 12-0 midweek victory against App State, Chris Lanzilli smashed a grand slam to deep left center field, marking his 37th career home run to jump into the top-10 list for home runs in Demon Deacons history.
The Stoneham, Mass. native is currently tied with Will Craig (2014-16), Danny Borrell (1998-00) and Jason Kramer (1992-95) all sit in 10th with 37.
Lanzilli needs three more HRs to move into ninth all-time. Jamie D'Antonna is the all-time leader in program history with 58 homers.
Milestone Watch- 100 Hit Club
Wake Forest is just one of two teams in the nation with four active players that have tallied at least 100 hits during their collegiate careers:
• Bobby Seymour- 196
• Chris Lanzilli- 176
• Shane Muntz- 126
• Michael Ludowig- 124
Seymour is set to become the 28th player in Wake Forest history to join the 200-Hit club as the junior is just 4 base hits away from the mark.
Jake Mueller (2016-19) was the last Deac to reach the mark with 203 base hits.
Michael Turconi is currently 2 hits from joining the 100-hit crew, as the sophomore has recorded 98 hits through 91 career games.
Wilken Off To Historic Start
Freshman Brock Wilken has smashed 10 home runs, the most by a true freshman in the entire nation.
The Valrico, Fla. native became the second Wake Forest batter this decade to reach the double-digit mark in just 25 games, joining Brendan Tinsman (2019) with 10 blasts.
Through his first eight games, he posted the most home runs by a freshman Demon Deacon since Carlos Lopez in 2009.
The Valrico, Fla. native needs eight more home runs in the Deacs' 17 remaining games to set the freshman record held by Jamie D'Antona in 2001.
Seven of his 10 home runs have come in Wake Forest's 12 wins. Additionally, he has posted a pair of two-home run games in a span of four games.
Long Ball Powering Offense
Currently, the Deacs lead the ACC in home runs per game, hitting 44 in 29 games so far in 2021 (1.52 per game).
In their latest series versus Duke, Wake Forest hit four homers, led by Bobby Seymour with a pair of grand slams. Shane Muntz hit the first of the quartet on Friday night in the shutout win, while Michael Turconi launched his first bomb of the season on Saturday versus the Blue Devils.
Against Virginia Tech on April 11, Wake Forest smashed five home runs, the sixth time this season with at least three HR's in a single game. Bobby Seymour led the Deacs with two home runs, marking the third time in his career posting a multi-HR game. His solo shot in the bottom of the seventh traveled 490 feet.
During their 6-3 win in the series finale at Louisville, a trio of home runs from Adam Cecere, Chris Lanzilli and Brock Wilken marked the fifth game of the 2021 season that Wake Forest has hit at least three home runs.
In their non-conference win against Appalachian State on March 30, the Deacs totaled a season-high 15 runs on 12 hits, including six home runs, the most in a game since 2017.
Wilken, Michael Ludowig and Shane Muntz hit back-to-back-to-back solo home runs in the fourth inning, the first time the Deacs hit three consecutive home runs since Wake Forest accomplished this feat against Division II C.W. Post on March 26, 1991.
Following his solo home run against the Mountaineers, Muntz smashed a ball out of Jim Patterson Stadium in the first two games against Louisville, the second time in his the catcher has gone at least three-consecutive games with a home run since he did so four times at the tail end of the 2019 season.
Reigning ACC Player of the Year is Heating Up
Bobby Seymour, the 2019 ACC Player of the Year, has been on a tear his last five games at the plate to lead Wake Forest offensively. Dating back to the series finale against Virginia Tech on April 11, Seymour is batting .333 with seven hits, 14 RBIs, five home runs, eight runs scored and one double.
Against the Hokies, Seymour hit two homers, including a 490-foot bomb, which marked just the third time in his career he has recorded a multi-HR game.
Eight of his 14 RBIs came with two swings of the bat against Duke, hitting a grand slam in the series opener and finale.
The St. Johns, Ind. native needs just one more home run to tie his previous career best set back in 2019 when he posted nine in addition to his NCAA-leading 92 RBIs.
Hit Streak Watch- Brendan Tinsman
Brendan Tinsman holds a team-best nine game hit streak heading into Tuesday's game against the Catamounts.
Over that span, Tinsman has tallied 10 hits, two home runs, four RBIs, a pair of doubles and scored seven runs.
The streak dates back to Wake Forest's 6-3 victory in the series finale at Louisville on April 4.
Last Time Out
Wake Forest suffered an 11-7 loss in the rubber match against Duke on Sunday, April 18 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The Demon Deacons battled all the way back from a 5-0 deficit and grabbed hold of a 6-5 lead with a six-run fifth inning, knocking in four-consecutive singles to score a pair of runs before Bobby Seymour cleared the bases with his second grand slam of the three-game set, his fifth home run in the last five games.
Wake Forest tied the game at seven with a sacrifice fly in the sixth after the Blue Devils regained the lead with two runs in the home half of the fifth. Duke ultimately pulled away with a pair of two-run homers in the seventh and eighth innings to claim game three and the series.
Michael Turconi led the Deacs' offense with a season-high tying three hits, his eighth multi-hit game of 2021. Lucas Costello went two-for-four at the plate with a pair of RBIs, which tied his career high, and one run scored, while Adam Cecere also tallied a pair of hits in addition to scoring a team-best two runs.
Opponent & Series History
The Deacs and Catamounts have only squared off 11 times prior to this year's contest as Wake Forest holds a 6-5 advantage in those games.
The first time the teams matched up was in 1971, and the last time the two hit the diamond was in 2015 as the Deacs walked away with a 10-2 victory.
On Deck
The Deacs conclude their road stand with a three-game series at Clemson on April 23-25 before returning home to David F. Couch Ballpark on April 27 for a midweek contest with Davidson.
Wake Forest will host NC State on April 30-May 2 for a home ACC series at The Couch. On May 1, the Deacs will be hosting its first-ever Fight Against Pediatric Cancer Game, where fans will be given the opportunity to bid on special edition, game-worn jerseys with all proceeds being donated to Brenner Children's Hospital. Bid now.
