Wake Forest Baseball travels to Chapel Hill to take on the Tar Heels: Wake Forest Baseball Preview #6
By: Andrew Zajac
The Demon Deacons are hitting the road again after a crucial series upset against the former number four team in the nation, Florida State. Now, Wake Forest has another big ACC series against the number 16th ranked North Carolina Tar Heels.
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons are comfortably the number 16th ranked team in the land, with a 23-10 record and a 9-6 ACC conference record. They have three conference series wins, and two conference series losses with a recent series win over the Seminoles of Florida State. The Deacs are led by top ACC hitters in Marek Houston, Kade Lewis, and electric freshman Dalton Wentz.
The North Carolina Tar Heels are currently the 23rd ranked team in the nation, with a 24-8 overall record, and a 8-7 ACC conference record. The Tar Heels also have three conference series wins and two conference series losses with a recent crucial series win over fierce rival Duke. UNC is led by top ACC pitchers in Aidan Haugh, and Jake Knapp.
On Thursday, we have yet another fantastic pitching matchup with two top ACC pitchers in Wake Forest's Logan Lunceford, and UNC’s Jake Knapp. Lunceford is coming off a hot game leading to a win last week, he has a 3.72 ERA coupled with 67 strikeouts in 38.2 innings of work. Lunceford has also given up 21 hits and walked 18 in those innings. For Jake Knapp, he has a 1.58 ERA accompanied with 45 strikeouts in his 45.2 innings pitched. Knapp has walked only seven and given up 31 hits in his eight appearances.
On Friday, we have a mid-season mix up with Matthew Dallas having pitched the Tuesday game against UNC Greensboro, so Luke Schmolke will be the expected starter. Schmolke has a 3.33 ERA with 32 strikeouts coming from the pen, accompanied with 11 walks given up and 18 hits allowed in his 24.1 innings of work. For the Tar Heels, top ACC pitcher Aidan Haugh will take the bump with 1.91 ERA with 48 strikeouts. Haugh also has given up 26 hits and 14 walks in his 42.1 innings of work.
On Saturday, PA’s own Blake Moriningstar is taking the hill with a 2.45 ERA coupled with 52 K’s. Morningstar has also given up 28 hits, and walked 14 in his 40.1 innings of work for the Demon Deacons. For North Carolina, Jason DeCaro is the expected starter with 40.1 innings under his belt in the 2025 campaign. DeCaro has a 4.69 ERA with 30 strikeouts, given up 38 hits and also has walked only 11.
The Thursday game is available on the ACC Network, Friday game is on the ACC Network Extra, and the Saturday contest is on ESPN 2.