WINSTON-SALEM, NC – After waiting out a weather delay of four hours and 45 minutes, No. 19 Maryland lost to No. 1 overall seed Wake Forest, 21-6, on a game that started at 10:45 p.m., on Saturday and ended at 2:06 a.m. on Sunday morning. The Terps (42-20) will take on George Mason in an elimination game on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at Couch Ballpark. The game will air on ESPN+ and the Maryland Baseball Network.
The game was originally scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., and eventually started at 10:45 p.m., after lightning and thunderstorms hit the area.
Wake Forest (49-10) jumped out to an early lead, opening the contest by scoring four runs in the first inning. From there, the top-ranked team in the country insured their lead with fie multi-run innings, as the Demon Deacons plated two runs in the third, then added three runs in the fifth and six more in both the seventh and eighth. Five Demon Deacons had multi-hit games, led by Pierce Bennett and Justin Johnson, who combined for eight hits outing and nine RBI.
Two-time ACC Pitcher of the Year Wake Forest starter Rhett Lowder improved to 14-0. He did not allow a Maryland baserunner through 3.2 innings and struck out 11 in six innings of work.
For Maryland,
Nick Lorusso continued his superb season by mashing his 25th and 26th home runs of the season, surpassing
Chris Alleyne (24 in 2022) for the most single-season home runs in program history. He finished the contest 2-for-4 at the plate with three RBI.
Other impactful Terps included
Ian Petrutz, who doubled Maryland's run total in the eighth with a no-doubt three-run homer for his 14th of 2023. At the top of the lineup,
Luke Shliger kept his reached-base streak alive, stretching it to 60 games with a walk in the eighth.
Breaking Down The Action
- Wake Forest scored four runs in the first inning on an RBI single from Brock Wilken, a run-scoring double from Johnson and a two-run single from Bennett to take a 4-0 lead.
- The Demon Deacons added two more runs in the bottom of the third, making it a 6-0 contest on an RBI triple from Johnson and a Bennett RBI double.
- Lorusso got a run back in the third inning, blasting a solo home run to right-center to get Maryland on the board and cut the deficit to 6-1.
- With an RBI single from Danny Corona and a two-run knock from Marek Houston, Wake Forest added three more runs in the fifth inning to expand their 9-1 lead.
- Lorusso launched his second home run of the ballgame, driving in Matt Shaw on a two-run shot to make it 9-3 in the seventh inning.
- Wake Forest extended its lead further in the seventh, driving in six runs to pad the 15-3 advantage.
- Petrutz belted a three-run shot in the eighth inning, making it a 15-6 deficit for the Terps.
- The Demon Deacons logged another six runs in the eighth, putting their lead at 21-6.
By The Numbers
- 4: Lorusso's pair of jacks led to his fourth multi-home run game of the season.
- 14: Petrutz hit his 14th big fly of the season, tying him with Elijah Lambros for third on the squad.
- 26: With home runs in the third and seventh frames, Lorusso broke the single-season Maryland home run record, set by Chris Alleyne in 2022.
- 29: Lorusso notched his 29th multi-hit contest of 2023.
- 60: Shliger's record-setting reached-base streak hit 60 games on an eighth-inning walk.
- 104: Lorusso added to his nation-leading RBI total, driving in a run to push his season count to 104 RBI. He is the first D-I player with 100 RBI in a season since Billy Becher had 118 in 2003 with New Mexico State.
- 174: Lorusso continued to build his program RBI record by driving in the 174th RBI of his career in College Park.
Up Next
- The Terps will take on George Mason in an elimination game game on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm. The game will air on ESPN+ and the Maryland Baseball Network.
