Analyzing the Last Month of Wake Forest Baseball's Schedule
Just one month remains until the end of the regular season. Hard to believe, right? It feels like just yesterday that this college baseball journey began, but now it’s close to approaching its end.
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons hope (and believe) that their quest for a national championship won’t end prematurely, making this final month-long countdown somewhat irrelevant. After all, the best-case scenario has the team playing baseball for more than a month after the final pitch of the regular season on May 16. Still, it’s crucial to analyze what the Demon Deacons are facing down the stretch run of the campaign because these games — while still counting the same as all the rest — feel like they have an extra weight of significance attached.
Some of the contests are easy; Wake Forest should dominate some of the competition in front of it. Other games are, well, not guaranteed victories by any stretch of the imagination. Let’s find out which is which.
Knowing You Can Win Is Fun
To be honest, there really aren’t a lot of “oh boy, we’re for sure going to win!” games left on the schedule for Wake Forest. A bout with UNC Greensboro on April 21 appears to be the easiest matchup left on the calendar, with a three-game series vs. Western Carolina also up on the list. A midweek game at Liberty on May 12 could also be considered a “guarantee,” though there’s always the distinct possibility that Wake Forest lays an egg there. For this exercise, let’s just say that the Deacs come out on top in Lynchburg.
So, that’s five wins. Five victories don’t really get a team much, especially one that’s hoping to make it to the College World Series for the first time since 2023. Other games must be taken, but which ones are left?
The Toss-Ups
The majority of Wake Forest’s remaining schedule falls into this category. The team faces NC State in a three-game set this upcoming weekend, and although the Wolfpack isn't the cream of the crop in the ACC, neither is Wake Forest. Either side could come out on top in that series, making it the definition of a toss-up.
Then there’s a midweek game against Appalachian State and a subsequent three-game set vs. Louisville. On paper, Wake Forest should have App State’s number, but the Mountaineers took the Deacs down to the wire in Boone earlier this season. Meanwhile, the Louisville series is similar to the NC State one — neither team is lighting the world on fire right now, making those three contests ripe for the taking for either squad.
Wake Forest rounds out the campaign in Durham against Duke, and only God knows how that series will turn out. Wake Forest and Duke are side by side in the ACC standings, making that matchup a tantalizing endeavor for both the Demon Deacons and Blue Devils.
Prepare for Battle!
Can Wake Forest win one game against Georgia Tech from April 24-26? Well, given the fact that the Yellow Jackets currently possess a team OPS of over 1.000, it’s hard to imagine the Deacs’ pitching staff, which has been rife with inconsistency this season, battening down the hatches and putting up the weekend of a lifetime. That uncertainty is why this series — and this series alone — falls into the “you might as well chalk that one up as a loss” category.
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Seth Dowdle is a 2024 graduate of TCU, where he earned a degree in sports broadcasting with a minor in journalism. He currently hosts a TCU-focused show on the Bleav Network and has been active in sports media since 2019, beginning with high school sports coverage in the DFW area. Seth is also the owner and editor of SethStack, his personal hub for in-depth takes on everything from college football to hockey. His past experience includes working in the broadcast department for the Cleburne Railroaders and at 88.7 KTCU, TCU's radio station.
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