Wake Forest Bats Go Cold in Series Opening Loss to Miami
Wake Forest's common problem this season plagued them once again on Friday night. The Demon Deacons fell to the Miami Hurricanes in Game One of their three-game weekend series in Coral Gables.
This is a key weekend series for the Deacs. They need to get more resume-building wins as they start to work through the second half of their season. This was not a good start to that mission. After falling to Coastal Carolina earlier this week due to a disappointing offensive performance, the problem has compounded with a lack of offense, leading to their demise in this one. Let's go through some highlights.
Final in game one. pic.twitter.com/ppnKGPBevJ
— Wake Forest Baseball (@WakeBaseball) April 11, 2026
Levonas Shows Some Cracks
Overall, Chris Levonas started this game rock solid. He pitched four innings without giving up a single hit, which is exactly the start you want from your weekend guy, but the offense could not back him up.
In the fifth inning, cracks began to show after a single and a wild pitch got two Hurricanes on base. He did a good job limiting the damage to just a run, but it allowed the Canes to strike first. In the sixth inning, Levonas was pulled in favor of Marcelo Harsch after giving up a double and a walk to put guys on with just one out.
Levonas ended by giving up just three hits, three runs, with two strikeouts and two walks in 5.1 innings pitched. It is certainly not the most stellar outing we have ever seen from him, but it should have been enough to get the job done.
Cold Bats Continue
The Deacs outhit the Hurricanes 7-5 in this one, but it did not translate to better offense. A big problem has been Wake not getting enough from their top four guys in the lineup, and that held again in this one. Javar Williams, Dalton Wentz, Luke Costello, and Kade Lewis went a combined 3-14 at the plate in this one.
Matt Conte and Boston Torres both went 0-4 at the fifth and sixth slots, respectively. This type of batting performance is just never going to get the job done against an ACC opponent. The Deacs must now try to get the bats sured up fast before tomorrow's matchup. On a positive note, freshman JD Stein had two hits and an RBI in this one.
JD gets one back 👊 pic.twitter.com/DTARXBJhGP
— Wake Forest Baseball (@WakeBaseball) April 11, 2026
What's Next?
Game two of the series will take place Saturday in Coral Gables, Florida, at 6 pm. Let's hope the bats can turn around and the Deacs can even the series after their game one defeat.
Justin is a student at Wake Forest University. He is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and aspiring finance major interested everything sports. In his freshman year, Justin completed an internship with the Wake Forest Ticketing Department where he gained some valuable insight into the sales and operations aspects of collegiate athletics. Before working with Wake Forest On SI, Justin was a contributing writer for Wake Forest’s student publication The Old Gold and Black. Currently, Justin serves as a student manager on the Wake Forest Men’s Tennis team. In his free time Justin enjoys spending time with his family and friends on the golf course and traveling.