Wake Forest University
Duke
Wake Forest Baseball Slips Past Duke, 6-5
4/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 2, 2005
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest senior J.B. Tucker laced the go-ahead RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning and junior Kyle Young tossed a scoreless ninth as the Demon Deacons defeated Duke, 6-5, in ACC baseball action from a cold and windy Hooks Stadium Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the Deacs improve to 13-16 overall and 6-8 in the ACC, while the Blue Devils drop to 9-22 overall and 1-10 in the conference.
Wake Forest seemed in complete control holding a 5-1 lead heading into the Duke half of the eighth inning. Senior Kip Byrum issued a lead off walk to Corey Whiting, but responded with back-to-back strikeouts of a pair of Blue Devil pinch hitters -- Jonathan Nicolla and Ron Causey. With two outs, Byrum then walked Brett Smith.
Freshman Eric Niesen entered the game and promptly walked Jimmy Gallagher to load the bases with two outs. Niesen quickly put Duke leadoff hitter Javier Socorro in a 0-2 hole, but Socorro fouled off Niesen's first 0-2 offering before lining a two-run double into left centerfield to cut the Wake Forest lead to 5-3. With runners on second and third, Adam Murray followed with a soft double down the right field line that plated both Gallagher and Socorro which tied the game, 5-5. After Murray stole third base, Niesen got Brett Bartles to fly out to end the inning.
Sophomore Matt Antonelli led off the bottom of the eighth inning for the Deacs with a walk. After senior Ben Ingold was robbed of his fifth hit on the afternoon by a great catch from Socorro, Tucker ripped Duke reliever Tony Bajoczky's 2-1 pitch up against the left field wall to plate Antonellli all the way from first base giving the Deacs a 6-5 lead.
Young entered in the ninth and did allow a leadoff single, but did not allow any more damage and recorded his third save of the season.
Junior Casey Sterk seemed to have put the Blue Devils away with his first home run of the season in the bottom of the seventh inning. Leading by just a run, 2-1, Sterk hammered a three-run home run over the right center field wall giving the Demon Deacons a four-run lead, 5-1. The blast was Sterk's first of the season. The home run also extended Sterk's hitting streak to a career-best eight games.
Ingold had a great day at the dish. The second basemen went 4-for-5 with a run scored. The four-hit afternoon was Ingold's 10th multiple hit game of the season and 69th of his career. Tucker added three hits going 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI, while senior Matt Miller went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and a pair of walks.
Miller also provided a highlight play in center field saving three runs in the top of the first inning. With two on and one out, Miller robbed Duke designated hitter Cody Wheeler of a home run -- scaling the right centerfield wall for an unbelievable catch.
Demon Deacons starter Charlie Mellies was solid, but did not factor into the decision. Mellies tossed 5.1 innings and allowed just one earned run. The sophomore scattered eight hits and struckout a pair. Kip Byrum then pitched 2.1 innings of hitless baseball, but was charged with two runs when two of his walks came around to score on Niesen in the eighth inning.
Niesen (1-1) picked up his first career victory. The southpaw went just 0.1 innings and allowed two earned runs on two hits.
Duke's Greg Burke was also effective. The right-handed hurler went 6.0 innings and allowed one earned run on 10 hits. Burke, working on three day's rest, tossed 117 pitches. Burke struckout four and walked two.
Wake Forest and Duke return to action Sunday afternoon with the third and final game of their three-game series. Demon Deacon senior Brian Bach will take the hill for the Deacs. First-pitch at Hooks Stadium is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
-- WakeForestSports.com --
