Wake Forest Drops Series Opener Against Florida State in Blowout Fashion
The Deamon Deacons' season hit an unexpected setback Friday night in ACC play. Wake dropped the series opener at home to Florida State by a convincing 10-0 margin in just seven innings of play.
This one was never close from the start. Florida State took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning thanks to a Myles Bailey two-run homer. From there, it was a dormant offensive performance from the Deacs and an efficient one for the Seminoles. Let's go through the main takeaways.
Ice Cold Offense
Final pic.twitter.com/tIThAESVVg
— Wake Forest Baseball (@WakeBaseball) March 14, 2026
When I say the offense was cold...it is by no means an understatement. Wake's offense only came away with two hits in the seven innings of play. Florida State starting pitcher Wes Mendes went seven innings, allowing only two hits, two walks, and an impressive 11 strikeouts. In many ways, it was similar to Blake Morningstar's outing last Friday.
The only two Deacs to get a hit were the leadoff man, Javar Williams (who extended his hitting streak to five games), and outfielder Luke Costello. With Mendes throwing 100 pitches for the Seminoles, the hitters from Wake just put no meaningful pressure or resistance on him. He was able to move through the lineup with ease.
Problematic Pitching
Throwing up a zero. pic.twitter.com/pMwN1nkQt8
— Wake Forest Baseball (@WakeBaseball) March 13, 2026
Another huge issue for the Deacs was that they got behind early and were in too deep a hole to dig out of offensively. Tom Walter said starting pitcher Blake Morningstar did not have his best stuff. He has had some solid outings before this, but certainly hit a setback tonight.
Morningstar went just four innings, giving up nine hits and nine runs while walking two batters and mustering just two strikeouts. After giving up a two-run homer in the first, Morningstar was solid in the second before allowing two runs in the third and three in the fourth inning.
Luke Schmolke came in and gave up one run on three hits. Freshman Marcelo Harsch came in and notched three strikeouts in 1.1 innings pitched.
What's Next?
This is certainly a setback for the Demon Deacons, but it is only Game One of the weekend series. Wake also dropped the Friday game against Florida State a year ago, before going on to win the series.
Chris Levonas has been pitching great and should be ready to go tomorrow. The best thing for the Deacs to do is just to reset and try to play winning baseball on Saturday.
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.