SPORTS

Christina DeNovio, denoca20@wfu.edu Essex ayer, thayse20@wfu.edu

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OLD GOLD & BLACK

PAGE 11

THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2022

Photo Courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics Men's basketball dominates Louisville

CHRISTIAN ODJAKJIAN Staff Writer

Following a tough road loss to Clemson three days prior, Wake Forest bounced back in a big way on Saturday, beating Louisville 99-77.

“Give these guys credit for being resilient,” Wake Forest Head Coach Steve Forbes said after the game. “I thought we played with a great edge tonight.” e Demon Deacons (12-8, 12-7) jumped out to an electric 17-2 start, which red up a crowd of over 8,000 at the Joel Coliseum. Louisville (12-16, 6-12) was able to cut the lead to just six early in the second half, but Wake Forest responded, and led by as many as 32 late in the contest.

“Forbes had us inspired to play tonight,” said graduate center Dallas Walton, who tied his career high with 22 points in the win. “It was nice to get o to the start that we did and be able to maintain that level throughout the game.”

Walton put together an impressive and e cient performance o ensively. He connected on 8-9 eld goals, including 4-4 from long range. In his three previous collegiate seasons, he never even attempted more than two three-pointers in a game. He received a warm ovation from the crowd when he was substituted out in the nal minutes.

“[Walton] didn't play great on Wednesday night,” said Forbes. “But he came back like a good player does, and he played really well tonight.”

Wake Forest shot 32-of-55 from the eld (58.2%), and 13-of-27 (48.1%) from downtown. All ve Wake Forest starters nished the game in double gures.

Junior forward Jake LaRavia also had a down game versus Clemson but got back on track Saturday with 23 points, including the 1000th point of his college career. He added seven boards, ve assists and made 13-14 free throws.

Senior guard Davien Williamson scored 15 points on just ve eld-goal attempts. Graduate guard Alondes Williams didn’t have a big game for his standards but added 12 points with ve assists.

Senior forward Isaiah Mucius scored 12 points and drilled four three-pointers himself. He emphatically yelled, “I’m back,” after drilling back-to-back threes in the opening minutes of the game, referring to his absence from the Clemson game due to an illness. Forbes praised his impact after the game.

“He’s become one of the better defenders in the league,” said Forbes. “He rebounds the ball, he’s a great communicator, he’s got tremendous spirit. We need that. We missed him last game.”

On the other hand, Louisville did not get much production at all from their starting ve. ey combined for just 18 points.

“We found ve guys (on the bench) who competed, had a really good rhythm, and played together, who cut the lead to single digits,” said Louisville acting Head Coach Mike Pegues. “We dug ourselves another hole in the second half that we weren’t able to climb out of. Rough, rough night for everybody involved.”

One Cardinal, however, put together an excellent e ort in the loss, junior forward Sydney Curry. Entering Saturday, Curry was averaging just 4.8 points per game, but he was very e ective against the Demon Deacons, scoring 28 points on 13-18 shooting.

Wake Forest secured the win without the services of graduate big man Khadim Sy, who injured his foot versus Clemson. Forbes revealed after the game that his MRI came back negative and that he has a chance to play Wednesday on Senior Night against North Carolina State.

“Losing [Sy] hurts us defensively, it doesn't give us the opportunity to play as big as we like to sometimes,” said Forbes. “But that's why you have depth and why you have guys ready to play.”

British freshman Matthew Marsh and Cameron Hildreth saw an increase in minutes and performed admirably. If the coaching sta can rely on them for quality minutes o of the bench moving forward, depth can nally be a strength for this team.

Another highlight o the bench was the play of senior guard Miles Lester. e fan-favorite drilled a three-pointer in the nal minute of the game, igniting the crowd of over 1,000 students in attendance at the Joel Coliseum.

Wake Forest can tie its single-season record of 13 ACC wins if they take care of business on Senior Night on Wednesday, March 2, against North Carolina State.

Page 12 | Thursday, March 3, 2022

Old Gold & Black | Sports Baseball sweeps weekend series with NJIT

ESSEX THAYER

Following a victory over UNC Greensboro in a mid-week contest, Wake Forest baseball swept New Jersey Tech — a 2021 NCAA Tournament team — in a four-game, weekend series. e wins moved the Demon Deacons to 8-0 for the rst time since 1964.

In their mid-week contest, Wake Forest’s three six-run innings — the rst, third and sixth — led them to a comfortable 23-3 win over the Spartans. In the opening game of the weekend series, the Demon Deacons fended o a Highlander comeback attempt by scoring six runs in the seventh inning; they won 16-5.

Josh Hartle led Wake Forest with a 6.2 inning, no earned run performance in the opening game of the Saturday doubleheader, allowing the team to coast to a 9-2 win. In the second game of the doubleheader, though, the Demon Deacons had to mount a comeback for the rst time all season, scoring seven runs in the nal two innings to win 8-5. In the closing game of the week, Wake Forest knocked three home runs, leading to an 11-5 victory.

On Wednesday against UNCG, Wake Forest opened the game with three home runs — one each by sophomore Brock Wilken, redshirt sophomore Adam Cecere and freshman Danny Corona — in the rst inning to build a 6-0 lead. Following a solo home run by redshirt junior Michael Turconi in the second inning, the Demon Deacons tacked on six more runs in the third led by RBIs from Wilkin, Cecere and redshirt junior Brandon Tinsman.

With the game well in hand, sophomores Lucas Costello and Mark Black added late-game grand slams for the Demon Deacons, extending their lead to nearly 20 runs and allowing them to coast to a comfortable win.

Starting pitcher Seth Keener earned the win despite only pitching two innings, which enabled him to pitch in the fourgame weekend series. e bullpen closed out the nal seven innings, only giving up four hits and one run.

In the series opening game against New Jersey Tech on Friday, Wake Forest showcased its proli c o ense in a sixrun second inning, led by a grand slam from Costello, his second in two games. In the fourth inning, the Demon Deacons added four additional runs with hits by Wilken, Cecere and sophomore Jake Reinisch. e Highlanders did not score their rst run until the top of the seventh inning, when they knocked Wake Forest starting pitcher Rhett Lowder with two runs (one earned). During the rest of the inning, New Jersey Tech brought in another three runs against graduate relief pitcher Jacob Grzebinski to cut the Demon Deacons’ lead to ve runs.

Wake Forest responded in the next half inning, scoring six runs in the bottom of the seventh. Two walks with loaded bases began the scoring spree, while a two-RBI single by graduate in elder Zach Sehgal gave the Demon Deacons a 16-5 lead, which became the nal score.

For Wake Forest Head Coach Tom Walter, there was much to be pleased with, including the 1.2 hitless innings to close the game from redshirt sophomore Reed Mascolo.

“ e best thing I saw tonight was Reed,” Walter said. “ at’s the best I’ve seen him throw in a long time.”

In the rst game of the doubleheader on Saturday, Wake Forest rode a strong o ensive start along with a solid pitching performance by Hartle to victory. e Demon Deacons brought in four runs in the rst two innings with RBI singles by Cecere, who hit two, Corona and Wilken.

After two Highlander runs were scored in the top of the fourth inning, Wake Forest responded in the bottom half with Turconi knocking in two runs with a triple to left eld. Two sacri ce outs brought in two additional runs, leading the Demon Deacons to a comfortable 9-2 victory.

Hartle’s performance — two runs, none earned in 6.2 innings — gives him a 0.77 season ERA two games into his career in Winston-Salem.

In the second game of the doubleheader, Wake Forest went right back to their o ense in the rst inning, with Cecere hitting a sacri ce y to right eld to bring in the rst run of the game. However, the Demon Deacons would not score another run until the seventh inning.

Between the third and sixth innings, New Jersey Tech scored four runs, including a solo home run by Nick Hussey that knocked starting pitcher Teddy McGraw out of the game. Wake Forest recovered, though, with sophomore Camden Minacci pitching 1.1 hitless innings in relief.

On o ense, the Demon Deacons responded in the bottom of the seventh, with Reinisch hitting a two-run home run to cut the de cit to one. en, the Highlanders walked two straight batters with the bases loaded to give Wake Forest the lead. To extend their newfound lead, redshirt sophomore Pierce Bennett hit a sacri ce y to center eld.

With redshirt sophomore Eric Adler pitching, Hussey hit an RBI double to bring the Highlanders within one run, but in the next half inning, a two-run home run from freshman Nick Kurtz extended Wake Forest’s lead to three. From there, Adler closed the game with a threeup, three-down ninth inning.

In the nal game of the series, it was New Jersey Tech that got on the board rst with a solo home run by Julio Marcano. In the third inning, though, a solo home run from Reinisch and a two-run home run by Turconi gave Wake Forest its rst lead of the day. In response to another Highlander run in the fourth, the Demon Deacons tacked on seven runs between the fourth and seventh innings, highlighted by a home run hit by Tinsman. From there, Wake Forest was able to close out the win.

“Winning a doubleheader is hard to do in college baseball,” Walter said after the game. “I am really happy with the way we battled back in that second game. More than anything, I am happy that our guys did not rest on the fact that we already won two games and they believed they were going to win.”

Despite their victories, the Demon Deacons have yet to be ranked in the Baseball America Top 25. e team will look to continue their undefeated start to the season with a mid-week game against Elon and a weekend set against UMass Lowell and Central Michigan.

Photo courtesy Wake Forest Athletics

Sophomore Rhett Lowder allowed only one run in 6.1 innings pitched.

WBB goes 1-1 leading into ACC Tournament

IAN STEFFENSEN

Wake Forest women’s basketball closed out the regular season this week by facing o against Syracuse and Georgia Tech. Coming o back-to-back losses, the Demon Deacons were able to turn it around against Syracuse but came up short against Georgia Tech in their regular-season nale.

On ursday night against the Orange, Wake Forest put up a dominant performance to earn a 76-60 victory. Senior forward Christina Morra was a force to be reckoned with, scoring a career-high 21 points and controlling the boards with a career-high 15 rebounds.

“Christina played so well tonight, achieving career highs in both points and rebounds,” Wake Forest Head Coach Jen Hoover said. “When we get a kind of night like that from her, we are very hard to defend because it opens up so much for us o ensively.”

e Demon Deacons jumped out to a quick 8-0 run to start the game and controlled much of the momentum from there. Syracuse could not get anything going and tended to only capitalize on unsettled transition points. Once Wake Forest tightened up their o ense and possessed the ball, Syracuse had no answer. e Orange defense opened up, and Wake Forest took full advantage, scoring 44 points in the paint. For the sixth straight game, the Demon Deacons had four players scoring double-digits. In addition to Morra’s 21, freshman guard Elise Williams scored 11 points, junior forward Niyah Becker added 13 and sophomore guard and ACC scoring leader Jewel Spear had 19. All around, it was a dominant performance for the Demon Deacons and was their largest margin of victory against an ACC opponent this season.

In the regular season nale, the Demon Deacons looked to upset No. 22 Georgia Tech. Hailed as one of the best defenses in the nation, the Yellow Jackets were looking to lock down Wake Forest early, but they could not do so. Spear opened the game with a three-ball and Morra followed up with back-to-back scores, allowing Wake Forest to jump out to a 7-3 lead. Spear added another three-pointer before the quarter ended. Spear and Morra combined for 13 of the Demon Deacons’ 16 points in the rst, yet Georgia Tech held the lead after the rst quarter.

Six straight points by the Yellow Jackets in the rst two minutes of the second quarter shifted the momentum their way, but Wake Forest was not out of it yet. Junior forward Olivia Summiel hit a corner three to bring the Demon Deacons back to within four. On the nal possession of the rst half, the ball went to none other than Spear who hit a deep three to put Wake Forest up 33-32 going into the locker room.

After the half, the game became a back- and-forth a air with both sides trading blows. Georgia Tech took advantage of the paint to build upon their lead and led by seven entering the fourth. With the shot-clock winding down, Becker hit a bank shot from the elbow to pull to within one. She also came up clutch with a block on the defensive end, but a scoring drought late in the fourth quarter allowed the Yellow Jackets to pull ahead. A small glimpse of a comeback came when Summiel hit another clutch three to cut the de cit to ve with a minute and a half left. In its last few possessions, though, Wake Forest came up short and fell 6456.

Despite the loss, the competitiveness and drive shown by the Demon Deacons is crucial for this time of year.

“I am proud of the e ort we are playing with headed into the postseason,” Hoover said after the game. “We will continue to work this week before heading to Greensboro.”

Wake Forest women’s basketball will face Virginia in the rst round of the ACC Tournament. ey previously beat the Cavaliers 68-53 in the regular season.

CHRISTINA DENOVIO Sports Editor

After claiming his rst collegiate title this past weekend, sophomore Clay Stirsman is looking to ride this wave of success into Wake Forest Invitational at Pinehurst on March 7. e golfer from Carmel, Indiana captured the Wolfpack Invitational on Feb. 7, winning by ve strokes in the 41-player eld.

While Stirsman enjoyed his rst win in his two years as a Demon Deacon, he is keeping his sights set on the future as he hopes to garner more accomplishments in his college career. With the support of his family, teammates and coaches, Stirsman’s ultimate goal is to play professionally and continue in the footsteps of Wake Forest alumni who have found great success in the world of professional golf.

Christina DeNovio: When did you start playing golf?

Clay Stirsman: I would say I started just fooling around with golf when I was three. I didn’t play tournament golf until I was around 10 years old. And ever since then I’ve been pretty serious about it.

CD: Did you play other sports growing up? What made you choose golf?

CS: I grew up playing basketball and soccer up until almost high school. I played football for a couple years, as well. My dad played football and was injured a lot, so he kind of steered me towards the golf direction. My mom’s side of the family all played golf, too. I really enjoyed basketball, but I felt like I had a better shot of being a golfer than I did at being a basketball player.

CD: How did you choose Wake Forest?

CS: It’s a long process to choose a college. A lot of people go through it. All athletes, obviously, take a lot of visits. ere’s a lot of di erent factors that in uence your decision. But overall, I liked the proximity to campus for our facilities here, and we have really good coaches. e academic reputation around here is very strong, and the tradition associated with the golf program was big. So that’s kind of how I ended up here, and I’m happy with where I’m at.

I’d say there are 10 Division I programs that have a reputation for putting guys on the PGA Tour. Georgia, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma — a lot of guys make it out of there. Wake Forest has certainly been one of those with Bill Haas, Webb Simpson, Will Zalatoris and Cameron Young. But, Arnold Palmer for sure is l the guy that kind of made Wake Forest the golf school that it is. Everyone after that was just kind of looking to follow in his footsteps. We have a huge statue outside of our golf house of Arnold Palmer, which is pretty cool to look at every day.

CD: What’s your favorite part of being on the golf team?

CS: I would say the camaraderie of our team — we have 11 guys on our team this year. It’s kind of like a family. It’s a very competitive atmosphere in some ways — everyone’s trying to beat the other guy trying to get into a lineup and play at the tournaments. But at the end of the day, we’re lucky to be able to hang out with each other, and everyone respects one another. e team atmosphere that we have, paired with the coaches and the facilities we have is pretty special.

CD: What does a typical day look like?

CS: We generally have to get out of class by 1:45 p.m. We start practice around 2 p.m. I’ll go through my classes, whether it’s two or three a day. en from there, we usually grab lunch somewhere on campus, and then it’s pretty much all practice. We mix it up between structured time and practicing on our own. But we’ll go until 5:30 or 6:00 p.m.

We’ll probably play two to three times a week. So if we’re playing, we go to Old Town or Forsyth Country Club at around 2:30 p.m. We’ll be done by 7 p.m. and then get homework nished after that. en, there’s some downtime at the end of the day. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we have workouts 6:30 to 7:45 a.m. with Coach David Bass. ose are the same whether it’s o season or in-season.

CD: How did it feel to claim your rst collegiate title this past weekend?

CS: It was awesome. I’m grateful to have played so well this weekend. It was not as big of a tournament as some of the other ones we’ve had, but I was fortunate enough to have an individual spot and play with a few of the other guys. We went down there and had a great weekend. It was not the best weather conditions, but I was able to string a couple good rounds together and fortunately came out with a win. It’s nice to say that I’ve won a collegiate tournament, but I’ve learned a lot from the negative outcomes of the rounds that I’ve had. I’m just trying to stay focused for the rest of the time I have here and see if I can do more.

CD: What are you looking forward to this season?

CS: We have Pinehurst next week, which starts on Monday. It’s one of our two home events — we host one in the fall and one in the spring. It’s our rst home event of the spring season, but we had the Old Town event in the fall, and so it’d be great to win again. I would say everyone’s got their eyes set on one tournament at a time. It’s pretty easy to get caught up in the future with the ACC Championship and the regionals and the national championship ahead, but we can really only focus on one step at a time right now.

I do not like to look too far ahead in the future, because in golf, you really can’t control how you’re playing at any given time. So right now I hope I can carry the momentum that I have from this weekend into next week. I’m going to be practicing really hard on the types of grasses that we have here on a facility that are going to be the same type of grass that we’re going to be playing on at Pinehurst. From a team and individual perspective, we want to do as best we can and show our skill levels.

CD: Do you have aspirations to play professional golf?

CS: I de nitely do. As of right now, it’s kind of always something that maybe is changing, depending on how my golf career is going. I would de nitely love to try to play some form of professional golf. I think anyone who wants to play professional golf understands how di cult it is. ere’s a growing number of opportunities to play professional golf out there nowadays in a lot of di erent countries, including the United States. It’s a really challenging process which gets down to a select few.

I would say that I de nitely do want to play. If things turn out to be going in the right direction, I would love to. A lot of guys spend 10 years trying to play professional golf — it can take a long time. I haven’t really thought in-depth about how long I would be willing to try before I get a job and settle down. Right now, my passion for the game remains as strong as it was when I came here, and it’s growing too. So in a perfect world, one day I would play professional golf.

CD: Do you have anyone you keep in mind or play for when you’re gol ng?

CS: De nitely my maternal grandfather. He’s one of the main reasons why I play golf. My uncle and my grandpa both played golf, and my cousin does as well. My grandpa was a really good golfer, and that was one of the main reasons why my dad put me in this sport. He had seen the career that my grandpa had just on small-level Indiana tournaments back in his time. He’s de nitely the reason why I play golf, and I play for him.

I play for a lot of people, but he’s de nitely my role model. Everyone faces adversity, and I’ve certainly struggled in the game. I had a good weekend and played well, but it’s been a lot of up and down over the past couple years of playing the game. My grandpa has pushed me to be better and to play as well as I can in the time I have with the game.

CD: What is your major? Do you have a dream job for when you’re done playing golf?

CS: I am an Economics major with a minor in Spanish. Having the Spanish attached to it is really nice — I think it opens a di erent potential avenue in the future. I’d like to do something in the business world, potentially real estate. I think economics pairs well as real estate because you can understand how the general economy is working and moving in the future.

I don’t really know exactly which area I’d like to go into. Math is not really a strong suit of mine, so I probably wouldn’t go into nance or accounting. Something in the business world would be great -— maybe international business one day. Anything that deals with relationships I feel is where my best chances would be.

Thursday, March 3, 2022 | Page 13 Clay Stirsman Deacon “Sportlight”

Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics

tournament of the spring on Monday.

Editor’s note: is interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.