Wake Forest Ready for Weekend Clash With LMU, Davidson

Wake Forest’s 8-2 loss to Houston in the opening game of the season feels so long ago now. Since that disappointing result, the Demon Deacons have rattled off seven victories in a row, once again solidifying themselves as one of the better teams in the ACC.

With just one week left until conference play starts, Tom Walter’s squad is hoping to find some more success in the meantime during nonconference competition. So, while this next slate of games this weekend against Loyola Marymount (LMU) and Davidson aren’t necessarily “must-win contests,” it would still be nice to collect a couple more victories before the ACC gauntlet commences March 6 against Stanford.

This weekend’s series is an odd one. Wake Forest will play a doubleheader Friday, February 27, with the first game against LMU at 3 p.m. and the next a matchup with Davidson at 6:30 p.m. Another battle with LMU will take place Saturday, February 28, at 3:30 p.m., followed by the “series finale” against Davidson on Sunday, March 1, at 2:30 p.m. It’s an interesting schedule that should lead to some fun and (hopefully) entertaining baseball clashes.

Can the Real Blake Morningstar Please Stand Up?

Wake Forest pitcher Blake Morningstar (4) pitches during a NCAA regional baseball game between Cincinnati and Wake Forest at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on May 30, 2025. | Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Blake Morningstar’s first two starts have been subpar — at least by his standards. Through seven innings of work in 2026, the ace right-handed hurler has allowed 11 runs (10 earned) on nine hits, two of which have been home runs. He has struck out eight and walked five. Those numbers aren’t indicative of what he’s capable of, and Walter and the Demon Deacons really need him to step it up as conference play approaches.

It’s been a forgettable start to the season for Blake Morningstar. After giving up 4 ER in 3 IP vs @UHCougarBB last week, Morningstar gave up 6 ER in 4 IP to Siena today. A 12.86 ERA through 2 starts for the @WakeBaseball No. 86 MLB Draft prospect.

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— Tablesetters: A Baseball Podcast (@tablesetterspod) February 21, 2026

Luckily, he’ll get the opportunity to do so this weekend against either LMU or Davidson. While LMU has struggled offensively through the first couple weeks of the season — it’s hitting just .193 through eight games with a .658 OPS — the Davidson Wildcats are just the opposite. As a team, the Wildcats are slashing .313/.388/.440 with five home runs. The Demon Deacons haven’t announced which squad Morningstar will pitch against, but for his sake, LMU appears to be the easier matchup. Though if you’re Walter and the rest of the pitching staff, wouldn’t you want to give Morningstar a bigger challenge ahead of the ACC slate? We’ll just have to wait and see.

LMU’s Disastrous Week

To say that LMU is coming off a cataclysmic game against TCU would be an understatement. In a Feb. 23 matchup with the Horned Frogs at LMU’s Page Stadium, it appeared as if the home team was going to pull off a shocking upset. Up 6-1 in the top of the fifth, LMU was in control, and TCU was spiraling. Then everything changed. The Horned Frogs plated 12 runs in the frame — the majority of which came home via either walks, hit-by-pitches, or errors — and that was all she wrote. In the end, LMU walked 15 batters, hit four more, and committed four errors on the afternoon. That is absolutely not a recipe for success.

It’s hard to imagine a similar disastrous performance for LMU in Winston-Salem, though the Demon Deacons have been playing better baseball than TCU as of late, so it’s presumably not out of the equation. Either way, Wake Forest should easily handle LMU. If it doesn’t, then that’s a serious problem.

Davidson’s Got a Weak Spot in its Armor

The diagnosis on Davidson is simple: Man, this team can hit, but oh boy, it cannot pitch.

As mentioned earlier, Davidson is slashing .313/.388/.440 so far this season through seven games, scoring a total of 45 runs. That’s all well and good, but when the pitching staff has given up 46, the whole operation starts to fall apart. As a result, Davidson is 4-3.

Given the prowess of some of Wake Forest’s arms (Chris Levonas, Ryan Bosch, Troy Dressler, Zach Johnston, Matthew Dallas, etc.), it can be assumed that the Demon Deacons won’t have much issue with Davidson’s attack. That being said, should the Wildcats’ offense come to life, then the two matchups could become shootouts.

Wake Forest's Weekend Rotation

Friday (G1) – RHP Blake Morningstar (0-1, 12.86 ERA) vs. RHP Jake Geis (0-1, 3.86 ERA)
Friday (G2) – RHP Duncan Marsten (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs.RHP Wilson Perkins (1-0, 3.24 ERA)
Saturday – RHP Chris Levonas (2-0, 1.04 ERA) vs. RHP Jonah Johnson (1-0, 1.69 ERA)
Sunday – TBD vs. TBD