Wake Forest dominates on road to College World Series
No. 1 Wake Forest dominated No. 16 Alabama in Winston-Salem on Sunday with a 22-5 win to clinch a spot in the 2023 Men's College World Series (MCWS).
Reaching Omaha for the first time since 1955 is one of many historic heights Wake has reached this season. Per godeacs.com, 52 wins are already a program-best, while junior Brock Wilken set the new ACC home run record at 70 with his third blast of the game against the Crimson Tide.
Wilken's teammates mashed another six homers on Sunday as the Demon Deacons completed an unprecedented run of dominance over the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. In total, Wake Forest went 5-0 and outscored their opponents 75-16 per Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde, scoring fewer than 12 runs just once.
Despite the massive lead heading in the final game on Sunday, Wilken told The Charlotte Observer the realization the team was headed to Omaha took a while to sink in.
“I don’t think it hit me until we came out for the bottom of the ninth," Wilken said. "With our dude on the mound, it was over, then and there.”
While the offense will get much of the love, it could be Wake's pitching staff that's their key to winning the MCWS. Rhett Lowder and Josh Hartle lead the starting rotation with 131 strikeouts, and both have a chance to set the Wake Forest single-season strikeout record. Their rotation has depth as well, as Seth Keener proved against George Mason when he tossed seven shutout innings in their first game of the NCAA Tournament.
The bullpen is anchored by junior closer Camden Minacci who added 44 strikeouts of his own while allowing just 10 walks and recording 12 saves.
The Deacs have the added advantage that Minacci will be well-rested heading to the MCWS, as they've used him just twice since losing in the ACC Tournament to Miami.
As of Monday afternoon, Wake Forest's side of the bracket in Omaha is incomplete. Stanford plays Texas while Southern Mississippi takes on Tennessee in winner-take-all Super Regional matchups. The two winners will join Wake Forest and LSU in Bracket 1.
Bracket 2 is set with Florida, Virginia, ECU and Oral Roberts ready to begin play in Omaha on June 15.
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