Wake Forest Baseball 2023- #10 College Countdown

By Tom Knuppel

Posted on January 23, 2023

Wake Forest baseball could make some noise in 2023. Head coach Tom Walter is entering his 26th season as head baseball coach for the Demon Deacons. He is 1794-661-1 in his tenure in Winston-Salem.

Wake Forest opens the 2023 campaign with 12 of its first 13 games inside David F. Couch Ballpark, highlighted by opening weekend against Youngstown State and Illinois on Feb. 17-19 .

The ace of the pitching staff is Friday night starter Rhett Lowder. The reigning ACC pitcher of the year is coming off an incredible sophomore season where he had a 3.08 era over 99.1 innings, fanning 105 while only walking 16.

The pitching staff looks good for 2023 with the addiion of Tulane transfer of Michael Massey. He can throw 94-96 MPH. The right-hander can throw to both sides of the plate , and has a good changeup and a good slider.

Another addition is the number one hurler from Northwestern,lefty Sean Sullivan who has a delivery reminiscent of Josh Hader of the San Diego Padres. Reportedly,Sullivan was the best pitcher in the Big 10 last year as a freshman.

Add those two pitchers, and have (Rhett) Lowder, (Teddy) McGraw, (Josh) Hartle and (Cam) Minacci who have all taken a really big step forward,” Walter said. “Seth Keener has also taken a really big step forward. Those are kind of our top seven guys and then you have guys like Reed Mascolo, who’s kind of a proven guy who’s just continuing to get better. You get Crawford Wade who had a good year for us last year, is now a year older. So that takes you to nine pitchers you can count on.

Position players include third baseman Brock Wilken and his 23 home runs and 77 runs batted in ,first baseman Nick Kurtz and his 56 RBI’s along with 25 long balls. Also returning is outfielder Adam Cecere and 14 home runs and 52 RBI’s and a host of many good players.

Last season the Demon Deacons finished with a 41-19-1 record and third in the College Park regional.This is possibly their best team ever in 2023.