BOILING SPRINGS – Wake Forest jumped out to an early lead Wednesday night and topped Gardner-Webb 17-9 in a midweek non-conference tilt.

The Demon Deacons (29-13)  brought one of the nation's top-20 offenses to Bill Masters Field Wednesday night and lived up that advanced billing, rapping out 19 hits though the first five innings to go up 16-3. The visitors added a run in the seventh to cap their scoring.

After falling behind 1-0 in the first, Gardner-Webb (14-28) tied the score in the bottom half. Jacob Marcos led off with a base hit, stole second and scored on a fielding error with two outs in the inning. Wake Forest took control soon after, scoring four runs in the second, five in the third and three more in the fourth and fifth innings.

Gardner-Webb picked up a run in the fourth when Peter Capobianco scored on a balk and added two runs in the fifth on back-to-back wild pitches. Jacob Marcos led off with a triple in the bottom of the sixth and scored on a sacrifice fly for Gardner-Webb's fifth run – and Alec Burns hit a towering solo shot to right center for his seventh home run of the season for Gardner-Webb's sixth run of the night.

The 'Dogs got two men on board in the bottom of the eighth and Curtis Robison cleared the bases with a triple into the left center gap. Robison scored on a wild pitch to trim Wake Forest's lead to 17-9 before the inning was finished.

Luke Osteen took the loss on the mound for GWU, working into the second inning and allowing five runs on five hits with a pair of strikeouts. The Runnin' Bulldogs used x pitchers in a staff day for the bullpen.

The Runnin' Bulldogs collected eight hits in the game, led by Burns (2-for-3, HR, 2 runs), Robison (2-for-5, 3B, 2 RBI) and Marcos (2-for-4, 2 runs).

Wake Forest starter Seth Keener tossed 4.0 innings and allowed just one run for the win. The Deacs used six pitchers in the win.

The Demon Deacons had 21 hits, with Kyle Joye collecting four of those knocks from the bottom of the order. Michael Turconi went 3-for-5 at the plate. The visitors had 10 different batters collect hits and left 13 men on base.

Gardner-Webb will be back in action on Friday night, hosting USC Upstate at 6:00 pm in another non-conference meeting between the two teams. The game will stream live on ESPN+ with Phil Constantino on the call.