Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter previews Tennessee exhibition, discusses game format
Tennessee will host Wake Forest Sunday in an exhibition game at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. EDT.
Wake Forest (41-19-1, 15-14-1 ACC) advanced to the NCAA College Park regional in 2022. The Demon Deacons lost to UConn, 8-7, defeated Long Island, 10-4, and were eliminated by host Maryland, 10-5.
Tennessee finished its 2022 season with a 57-9 (25-5 SEC) record.
The Vols won the Southeastern Conference East division for the second consecutive season, the league regular-season and tournament championships in 2022.
The Vols were the No. 1 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, winning the Knoxville regional and advancing to the Knoxville super regional.
Tennessee was ranked No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll for 10 consecutive weeks (March 28-May 30) in 2022.
Ahead of Sunday’s matchup, Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter previewed the fall exhibition contest with Vols Wire.
On ending last season in the College Park regional
“We kind of had that first game where we wanted it, you know, kind of didn’t get it done, which was disappointing. I feel like if you win the first game in the regional, you would have a good chance to win it, but it’s tough, tough to come through the losers bracket for sure.”
On getting reps for players at Tennessee and Wake Forest's injury report
“Our top two pitchers won’t throw at all, really three of our top four won’t throw at all. Then our number three guy is only going to throw one inning, so we’re not really throwing our top four or five guys. I’m not sure what Tennessee is doing, either way is fine, of course, those guys have just been shut down because of high inning count and summer in the Cape or Team USA, etc. Then we’ve got a couple of guys out. We’ve got (Nick) Kurtz our first baseman’s out with a shoulder, he’ll be able to play a little defense, but he’s not going to be able to swing the bat. Then same thing with (Jake) Reinisch, who was kind of our full time DH last year, he’s out, so two of our bigger offensive pieces won’t be able to play either. I mean, obviously, we want to compete and get something out of this, but at the same time, we want to get a bunch of different guys in there and look at them in different situations and see how they react. It’s a good way for us to figure out kind of what we have.”
Third baseman Brock Wilken
“Brock will play Sunday, for sure. He’ll probably play the first nine innings and then not the second nine innings. I may go a little deeper with him depending on what he wants to do if he wants a couple more at bats or not, but he will definitely be in there. He’s a really good player, and we’ve got some freshmen we need to look at. We’ve got a couple of transfers, the transfer from Lafayette, shortstop that’s been playing well, a catcher transfer from Tulane has been playing well, so certainly looking forward to seeing kind of how those two guys do against the level of competition we’re going to see on Sunday.”
Sunday's game format being 18 straight innings
“18 straight innings, is kind of the way you have to do it, but the way I’m looking at it is, play the first nine kind of like a game and then play the second nine like a second game, but it’s 18 innings straight through.”
On Tony Vitello and Tennessee's program
“We’ve never competed against each other. Talked to him on the phone several times over the years about various things, but I have not yet met him in person. Obviously, I have heard nothing but really great things and the job he’s done there with that program clearly speaks for itself. They’ve got it rolling there and it’s going to be a great test for us.”
Tom Walter's head coaching career
Wake Forest (2010-present): 364–327-1 overall record
New Orleans (2005-09): 153–147 overall record
George Washington (1997-2004): 273–181 overall record
