Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Falls to Florida in NCAA
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 23, 1998
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Wake Forest suffered its first loss in the NCAA South Regional here Saturday night, falling to top-seeded and tourney host Florida, 12-9.
The Demon Deacons now face Illinois at 1 pm on Sunday and must defeat both the Illini and Florida (in a 6 pm contest) to advance to the College World Series in Omaha next week.
Wake took an early 3-0 lead over the Gators, but eventually fell behind, 9-3, before staging another of its patented rallies. The Deacons, who had overcome a 9-3 deficit to beat Illinois on Thursday (14-12) and trailed Richmond, 4-1, Friday before winning (6-5), scored six times in the sixth inning to tie the game at 9-all. A grand slam by Ben Danosky was the key hit in that inning.
Florida responded, though, with a single run in the seventh inning and two more in the ninth to secure the win.
Freshman lefthander Danny Borrell, who pitched a complete game in Wake's ACC Championship victory over Florida State last Sunday, is scheduled to take the mound versus Illinois.
