Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
Duke
Wake Forest Closes Hooks Stadium With Sweep of Duke
5/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 11, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest closed the books on Gene Hooks Stadium in style, completing a sweep of ACC rival Duke on a wet Sunday afternoon. Behind a three-run home run from Mike Murray, the Demon Deacons downed the Blue Devils 9-4.
Wake Forest won its sixth consecutive game to improve to 22-27 overall and 11-15 in the ACC. The Deacons now just need to win once at Boston College next weekend or have Duke lose once at Virginia Tech in order to qualify for the eight-team ACC Tournament. The Blue Devils drop to 34-17-1 overall and 8-17-1 in conference play with Sunday's loss.
The Deacons played their final game at Hooks Stadium, as the Wake Forest baseball program is set to move to nearby Ernie Shore Field for the 2009 season. Wake did not just close out the facility with a sweep, it posted consecutive victories in each of its last six home games. Overall, the Deacons went 510-229-3 in 28 seasons at the venue.
On Sunday, Wake jumped on the Blue Devils early, putting together a five-run rally in the second inning to take a 6-1 advantage. Murray capped the rally with his three-run home run. It was Murray's sixth homer of the year and his second in as many games. Murray, who went 2-for-4 on Sunday, extended his hitting streak to eight games. He has had a hit in 21 of his last 22 games.
"Obviously I got a great opportunity--Fox and Dykstra have been doing a great job getting on base all weekend, so I've been hitting with runners on," said Murray. "They (Duke) have been pitching me in certain patterns, and they threw me a curveball first pitch. I was looking fastball, guessed right and put a good swing on it.
"We really wanted to set the tone early," added Murray. "Anytime you win the first two games of the series if you come out on Sunday hot early, it really knocks down the other team, kind of deflates them a little bit. So that was really our goal. It was great we were able to throw up five early and let Brad (Kledzik) do his thing out there."
Brad Kledzik (2-4) was solid in picking up the win in just his second start of the season. The junior righthander went five innings, allowing four runs on nine hits with two strikeouts and two walks. Kledzik, who threw just 70 pitches on the day, did not come back after the game was delayed an hour and forty minutes due to rain in the middle of the fifth.
At the plate, Willy Fox drove in three runs for Wake. He finished 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Tyler Smith had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a pair of runs, while leadoff man Ben Terry scored twice.
Alex Wiesner turned in a fine outing out of the bullpen, pitching 2 2/3 scoreless innings. The lefty gave up two hits with two walks and a strikeout. Wiesner came on with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth. He pitched the Deacs out of the jam, not allowing a run to cross the plate.
Phil Negus pitched a scoreless ninth, but it was not a save situation.
Duke struck first with a run in the top of the first. Alex Hassan reached on a two-out walk and then came around to score on Jonathan Nicolla's ensuing double to left.
Wake Forest countered with a run in its half of the first, but the Deacons wasted an opportunity to come away with more. Terry led off with a four-pitch walk and then scored on Fox's double to deep left center. Allan Dykstra was hit with a pitch, and Murray was walked to load the bases with no outs. However, Duke starter Jonathan Foreman rebounded to get out of the jam by retiring the next three batters in order.
The Deacs took the lead with a five-run rally, capped by Murray's three-run homer, in the second. Steven Brooks led off by lacing a double to right center. Brooks then scored when Smith grounded a sharp single to right. Terry reached on a fielder's choice, and Smith was safe at second and took third on a throwing error on the play. Fox followed with a single to left to score Smith and chase Foreman from the game. One out later, Murray took reliever Dennis O'Grady deep for a three-run home run, giving the Deacons an early 6-1 lead.
Wake added a pair of unearned runs in the third. Andy Goff singled to lead off the frame. One out later, Smith reached on a fielding error, putting runners at second and third. Terry drove in Goff with an RBI groundout, and Fox followed with a run-scoring single up the middle to give the Deacs an 8-1 advantage.
The Blue Devils got both runs back in the top of the fourth. Nicolla led off with a solo home run, hitting a 2-0 offering from Kledzik to the trees in leftfield. One out later, Kyle Kreick and Gabriel Saade hit consecutive doubles to plate the second run of the inning.
Duke added a run in the fifth to cut Wake's lead to 8-4. Hassan coaxed a two-out walk, and Nicolla and Jeremy Gould followed with back-to-back singles to score the run. Kledzik got out of the jam with a strikeout.
The umpires decided to delay the game due to heavy rain before the start of the bottom of the fifth. The delay lasted one hour and forty minutes, and play resumed under cloudy skies.
Reliever Ryan McGrath came on for Kledzik after the rain delay. Duke quickly rallied against McGrath, loading the bases with no outs. However, McGrath got a strikeout for the first out, and Wiesner came in to induce an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
Wake Forest added an insurance run in the seventh. Weldon Woodall reached on a leadoff double, and Goff and Brooks followed with walks to load the bases. Smith drove in Woodall with a sacrifice fly to right, pushing the Deacons' lead to 9-4.
The Blue Devils put runners on the corners in the eighth but came up empty. Duke then had the leadoff man on in the ninth, but Negus erased the runner with a 5-4-3 double play. Negus ended the game by getting pinch hitter Michael Ghizzoni to fly out to Fox in left for the final out at Hooks Stadium.
"It's great in a lot of ways," said Murray of closing Hooks Stadium with a sweep. "It was great yesterday having Dr. Hooks here and the ceremonies with the seniors. For our team, we needed it to get to Jacksonville (for the ACC Tournament), so from a team perspective it's great. There's a lot of history here. We'll be sad to see it go, but it's on to new things at Ernie Shore."
After hitting a leadoff double in the seventh, Woodall will go down in the history books with the distinction of having had the final hit by a Deacon at Hooks Stadium.
"It means a lot. The stadium has a lot of history, and it feels great to go down in the record books," said Woodall of recording his historic hit. "It's an unbelievable feeling to close out Hooks with a sweep, especially to beat Duke. They're a rival and it feels great. Now we'll have to see what happens from here, whether we end up in Jacksonville. We're in seventh place now (in the ACC standings), so we'll move on from here."
Foreman (2-1) took the loss for Duke. The righthander lasted only into the second inning, giving up five runs on four hits with two walks and a strikeout.
Nicolla led the Blue Devils at the plate by going 4-for-5 with two RBIs, a home run, a double and a run scored.
Wake Forest, Duke and Clemson are all battling for the final two spots in the eight-team ACC Tournament. The Deacons need to win one game at Boston College or have Duke lose once against Virginia Tech in order to make the field. Clemson needs just a Duke loss to qualify, while Duke needs to win out against the Hokies.
Wake Forest returns to action on Tuesday at Elon. The Deacons and Phoenix will be playing a makeup game for their rainout on March 19. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at Latham Park in Elon. Wake will close out the regular season with a three-game series at Boston College May 15-17.
