Wake Forest named regional host for NCAA Baseball Tournament

WINSTON SALEM, NC – For the first time since 2017, Wake Forest will be a regional host in the NCAA Baseball Tournament, as announced Sunday evening.

Joining Wake Forest as regional hosts are: Auburn, LSU, Virginia, Clemson, South Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Miami, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Oklahoma State, Indiana State and Alabama.

In 2017, the Deacs entered the tournament as the No. 14 overall seed, and advanced to the super regionals with wins over UMBC and West Virginia, whom they defeated twice.

In the Gainesville supers against Florida, Wake Forest split back-to-back 11-inning games before falling in the decisive third game 3-0, coming one win short of the College World Series in Omaha. The Gators went on to win the national championship.

Wake Forest earned a regional bid behind the most dominant regular season in the team’s history, becoming the first ACC team since North Carolina to win all 10 of its conference series, a program record. The Demon Deacons also entered the postseason with a program record in conference wins (22).

On its way to the program’s first ACC regular-season championship since 1963, Wake Forest became the quickest team in its history to reach 40 wins (47 games) and tied the record for overall wins (47) with two victories in the ACC Baseball Championship. The Deacs spent the final three weeks of the regular season as the No. 1 team in the nation, the first time they reached that ranking.

Additionally, head coach Tom Walter was named the ACC Coach of the Year and Rhett Lowder earned ACC Pitcher of the Year honors for a second-straight season.

Lowder, Josh Hartle, Sean Sullivan, Nick Kurtz and Justin Johnson were named to the All-ACC first team. Tommy Hawke and Brock Wilken joined the second-team list, while Seth Keener and Cam Minacci were third-team members.

Wake Forest is expected to be named the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament with Monday’s announcement of the final 64 teams. The selection show is set for 12pm on ESPN2.