San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
WAKE FOREST’S OFFENSE ARRIVES IN NICK OF TIME
Danny Corona hit a go-ahead two-run single in the eighth inning to roust a dormant Wake Forest offense, and the Demon Deacons opened their first College World Series in 68 years with a 3-2 win over Stanford on Saturday.
Wake Forest 3, Stanford 2
The No. 1 national seed Deacons were held to three hits and one run before storms in the area caused a 1-hour, 28-minute delay in the seventh inning.
When play resumed, the Deacons were able to squeeze out enough production to win their first game in Omaha since they won the national championship here in 1955.
“We call ourselves the king of delay,” Brock Wilken said. “Every time we have a delay we come out with so much energy, and our vibe is immediately switched.”
Wake Forest turned a double play to end the game, prompting closer Camden Minacci to pump both of his fists and do a little dance in front of the mound while infielders did jumping chest bumps.
The Deacons (53-10) will play Monday against the winner of the Saturday night game between LSU and Tennessee. Stanford (44-19) plays the loser Monday.
Seth Keener (8-1), the third of four Wake Forest pitchers, struck out four of the five batters he faced and earned the win.
For four innings, Stanford starter Joey Dixon held down an offense that outscored its first five NCAA Tournament opponents 75-16 — the biggest run differential ever for a team heading into a CWS — and averaged 9.4 runs per game for the season.
Dixon, who gave up a homer to Wilken and two singles, got out of a bases-loaded situation before he turned the game over to Drew Dowd at the start of the fifth. Dowd retired all six batters he faced, but he didn’t come back out after the delay.
“I felt we were tight early and nervous and kind of got out of our plan offensively,” coach Tom Walter said. “Didn’t have great at-bats, really, for the first seven innings. Give credit to the Stanford pitching. Dixon and Dowd did a great job and kind of held us at bay. But we did just enough.”
LSU 6, Tennessee 3: Paul Skenes struck out 12 and carried a shutout into the eighth inning before Tennessee broke through, and LSU held on to beat its SEC rival.
The big right-hander’s fastball touched 100 mph or more 46 times as he ran his season strikeout total to 200, the first college pitcher to reach that mark in 12 years.
LSU will play Wake Forest on Monday night to determine control of Bracket 2. The Volunteers will meet Stanford in an elimination game Monday.
Brayden Jobert finished a single short of hitting for the cycle. He doubled in the fourth, tripled in a run in the sixth and homered in the eighth after Tennessee had made it a two-run game.
Gavin Dugas’ third homer in four games opened the scoring, and the Tigers were up 5-0 after seven innings.
The Vols made a game of it after Christian Scott doubled for Tennessee’s first extrabase hit with one out in the eighth. Maui Ahuna’s RBI single knocked Skenes out of the game, and Hunter Ensley homered on Gavin Guidry’s only pitch to cut it the lead to 5-3.