Weekend recap: Wake Forest loses 2 of 3 at Virginia

If you scored double-digit runs in Charlottesville, Va., this weekend, you won a baseball game.

The unfortunate part of that was Wake Forest only getting to double digits once.

The Deacons (17-7, 4-5 ACC) dropped two of three games at Virginia this past weekend. Wake Forest started the series on an rough note, won the middle game, and dropped the finale in a game that didn’t make it to nine innings.

“We have a big week coming up, Elon at home, and then three games at home against Cal,” coach Tom Walter said via news release. “I like the way we’re starting to swing the bats. I like the way our lineup’s coming together. We’re getting some length in our lineup.

“I still like our pitching options. We’ve got a good ball club, and coming into a part of our schedule where we should be successful.”

Here are brief recaps of each game from this past weekend:

Virginia 10, Wake Forest 6

On Friday, Virginia teed off on Blake Morningstar for five runs in the first inning.

Eric Becker led off the inning with a homer. An error by freshman JD Stein at shortstop led to a second run, and Harrison Didawick’s two-run double and Antonio Perrotta singled in the last run of the inning.

Morningstar (2-3) allowed eight runs in three innings — five of them were earned. Marcelo Harsh relieved him and gave up two runs (both unearned) in 2 1/3 innings, and Ryan Bosch threw 2 1/3 scoreless.

The Deacons tightened up the score with two runs in the eighth and another in the ninth.

Luke Costello hit a homer and had a sacrifice fly. Javar Williams, Kade Lewis, Dalton Wentz and Matt Conte all had multi-hit games.

Wake Forest 13, Virginia 4

On Saturday, the Deacons evened the series with a huge third inning.

Wake Forest broke open this game by sending 13 batters to the plate in the third, scoring eight runs. Williams hit a one-out homer but that was only long ball of the inning. Wentz and Conte had RBI hits after that, and then Boston Torres drove in a run with a double.

Stein and Williams walked with the bases loaded to force across runs. Scoring in the third was capped by Lewis’ two-run single.

The Deacons picked up insurance by scoring in each of the last three innings. Most notable of those was Stein’s first career home run, a two-run shot in the eighth.

Chris Levonas (5-1) pitched five innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and four walks. A four-man bullpen effort combined for four innings of one-run ball. Nate Whysong pitched 1 2/3 scoreless, Rhys Bowie got an out, Luke Schmolke was charged with a run, and Zach Johnston recorded the last four outs.

Virginia 14, Wake Forest 4 (8 innings)

On Sunday, the Cavaliers broke open the game with a five-run fourth and kept pouring on runs until the game ended early.

Troy Dressler gave up three runs in three innings, his first start of the season. Evan Jones (1-1) was on the mound for all five of Virginia’s runs in the fourth. Bowie gave up two runs and Ryan Brennecke surrendered three without getting an out. Virginia scored the last run of the game against Tyler Wood.

The Deacons had seven hits, two apiece by Lewis and Blake Schaaf. Luke Costello drove in two runs in the third inning, followed by an RBI single by Conte.

Wake’s early 3-0 lead obviously didn’t last long.

“I needed to do a better job managing our bullpen in that game. We knew we wouldn’t get a ton of length out of Troy,” Walter said via news release. “He’s just building up. … Jones came in and was just uncharacteristically not landing his slider. It’s a good teaching moment for him. We’ll use this to grow on and get better.”