Wake Forest University
Virginia
No. 4 Virginia Steals 7-6 Win from Deacs
4/6/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 6, 2013
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
| Final Stats
| Season Stats
By Steven Wright, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeBaseball)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest's Matt Pirro went a career-high 6.2 innings and left with the lead, but No. 4 Virginia's Mike Papi spoiled his bid at a win with a go-ahead grand slam with two outs in the top of the ninth inning to lead the Cavaliers to a 7-6 win over Demon Deacons on Saturday afternoon at Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park.
Kyle Crockett then sealed the game for Virginia and earned his fifth save of the season by striking out the Deacs in order in the bottom of the ninth.
Whit Mayberry (3-0) pitched 2.0 innings and got the win for the Cavaliers. Connor Kaden suffered the loss for the Deacons to fall to 0-2 out of the bullpen.
Pirro turned in his best start of a Demon Deacons by going 6.2 innings and tying a season-high with four strikeouts. He scattered five hits and gave up just two runs. In addition, Pirro was able to sit the Cavaliers down in order in both the second and sixth innings.
Offensively, Pat Blair, Matt Conway and Brett Armour all collected two hits, while Joey Rodriguez went 1-for-3 with a three-run home run. The long ball was his second of the season.
Virginia got on the board in the top of the first on an RBI single by Brandon Downes, but the Demon Deacons were able to tie the score immediately with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Evan Stephens reached on an error to lead things off, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Mark Rhine and scored on an RBI single by Blair.
Wake Forest then put a five spot on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 6-1 advantage. Blair and Conway led off with consecutive singles and completed a double steal to put a pair of runners in scoring position. Two batters later, Kevin Conway grounded out to first to score Blair and give Wake Forest a 2-1 lead.
Armour followed with a sharp single through the left side to score Matt Conway and make the game 3-1. Conor Keniry moved Armour up a bag with a single to left before Rodriguez smoked a ball over the left field wall to make the score 6-1.
The Demon Deacons maintained their five-run lead until the top of the seventh. Jared King brought Reed Gragnani home from third on a sacrifice fly to Rodriguez in center field to cut the lead to 6-2.
After a scoreless eighth, Virginia began the ninth with three straight walks. Another sac fly by King made the game 6-3, and a single by Joe McCarthy reloaded the bases. An infield fly by Downes gave the Deacs two outs before Mike Papi launched the grand slam over the right center field wall on an 0-2 pitch from Kaden.
Wake Forest and Virginia will play Game 2 of the series tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park.
