Tale of the Tape: Using History to Describe Wake Forest Baseball's Friday Loss

Wake Forest Baseball has been in this position before. Here's how they fared in recent years.

Wake Forest gather in the outfield after the loss to Tennessee in the NCAA college baseball Knoxville Regional final on June 2, 2025, in Knoxville, Tenn. | Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

After a disappointing, 6-5 loss to the Kentucky Wildcats in the Morgantown Regional yesterday, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons have a tall task ahead of them: winning four consecutive games to stay alive.

While Wake Forest wasn't the only favored seed to lose over the course of the day, the inability to capitalize on a first-game win significantly hampers their potential to make it to Omaha. If the Demon Deacons were to make it out of the Morgantown regional, they would've expected to take on national No. 1-seeded UCLA- but, like the Demon Deacons, the Bruins fell in an upset yesterday as well.

Although Wake Forest has a daunting mission ahead of them, their road to Omaha now begins with what has become a familiar foe over recent years.

The Good News

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons stand for the National Anthem prior to first pitch against the Duke Blue Devils. | Wake Forest Athletics

While Wake Forest did suffer their first defeat of the NCAA Tournament yesterday, they were not the only ones to lose in Morgantown. The No. 4-seeded Binghamton Bearcats took a 10-1 beating by the host West Virginia Mountaineers, and find themselves in a similar position to the Demon Deacons.

A short view back to the past reminds Wake Forest fans of their fortune when it comes to playing the Bearcats in recent years. Wake Forest Baseball is 3-0 in series history against Binghamton, and will look to make it 4-0 by the end of the night on Saturday.

In 2023, the Demon Deacons dominated against the Bearcats, who came into Winston-Salem in late February of that year. The Bearcats were no match for ACC Pitcher of the Year Rhett Lowder, who dealt seven scoreless innings and only allowed one hit. Meanwhile, on the offensive side of the plate, Wake Forest was just as explosive, as Brock Wilken and Adam Cecere each had two RBIs to lift the Demon Deacons past the Bearcats, 6-0.

The last time Wake Forest faced the Bearcats was in the 2024 season, when the two teams faced one another in a doubleheader in chilly, early March at David F. Couch Ballpark. This time, though, the Demon Deacons had much closer matchups than the year before.

In the first matchup, Wake Forest raced out to an early lead, and never looked back. Starting pitcher Josh Hartle had seven strikeouts, and despite letting up five runs, the Demon Deacons remained in control for most of the game. A four-RBI outing from second baseman Austin Hawke helped propel the Demon Deacons to a 7-5 victory over the Bearcats.

In the second game, the Demon Deacons pitched ace starter Chase Burns, who threw for 11 strikeouts and two earned runs throughout six innings. However, the pitchers in relief struggled, letting up six runs throughout the last two innings to tie the score up at 8-8. It took a walk-off hit from Cameron Gill in the bottom of the ninth inning to clinch the series sweep for Head Coach Tom Walter's squad.

The Bad News

Wake Forest baseball team together before game against Kentucky | Wake Forest Athletics

Unfortunately, the position that the Demon Deacons are in currently feels like deja vú, as Wake Forest has arrived as a two seed into the NCAA Tournament multiple times, and lost in their opening matchup.

Just last year, Wake Forest lost the first game in the Knoxville regional, against the Cincinnati Bearcats. The Demon Deacons would go on to narrowly beat the Miami (OH) Redhawks, before a rematch with the Bearcats. They would win, and even get to the final, rubber-match game against Tennessee, before being eliminated by the Volunteers, 11-5.

That also brings us to the unimaginable disappointment of the 2024 Greenville Regional, hosted by the East Carolina Pirates. Despite a terrific outing of one-run ball from David Falco, Will Ray, Josh Gunther and others, the Demon Deacons couldn't awake their own bats, and fell to the VCU Rams in their first game. Wake Forest would then go against Pirates star pitcher Trey Yesavage, who promptly eliminated the Demon Deacons after 7.1 innings of only allowing a single hit.

Unfortunately, if there's any pattern that has arisen over the past few years, it is that Wake Forest will lose their first regional game- just as they did against Kentucky this year- and scratch and claw their way back to try to make it to Omaha.

However, the comeback is not impossible, and if any team can do it, it's the Demon Deacons - just as our staff predictions believe.