Wake Forest University
Virginia (ACC Tournament)
Deacons Shut Down Virginia In ACC Baseball Tournament
5/17/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 17, 2001
Fort Mill, SC - -Wake Forest's Ryan Braun and Dave Bush baffled Virginia's hitters and received just enough run support for a 2-1 win over the Cavaliers in the final game of Thursday's second round at the ACC Tournament.
No. 2 Wake Forest advances to face No. 4 Georgia Tech at 7:30 p.m. Friday, while No. 7 Virginia will play No. 8 NC State at 3:30 p.m.
Braun and Bush combined for 15 strike outs. Braun contributed a career-high 10 strike outs to that total in six innings pitched. Bush (4-3) earned the win.
Brandon Creswell (7-4) took the loss for the Cavaliers despite a superb performance. The left hander pitched eight innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, while walking four and striking out six.
"I think Ryan Braun was just dominant tonight. His slider was a big league slider, between 78 and 82 miles per hour, and he was unhittable at times," head coach George Greer said. "When Ryan got into a little trouble, and his slider started to flatten out a bit, we brought in David Bush because we knew we could get two or three innings out of him tonight. He was fresh and it was a cool night, so he wouldn't tire."
"Jamie D'Antona, with two strikes, he fights off a couple of pitches, and then comes up with a base hit down the left field line to drive in the winning run. It was a great college game played by two excellent teams that played very, very hard. Brandon Creswell is certainly a fine pitcher, and a lot of credit is due to him because he played great tonight."
The scoring in the game started when Wake Forest catcher Jason Aquilante doubled to left center to start the fourth inning.
For the second straight night, Virginia first baseman Dan Benick made a Willie Mays' style catch on a fly ball in foul territory. The catch retired Jamie D'Antona, but Aquilante tagged and went to third. Corey Slavik's sacrifice fly to right scored Aquilante and made the score 1-0.
In the Virginia seventh, center fielder Doug Vroman led off with a walk. Wake Forest brought in Bush for Braun. Bush struck out the first batter he faced, but walked David Stone. After striking out Virginia's leading hitter Dan Street, Bush gave up an RBI single to Hunter Wyant that scored Vroman from second and tied the game at 1-1.
Cory Sullivan led off the eighth with a single. Aquilante successfully moved Sullivan to second on a sacrifice bunt. Sullivan scored on a single by D'Antona to regain the lead and score what proved to be the winning run.
