Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
Liberty
Baseball Falls At Liberty, 6-5
3/11/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 11, 2003
LYNCHBURG, Va. - Liberty's Josh Butcher singled to center field to bring home Erich Cloninger in the bottom of the eighth to give the Liberty baseball team a 6-5 victory over the 14th-ranked Wake Forest Demon Deacons, Tuesday afternoon, at Worthington Stadium.
Wake Forest (9-5) jumped on top early when Ryan Johnson grounded out to drive in Ryan Hubbard for a 1-0 Demon Deacon lead.
Liberty (4-7) took the lead for the first time, plating two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Doug Bechtold scored the first run on a wild pitch, and then the Flames took the lead when Cloninger singled to left field to bring in Chad Bryan to make the score 2-1.
The Flames increased their lead to 3-1 in the second inning when Bechtold singled to score Daniel Bote.
Wake Forest then tied the game with two runs of its own in the top of the third. Johnson singled to bring in Adam Bourassa for the first run. The inning's second run was scored when Jamie D'Antona hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Hubbard.
After Wake Forest took a 5-3 lead with a run in both the fifth and sixth innings, Liberty came back with a run in the seventh to cut the lead to 5-4. Larry Wayne York singled through the right side to drive in Bechtold for the run.
In the bottom of the eighth, Liberty scored a run when Cloninger singled to right field to score Joel Patrick, who had pinch-run for David Bechtold, who had earlier doubled. Cloninger's RBI set the stage for the game-winning run.
At the plate, Liberty was led by Doug Bechtold, York and Cloninger with two hits apiece. Billy Daniels pitched 6.0 innings in relief, giving up just one earned run on five hits to pick up the win for the Flames.
Wake Forest was led by Bourassa (3-for-5) and Steve LeFaivre (2-for-2) at the plate. Daniel Davidson pitched the final inning, giving up two runs on three hits to take the loss. Brian Bach pitched the first 7.0 innings of the game, giving up four runs on seven hits.
