Wake Forest out-homers Alabama, 5-4, in NCAA Super Regional opener

A wild matinee had it all: two different three-run rallies, a handful of launched home runs and a coach’s ejection. In the end, a raucous crowd at David F. Couch Ballpark saw one-seed Wake Forest take game one of the NCAA Super Regional over No. 16 Alabama, 5-4.

Game two will be Sunday at 11 a.m. CST. Wake Forest (51-10) will throw first-team All-ACC lefty Josh Hartile. Alabama’s starter is to be determined.

Saturday’s back-and-forth contest began two hours later than scheduled due to a “non-game-related medical emergency,” just after 1:15 p.m. CST. When it did start on ESPN+, the fireworks came early.

Tide leadoff hitter Jim Jarvis barely missed an opposite-field home run off Rhett Lowder, but it curved left of the foul pole. On Wake Forest’s first swing, Tommy Hawke blasted a solo shot off the right field video board. The lead grew when Justin Johnson started the second inning with his own home run. A wild pitch that same inning put Alabama in an early hole.

“Hawke ambushed the first fastball of the game. Give him credit. He got it and he didn’t miss it,” Alabama interim coach Jason Jackson said. “Johnson hit a breaking ball that kind of hung up a little bit. I think, if anything, Luke, his curveball and slider started to get a little sharper. He started executing down at the bottom of the zone and getting them in the dirt a little bit more when h needed to get those chases.”

Alabama (43-20) rallied with a few home runs of its own. Long balls by Caden Rose and Colby Shelton (team-best 23rd) silenced the home crowd, if only briefly, and popped the rows of UA fans behind the visiting dugout. The latter of which came in a two-out rally. Lowder, the nation’s No. 2 pitcher according to ERA (1.77), allowed three earned runs for just the fourth time this season.

Lowder eventually settled in, retiring eight of the next nine batters before leaving the game in the top of the seventh inning. He finished with six strikeouts and allowed six base runners. Holman, meanwhile, gutted out 104 pitches with eight strikeouts.

In the bottom of the fifth, Wake Forest designated hitter Danny Corona appeared to strike out but a check-swing review extended his at-bat. He then sent the next pitch over the hedges in right field to make it 4-3 Demon Deacons. While he rounded the bases, the umpires ejected Alabama assistant coach Matt Reida, who had been arguing the call.

The bottom of Alabama’s lineup kept it close. Rose sent a ball 104 miles per hour off the bat and over the fence for his second home run in the eighth inning.

“No offense to this ballpark, but it doesn’t play the biggest,” Story said, “you get it up here it’s gonna go out. Just saw it, put a good swing on it. Glad I could help the team.

“.These are the two best teams in the country going at it right now. I don’t care what they have us ranked. These are the best two teams in the country slugging it out. Whoever makes more mistakes that’s usually the team that loses. We made one too many mistakes today and that’s something we gotta flush.”

Tommy Seidl then reached second base on a throwing error as the tying run. But Wake Forest reliever Sean Sullivan struck out Andrew Pinckney and Drew Williamson to end the threat. The Crimson Tide’s three and four hitters combined to go 0-for-8 with four strikeouts. Postgame, Jackson said he wasn’t considering moving the lineup around.

Sullivan continued to find success mixing the ball high in the zone, a difference from Lowder’s downward action. He finished the game with seven strikeouts, including the last five UA batters.

The eventual winning run was scored by Brock Wilken. He reached base on an error after a popup dropped between Pinckney in right field and Ed Johnson at second. Wilkien then tagged up on a pop-fly to reach second base and scored on a single by Adam Cecere.

“Pretty well-pitched game from both sides. Some home runs which, you would expect probably in this ballpark,” Jackson said. “But I think both teams did a fairly good job of keeping those to solo shots. That was the big piece.”

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at NAlvarez@al.com.