No. 7 Draft prospect carves through lineup ... and bat?!
Wake Forest's Burns racks up 13 strikeouts over six no-hit frames
Kenny Van Doren
@thevandalorianNothing put out Chase Burns on Saturday … not even the rain.
MLB’s No. 7 Draft prospect took the hill for his 12th start of the year for Wake Forest in the first of three games with Western Carolina, carving through a lineup and sawing a bat in half.
Yes, you read that correctly.
As Burns cruised into his sixth inning of no-hit work, he generated a checked swing from Kyle Harbison in a 1-2 count. The spiked breaking pitch made Harbison bite low and away, but as the Catamounts catcher pulled his bat back, his barrel went flying out towards the pitcher’s mound, landing to the right of Burns.
The sword marked Burn’s 11th strikeout of the night, before the righty sent down the next two hitters in order to strike out the side in his final frame. He issued two free passes without any hits en route to his first no-hit appearance of three innings or more in his college career. Burns lowered his ERA to 3.00 behind his second scoreless outing of 2024, first since his season debut against Illinois on Feb. 17.
Burns’ 13 strikeouts were short of matching his career and season highs, but they did mark consecutive starts with double-digit punchouts and his ninth outing this year with 10 or more whiffs on his ledger. The junior right-hander remained in the lead for the most strikeouts in Division I, piling up 140 in 75 innings (16.8 K/9).
Transferring from Tennessee, Burns followed in the footsteps of Rhett Lowder, who the Reds selected seventh overall in the 2023 MLB Draft. Lowder broke the Wake Forest single-game and single-season strikeout records last year, leaving his seasonal mark at 143 punchouts.
Burns already broke Lowder's single-season mark, and now, he will enter his next start three strikeouts away from tying Lowder for the record, a fourth away from breaking it. And the No. 13 Demon Deacons have two weekend series left on the docket before postseason play begins.