Wake Forest players say getting first Omaha win in 68 years 'means a lot'

The top-seeded Wake Forest Demon Deacons have been dominant all season and took that same dominance with them to Omaha for the College World Series, defeating Stanford 3-2 in their opening game on Saturday.

Wake Forest has had a historic season in many ways, setting program records for regular season wins, ACC wins, ACC series wins, and overall wins this year. But their win at Omaha marks their first College World Series win in 68 years, and after their big win, a handful of their players addressed the historical significance of the victory.

“There definitely is,” Brock Wilken said. “It means a lot for us to, one, be here, and, two, to win a game. Not too many people get to be in this situation. We’re super grateful for the opportunity to even come here and get to play on this field with a bunch of great other talent surrounded — behind us. But history is not on our radar screen. We’re looking forward to the next day we play and the future.”

Wilken has played a huge part in Wake Forest’s historic season and was a major catalyst in their recent historic win. Stanford drew first blood scoring a run in the very first inning of the ballgame, but the third baseman had a quick answer in the second inning launching his 31st home run of the season as an equalizer to tie the game at 1-1.

Wilken not only tied the game with his homer, but the ACC single-season record and national lead for homer runs this season.

“Brock kind of covered it all,” pitcher Rhett Lowder said. “I’m just thinking any win in Omaha is a good day. So doesn’t really matter what history says.”

“They hit it on the nail,” Danny Corona added

Corona represented the rest of the Deacons’ offense on Saturday with a two-RBI single in the eighth inning to break the game’s tie and give Wake Forest the lead they needed to secure the win.

And Lowder represented the team’s defense, allowing just two runs early in the game in his 5.1 innings pitched and striking out six batters. The two-time ACC Pitcher had been battling virus days leading to taking the mound at Omaha but still delivered, as his six punchouts put him just one strikeout away from tying Wake Forest’s single-season strikeout record and 11 away from the career record.

There’s no doubt that Wake Forest has been making a ton of history this season as a team and individually, and they’ll look to continue building on that when they face LSU in their second game of the College World Series on Monday at 7:00 pm ET airing on ESPN.