Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
Wofford
Wake Forest Whips Wofford, 26-8
3/12/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 12, 2003
Winston-Salem, N.C. -- The 14th-ranked Wake Forest baseball team got back on track with a 26-8 win over visiting Wofford on Wednesday afternoon at Hooks Stadium.
After consecutive losses on Sunday and Tuesday, the Deacon bats came alive as the team scored 26 runs on 26 hits. Eight different players had two hits or more and everyone that batted for the Deacons had a hit. Five different Wake Forest hitters drove in at least three runs.
Junior Indy Wilkinson got his first career victory (1-0) in relief of freshman starter Kyle Young. Wllkinson pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings without allowing a hit. He struck out two.
Jamie D'Antona and Jeff Ruziecki led the Deacons, each with four hits, a career-high for Ruziecki. Three of D'Antona's hits were doubles, tying a school record also held by several other players.
The Deacons took the game's first lead at 2-0 in the first inning. Wofford tied it up in the second but Wake Forest began pulling away with three runs in the third inning. Six more followed in the fourth and Wake Forest poured it on in the sixth inning with 13 runs. It was the third-most runs scored in one inning by a Deacon team, the most since 1992.
In the inning, the first 12 batters reached safely and that stretch included consecutive doubles by Adam Bourassa, Doug Riepe, Brad Scioletti and D'Antona. Bourassa would double again later in the sixth.
Young, making his first collegiate start, lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing five runs on nine hits with two strikeouts and three walks. After Wilkinson, relievers Gregory Russell, Chris Caudill and Kirby Wedekind each worked an inning for the Deacs. It was the career debut for Caudill.
Wofford starter Keith Sturkie, one of six Terrier pitchers on the day, lasted just three innings, allowing five runs on seven hits. He took the loss, falling to 0-1. Wofford's season record fell to 2-12.
Wake Forest's 26 runs tied a season high and marked the third time the Deacons have scored 25 or more runs in a game this season.
The Demon Deacons begin their Atlantic Coast Conference schedule with a three-game weekend series at Maryland. Game one is set for Friday night at 7:00 p.m. at Maryland's Shipley Field.
