Wake Forest took control early and never looked back, eliminating Cincinnati from the Knoxville Regional with a 10-3 victory. The Bearcats struggled to capitalize with runners on base, while Wake Forest built their lead behind strong hitting and solid pitching out of starter Matt Dallas.
Cincinnati pitcher Carson Marsh worked through the first inning, leaving Marek Houston stranded at third after a pop-fly ended the frame.
Wake Forest broke through in the third. Houston singled to right-center, scoring Matt Conte. Jack Winnay then doubled off the left-field wall, bringing in two more runs and forcing Marsh out of the game. Joel Pineiro stepped in for Cincinnati. Dalton Wentz capped off the inning with a sacrifice fly to center, allowing Kade Lewis to score and making it 4-0 Wake Forest.
After the game, Cincinnati head coach Jordan Bischel acknowledged Wake Forest’s dominance early in the matchup, saying, “Wake Forest is a really good team, and they flat-out beat us. Their pitcher, Matt, threw a great ball game. We just couldn’t get a lot going offensively.”
Cincinnati struggled to bring runners home, leaving multiple opportunities on base. In the fourth, a tough grounder slipped past shortstop Charlie Niehaus, letting another run score and extending Wake Forest’s lead to 5-0.
Austin Hawke would later extend the lead to 6-0 with a long solo bomb to left field.
Cincinnati’s bats stayed quiet as Wake Forest kept piling on. A couple more big hits pushed their lead to 8-0.
Christian Mitchelle reflected on Cincinnati’s mindset as their deficit grew, saying, “I definitely call myself sometimes getting emotional towards the eighth inning, looking down the field, but you just gotta have faith. I think I would have went down swinging at a ball in the dirt, so I was just kind of trusting.”
Marek Houston continued his Knoxville Regional terror, cranking a two-run bomb to deep left field, which I think was his longest of the weekend to that point.
Cincinnati would later add one run in nothing time, finally getting on the board to make it 10-1.
Cincinnati would later drive Matt Dallas out of the game in the bottom of the eighth, as Christian Mitchelle drove a two-run double into left field, making it 10-3.
The game would end at a 10-3 score, eliminating the Cincinnati Bearcats from the Knoxville Regional.
Cincinnati’s pitching depth was a major issue throughout the tournament, something Bischel knows must be addressed in the offseason. The Bearcats need more quality starters to stay competitive in these settings. They also struggled with errors and timely hitting, failing to string together consistent offensive production.
Reflecting on the end of his career, Kerrington Cross shared an emotional moment, saying, “Really tough, going out. First person I wanted to see was my mom—she was with me the whole way, never missed a summer ball game, never missed a college home game. My teammates, my loved ones, my girlfriend, everybody—I’m really blessed to have the people behind me. I can’t thank the University of Cincinnati enough.”
Wake Forest’s Matt Dallas was the ace of the weekend so far for the Demon Deacons, shutting down Cincinnati’s offense with his fastball and ability to locate pitches late in counts. Bischel commented on Dallas’s performance, noting, “The fastball is really, really good. It has a really good late life to it… I thought second and third innings, we started to square up a lot of baseballs, they just went at people.”
The Knoxville Regional will now continue as Wake Forest faces the Tennessee Volunteers later Sunday night at 6 PM ET.
Bischel remains optimistic about Cincinnati’s future, emphasizing their gritty approach: “We’re gonna stay a family. We’re gonna keep grinding together. We’re gonna grow together and we’ll see where that takes us.”
