Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
Ball St
Baseball Thunders Past Ball State, 15-11
3/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 8, 2005
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Senior Ryder Mathias and redshirt sophomore Brendan Enick each drove in four runs as Wake Forest captured its fifth straight game with a 15-11 victory over Ball State Tuesday afternoon at Hooks Stadium. With the victory, the Demon Deacons improve to 9-7 overall and close their season-long nine game homestand with an 8-1 record.
With the game tied at 11-11, the Deacs put the game away with four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Enick drew a bases loaded walk, then senior Mat Miller laced an RBI single to left field to give Wake Forest a two-run cushion. Freshman Andy Goff was then hit by a pitch and junior Casey Sterk closed the scoring with a sacrifice fly to right field, making it 15-11.
Wake Forest rallied from a six-run deficit for the second straight game. The Deacs found themselves down 7-1 heading in the third inning, but climbed back into the game with five-runs in their half of the third inning.
After a pair of Ball State errors and senior Ben Ingold's single, fellow senior J.B. Tucker drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly to left field. Mathias followed with an RBI single and Enick capped off the five-run outburst with a three-run blast to right field. The home run is Enick's second of the season.
After each team added solo runs in the fifth inning, the Cardinals pushed their lead to 10-7, but Wake Forest answered once again. The Deacs took their first lead of the game with a four-run sixth. Tucker opened the scoring with an RBI single to make the score, 10-8. Mathias then stepped to the plate and launched his third home run of the season, a three-run blast, that gave the Demon Deacons an 11-10 lead.
Ball State (4-5) answered with a run in their half of the eighth inning on a infield RBI single off Wake Forest closer Kyle Young.
Mathias, who went 3-for-4 on the afternoon, also scored three runs scored. Mathias has now slammed 11 career home runs. While Enick failed to record his fourth straight multiple hit game, the first basemen did go 1-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to a career-best nine games. Miller went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI. The center fielder has now raised his batting average from .132 to .250 in his last four games. In that stretch, Miller is batting .571 (8-for-14) with two home runs and seven RBI.
Ingold and Tucker each had a couple hits. Tucker went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and three RBI, while Ingold went 2-for-4 with four runs scored. Tucker now leads the Deacs with 20 RBI.
Senior Kip Byrum made his first career start for Wake Forest, but did not factor in the decision. The southpaw tossed 3.0 innings and allowed seven earned runs on nine hits. Fellow senior Brian Bach replaced Byrum and also tossed 3.0 innings. The right-handed hurler allowed three earned runs on six hits.
Young (2-0) closed the game for the Deacs. The right-hander did blow the save, but picked up his second victory of the season. Young tossed 3.0 innings and allowed one earned run on four hits. Young struckout a pair and did not issue a walk.
Wake Forest has now scored 48 runs in their last four games. The Deacs have batted .362 with 14 extra-base hits. In fact, the Deacs had at least seven different players come up with hits in three of the four games. The Demon Deacons have actually batted around in an inning in all four games.
Wake Forest returns to action this weekend with a three-game ACC series at Georgia Tech. The Demon Deacons and Yellow Jackets are the only two schools in the ACC with perfect 3-0 conference records. First-pitch for each game this weekend are as follows: 4:00 p.m. (Fri., 3.11), 1:30 p.m. (Sat., 3.12) and 1:30 p.m. (Sun., 3.13).
-- WakeForestSports.com --
