Wake Forest’s Season at a Crossroads Against Louisville

The college baseball regular season is waning. The long journey to try and make the postseason — and ultimately the College World Series — is almost at its end. For the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, the quest is not yet complete. Several obstacles still remain in their path, with perhaps one of the most important and consequential series up next.

The Louisville Cardinals haven’t had the most fantastic season, yet they’re still ahead of the Deacs in the ACC standings. That can, of course, all change depending on what occurs on the diamond at David F. Couch Ballpark this weekend.

If this sounds repetitive, that’s because it is: Wake Forest needs to win this series. Not because a berth in the NCAA Tournament is on the line, but because the team desperately needs some positive momentum against a conference opponent. The Demon Deacons had the opportunity to claim just that against Georgia Tech and, well, failed. Can they make up for it with a series victory against the Cardinals?

Pitching Trio Provides Reason for Optimism

Wake Forest pitcher Chris Levonas on the mound against Miami | Wake Forest Athletics

It’s hard not to be excited about what Wake Forest will be throwing out on the mound against Louisville this weekend. The trio of Evan Jones (2-1, 3.14 ERA), Chris Levonas (8-3, 2.89 ERA) and Cameron Bagwell (2-1, 4.13 ERA) provide a sense of dependability that shouldn’t be taken for granted. If there’s any group of arms that’s going to help deliver the team a good weekend, it’s those three.

There are some bats in Louisville’s lineup that would beg to differ, however. Tague Davis, whose 1.350 OPS and .379 batting average pop off the page, is one of the best hitters in the ACC and perhaps even in the country. He’s smashed an eye-popping 26 home runs and driven in 78 runs, two more mind-boggling numbers that blow pretty much everybody on Wake Forest out of the water.

Jun 18, 2025; Omaha, Neb, USA; Louisville Cardinals first baseman Tague Davis (13) strikes out against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers during the eighth inning at Charles Schwab Field. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-Imagn Images | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Wow is the only word to describe all of that.

The Wake Forest pitching staff will undoubtedly have its hands full with him, as well as several others like Bayram Hot, Griffin Crain, Jimmy Nugent and Kade Elam. All of those players are hitting over .300 and have an OPS above .820. So, yeah, the Cardinals can hit. The only question is, can they pitch?

Louisville’s Pitching Struggles Could Be Difference

The simple answer is no.

Louisville has a team ERA of 6.59, the second-worst mark in the ACC. Only Virginia Tech is worse in that statistic. This definitely plays in Wake Forest’s favor, as the Demon Deacons have shown a propensity for putting runs up in bunches over the last several weeks.

Long story short, this series has the potential to be a slugfest. While that might make for some stressful games that go down to the wire, it’ll dang sure be entertaining.

This series is a Thursday-Saturday series.

Game one is slated to begin at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday at David F. Couch Ballpark in Winston-Salem. It will be broadcast on ACC Network. The final two games of the series will begin at 6 p.m. ET on Friday and 1 p.m. ET on Saturday. Both contests will be on ACC Network Extra.

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