Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
NC State
Deacons Split Doubleheader With NC State
4/12/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 12, 2003
Winston-Salem, N.C. -- The 19th-ranked Demon Deacon baseball team split a doubleheader with ninth-ranked NC State at Hooks Stadium on Saturday afternoon, winning the first game 11-9 and dropping the second game 11-2.
Game one was a see-saw battle that saw four ties and five lead changes. The Deacons scored the game's decisive runs with a two-out rally in the bottom of the eighth inning. Ben Ingold's RBI single scored Steve LeFaivre and Chris Getz followed with a RBI single to score Jeff Ruziecki.
Ingold finished the game 2-for-4 with three RBI including the game-winner.
Adam Hanson, who came on in relief of starter Kyle Sleeth in the eighth, closed the door in the ninth to pick up the win to improve to 5-2.
Six different Deacons laced six doubles in the first game and nine separate players had hits.
Sleeth struck out eight batters through 7.2 innings but allowed a season-high seven earned runs on nine hits and four walks.
In game two, Jamie D'Antona nailed a pair of solo home runs and Chris Getz tied a school record with three doubles but it wasn't nearly enough as NC State won 11-2.
The Wolfpack posted seven runs in the second inning. With one out and runners on first and second, NC State's Adam Hargrave bounced what seemed to be a double play ball toward Jamie D'Antona that would have gotten Deacon starter Tim Morley out of the inning with no damage done.
Instead, the ball got by D'Antona into left field and the floodgates opened. The big blow was Jeremy Dutton's bases-loaded triple. Two batters later, Wolfpack catcher Colt Morton homered to make 7-0.
D'Antona led off the bottom half of the second with a solo home run and added a second bomb in the fourth, his 12th and 13th home runs of the year to lead the Atlantic Coast Conference. D'Antona now has 50 career home runs and becomes just the second Wake Forest player and 17th player in ACC history to reach that level.
Freshmen Kirby Wedekind and Kyle Young were impressive in 5.2 combined innings out of the bullpen. The only blemish was a two-run ninth inning home run by Joe Gaetti, his second of the game.
Dutton and Gaetti both went 3-for-5 with four RBI to lead NC State.
Wake Forest and NC State conclude their key ACC series on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. Brian Bach gets the start for the Deacons in the rubber match of the series. Vern Sterry will get the ball for the Wolfpack.
