Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
NC State
Wake Forest Falls to NC State, 13-6
4/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 13, 2003
Winston-Salem, N.C. -- The 19th-ranked Demon Deacon baseball team fell behind early, clawed back within striking distance but couldn't catch 9th-ranked North Carolina State and losing 13-6 on Sunday afternoon at Hooks Stadium.
After seven innings, the Deacons (21-12, 7-7 ACC) trailed 6-5 but NC State scored three runs in the top of the eighth. With two outs and runners on second and third, reliever Adam Hanson was called for a balk while attemping to pick Jeremy Dutton off third base. Instead of getting the third out of the inning, the runner scored. Moments later, Justin Riley launched a two-run homer to extend the lead to 9-5.
After Ryan Hubbard led off the eighth inning with a solo homer, NC State tacked on four runs in the ninth put the game out of reach.
The Wolfpack (30-8, 9-3 ACC) built a five-run cushion in the top of the first inning, chasing Deacon starter Brian Bach (4-1) out of the game after just 2/3 of an inning. Seth Hill was sharp out of the bullpen for Wake Forest, shutting out the otherwise red hot NC State hitters for five straight innings. Wake Forest pulled within a run on a fourth inning grand slam by Jeff Ruziecki to slice NC State's lead to 5-4.
The score remained until the seventh inning when Colt Morton's blasted a solo home run. The Deacons responded in the bottom of the seventh on a one-out RBI double by Ryder Mathias. Adam Bourassa followed with a line drive to right field right at NC State's Joe Gaetti who was able to double Mathias off second base to end the threat. That led to NC State's three-run eighth inning.
Hubbard was 3-for-5 with a home run and two runs scored. Ryan Johson had a pair of hits for the Deacons. Everyone else in the Wake Forest lineup had a hit except for second baseman Chris Getz who saw his season-best nine-game hitting streak come to an end.
Wolfpack starter Vern Sterry allowed a season-high six runs with a season-low four strikeouts but was good enough to earn the win, improving to an ACC-best 9-0.
NC State pounded out 19 hits on Sunday and scored 33 runs on 38 hits during the course of the series.
For Wake Forest, it was the team's first home series loss since 2001 against Clemson. The Deacons had won seven straight home series against ACC competition. Wake Forest has lost five of six games for the first time since the 1997 season.
The Deacons will look to rebound this week at Appalachian State on Tuesday and back home on Thursday afternoon against Davidson. Wake Forest travels to first-place Georgia Tech next weekend for three games in Atlanta.
