Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
Georgia Tech
Deacons Defeat Georgia Tech for Second Straight Day
3/16/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 16, 2002
Winston-Salem, N.C. -- The 11th-ranked Wake Forest baseball team used eight runs in their final two at-bats to take an 11-5 victory over fifth-ranked Georgia Tech on Saturday at Hooks Stadium. The Demon Deacons extended their winning streak to five games, improved their season record to 16-2 and stayed perfect at 2-0 in the ACC.
Heading into the seventh inning, the Deacons trailed 5-3 and Tech reliever Aaron Walker had been cruising for three-plus innings. But Jamie D'Antona's three-run homer to center field in the seventh catapulted the Deacons into the lead at 6-5.
In the eighth inning, Wake Forest put the game out of reach with five runs that came with the help of two throwing errors by the Georgia Tech infield on Wake Forest bunts. Ben Ingold got things going with a lead off double before Adam Bourassa was hit by pitch. Tech head coach Danny Hall was ejected from the game for arguing whether Bourassa was hit.
On the next play, Ryan Hubbard laid down a sacrifice bunt and Tech reliever Chris Goodman, trying to get the lead runner at third, fired the ball wide of the bag and down the third baseline, allowing Ingold to score. The next batter, Nick Blue, also laid down a bunt but third baseman Matthew Boggs' to first base was offline. Bourassa and Hubbard scored and Blue ended up on third base. Later, D'Antona scored on a wild pitch and Stephen Ghutzman chopped an RBI single through the right side to give the Deacons a comfortable 11-5 lead.
Wake Forest freshman Brian Bach (1-0) picked up his first collegiate win in relief. The Winston-Salem native out of Mount Tabor High School tossed 1.1 innings of scoreless relief.
Stephen Ghutzman and Nick Blue each had three hits. Ryan Johnson, who drove in the game-winning runs in the ninth inning on Friday, homered and had two RBI. For the Yellow Jackets, catcher Tyler Parker homered twice and finished with four RBI.
Wake Forest got out of the gates quickly with two runs in the first on Johnson's homer and another run in the second inning to knock Yellow Jacket starter Jeff Watchko out of the game after just 2.2 innings of work. Georgia Tech rallied in the fourth and fifth innings on the home runs by Parker, both two-run shots.
The start of the game was delayed one hour and six minutes by rain. Once the skies cleared, the game was uninterrupted. The win marked Wake Forest's fifth straight win over Georgia Tech.
The Deacons and Jackets will finish their weekend series on Sunday afternoon with a scheduled start of 1:30 p.m. Neither team has announced its starting pitcher.
