SHELBY, N.C. – The Wake Forest baseball team (29-17, 11-13 ACC) completed the season sweep of App State (26-17, 13-8 SBC) with a gritty 3-2 victory over the Mountaineers on Tuesday night at Keeter Stadium.
Gritty W ✔️ pic.twitter.com/AnppTGvW6l
— Wake Forest Baseball (@WakeBaseball) April 29, 2026
Sophomore starting pitcher Duncan Marsten delivered his second quality start of the season, tossing 6.0 innings of efficient, two-hit, two-run ball with five punchouts. The Lake Balboa, Calif., native faced the minimum in five of his six innings of work. Additionally, Marsten has gone at least five innings in each of his last three starts, allowing just five earned runs across 16.0 innings.
Harsch punches the side in the seventh 🥊
M7 | WF 3, App State 2 pic.twitter.com/85V3jnepb8
— Wake Forest Baseball (@WakeBaseball) April 29, 2026
Freshman Marcelo Harsch struck out three of the four batters he faced out of the bullpen, providing a dominant, shutdown bridge to the eighth inning for the Demon Deacons. Senior Will Ray earned his team-leading third save of the season, recording the final four outs of the contest.
Kade gives us a 3-2 lead after 5 innings 🎩 https://t.co/X7mQKri5uI pic.twitter.com/PPKtn5iYX3
— Wake Forest Baseball (@WakeBaseball) April 28, 2026
Freshman left fielder Andrew Costello continued the Demon Deacons’ power surge, launching the first home run of his career over the wall in left field to put Wake Forest on the board in the bottom of the second.
Cleared for takeoff ✈️ https://t.co/v8uCxpzj71 pic.twitter.com/JrnzimEQsf
— Wake Forest Baseball (@WakeBaseball) April 28, 2026
The home run marked the team’s 34th in the last nine games after hitting just 42 in the first 36 games of the season.
Baby Stello gets his first 💣
Deacs grab a 1-0 advantage! pic.twitter.com/GcCsNO1Nm3
— Wake Forest Baseball (@WakeBaseball) April 28, 2026
First baseman Kade Lewis delivered a clutch, go-ahead two-RBI single in the fifth inning to push Wake Forest ahead. For Lewis, it marked his team-leading 22nd multi-hit game and 16th multi-RBI performance of the season.
Deacs Dub 🎩 pic.twitter.com/PyFCzqTQQw
— Wake Forest Baseball (@WakeBaseball) April 29, 2026
FROM COACH WALTER
“This annual Jim Horn game is just really special to me, personally, and to our program. This Shelby Baseball community is phenomenal, and they love their Deacs down here. Anything we can do to support Jim Horn and Linda Horn, and American Legion Baseball, we’re proud to be a small part of that. Glad we could get the win today. It wasn’t pretty, but thankfully, we got a good start out of Duncan [Marsten] again. He’s been so solid for us on Tuesdays, and it’s made such a big difference. Nobody got extended out of our bullpen, which was good with a Thursday series coming behind it. We found a way to do enough offensively. Kade Lewis with the big two-RBI single to put us in front, and we’re able to hold it down.” – Head Coach Tom Walter
UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons return to The Couch for a three-game series against Louisville starting on Thursday, Apr. 30. First pitch against the Cardinals is set for 7 p.m. ET on the ACC Network.

