OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Danny Corona hit a go-ahead two-run single in the eighth inning to roust a dormant Wake Forest offense, and the Demon Deacons opened their first College World Series in 68 years with a 3-2 win over Stanford on Saturday.
The No. 1 national seed Deacons were held to three hits and one run before storms in the area caused a 1-hour, 28-minute delay in the seventh inning.
When play resumed, the Deacons were able to squeeze out enough production to win their first game in Omaha since they won the national championship here in 1955.
Wake Forest turned a double play to end the game, prompting closer Camden Minacci to pump both of his fists and do a little dance in front of the mound while infielders did jumping chest bumps.
The Deacons (53-10) will play Monday against the winner of the Saturday night game between LSU and Tennessee. Stanford (44-19) plays the loser Monday.
Seth Keener (8-1), the third of four Wake Forest pitchers, struck out four of the five batters he faced and earned the win.
For four innings, Stanford starter Joey Dixon held down an offense that outscored its first five NCAA Tournament opponents 75-16 — the biggest run differential ever for a team heading into a CWS — and averaged 9.4 runs per game for the season.
Dixon, who gave up a homer to Brock Wilken and two singles, got out of a bases-loaded situation before he turned the game over to Drew Dowd at the start of the fifth. Dowd retired all six batters he faced, but he didn’t come back out after the delay.
Nick Dugan got out of a mini jam in the seventh, but he walked Nick Kurtz to start the eighth. Left-hander Ryan Bruno (2-2) came on and walked Wilken. Both moved up on Justin Johnson’s sacrifice before Corona ripped a grounder up the middle to score both and give him 19 RBIs, most in the tournament.
Wake Forest improved to 18-0 when ace Rhett Lowder starts. The projected first-round draft pick struggled with his command, but still had six strikeouts against one walk and limited Stanford to two runs before he left with one out in the sixth.
Stanford used two hits and a walk to load the bases in the first inning, and Lowder was on the verge of getting out of the jam when he hit Malcolm Moore with a 2-2 pitch to force in a run.
After Wilken hit his 31st homer of the season on his 21st birthday, tying him with Florida’s Jac Caglianone for the national lead, Carter Graham singled in a run in the third to put Stanford up 2-1.
Stanford stranded five runners in scoring position against Lowder, and the Cardinal lost other chances to add to their lead when reliever Sean Sullivan picked off Temo Becerra and Tommy Troy at first in the sixth and seventh innings.
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