Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
Clemson
Deacs Drop Series Opener At Clemson, 13-6
3/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 26, 2004
CLEMSON, S.C.-- Clemson defeated Wake Forest, 13-6 Friday evening at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, extending the Tigers' unbeaten streak against the Demon Deacons to seven games. Wake Forest (11-12, 1-3 ACC) dips below .500 for the first time since Feb. 25 and has now dropped four consecutive games, the team's longest losing streak of the season. Clemson (10-10, 1-0 ACC) picks up its first conference victory of the season while improving to .500 overall.
Clemson took an early 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Catcher Lou Santangelo started the inning off with a triple over Matt Miller's head in center field. The next batter, Kris Harvey, crushed a Kyle Young offering deep over the left field fence for his second home run of the season. After a walk to Andy D'Alessio, designated hitter John Ingram followed with a line drive double to right-center field which rolled all the way to the wall. D'Alessio came around to score from first, narrowly avoiding J.B. Tucker's tag at home on the relay throw by second baseman Brad Scioletti. An RBI groundout by Garrick Evans would give the Tigers their final run of the inning.
Clemson starting pitcher Jason Berken struggled in the top of the third as the Deacons got back into the game. After a leadoff double by Miller, Berken fielded a slow roller off the bat of Casey Sterk and threw errantly to third base, allowing Miller to score and Sterk to take second base. Sterk would advance to third on a Berken wild pitch, and two straight walks to Nick Blue and Matt Antonelli loaded the bases for Wake Forest. It looked as if Berken may work his way out of the inning without any further damage after striking out both Ben Ingold and Tucker. But Steve LeFaivre ripped a first pitch fastball back up the middle, bringing Sterk and Blue around and cutting Clemson's lead to one run.
D'Alessio's second home run of the season, a three-run opposite field shot off Young in the bottomof the third, restored the Tigers' lead to four runs at 7-3.
Trailing 9-3 in the top of the eighth, the Deacons put their final two runs on the board. Ingold bounced a one-out single up the middle for his first hit of the game and LeFaivre kept the rally going with a two-out single of his own. After a walk to Mathias, Scioletti lined a single over the second baseman, scoring Ingold and LeFaivre.
Berken worked a season-high seven innings for Clemson, allowing just three hits and no earned runs to pick up his fourth victory of the season. Young suffered the loss for Wake Forest after lasting just four innings and giving up seven runs on nine hits, including two Clemson home runs.
The Deacons and Tigers continue their ACC series with game two at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.
