Wake Forest University
Virginia Tech
Deacons Blast Six Homers to Claim Series over VT
3/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Final Stats | Final Stats (PDF) 
By Jay Garneau, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeBaseball)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest's bats stayed red hot, as the Demon Deacons blasted six home runs in a series-clinching 12-4 victory over Virginia Tech on Sunday afternoon at Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park.
Will Craig knocked two out of the park for his first-career multi-homer game, also adding a double as he finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored.
Nate Mondou, Stuart Fairchild, Justin Yurchak and Kevin Conway also added longballs in the Wake Forest (11-5, 2-1 ACC) win.
Virginia Tech (7-8, 1-2 ACC) again set the tone with a first-inning Brendon Hayden homer, but Conway's leadoff shot in the bottom of the inning cut the margin in half to 2-1.
Wake Forest took its first lead in the fourth inning. After Craig knocked his first homer over the left-field wall and Ben Breazeale walked, Fairchild crushed one off the base of the video board in right-center to put the Deacons ahead 4-2.
The Hokies got one back in the top of the fifth, but Wake Forest exploded for five runs in the bottom of the inning.
Yurchak took the first pitch of the inning over the right-field wall for his first career homer. A few batters later, Mondou hit one out of the stadium into the street beyond the right-field wall for a two-run shot. Craig, not to be outdone, made it back-to-back homers by drilling one off the top of batter's eye above the center-field wall to make the score 9-3.
Fairchild and Yurchak hit back-to-back doubles to start off the seventh inning, and Drew Freedman beat out an RBI infield single to make the score 11-3.
The Deacons added one more in the eighth when Craig doubled and came around to score on an RBI single by Yurchak.
Sam Fragale hit a pinch-hit homer in the top of the ninth for the Hokies to cap off the scoring.
Connor Johnstone (1-0) picked up the victory with 2.0 scoreless innings in relief. Jon Woodcock (2-1) took the loss for the Hokies.
A HISTORIC WEEKEND
• Wake Forest hit six home runs in a game for the first time since also hitting six at Duke in 2002.
• The Demon Deacons totaled 43 hits in the series, most since recording 46 in a 2006 series against Duke.
• Three Demon Deacons homered in an inning for the first time since February 2003 against James Madison. Coincidentally, one of those three to homer in 2003 was Jamie D'Antona, who was in attendance this weekend.
• Wake Forest hit back-to-back blasts for the first time since Carlos Lopez and Charlie Morgan did so against Florida State in 2012.
A BIG STEP FORWARD
• After a strong freshman campaign, Will Craig is off to a historic start to 2015.
• He has already surpassed his 2014 doubles total (six) with nine two-baggers this season. • Less than a third through the season, he has just one less run (20) than last year, six less walks (14), and 12 less RBIs (24), while increasing his batting average nearly 200 points.
A BIG STEP FORWARD PART 2
• Nate Mondou has taken an equally large step up in 2015.
• He has already exceeded his RBI total from a year ago with 23, and matched last year's three stolen bases.
• He's also just six runs shy of his 2014 total with 19, and hitting nearly 100 points higher at .366.
ON DECK
• Wake Forest is scheduled for a midweek home-and-home against Elon. The Deacons are scheduled to travel for a Tuesday road game at 6 p.m., before returning home Wednesday for another 6 p.m. contest against the Phoenix.
• The Deacs will then travel to Tallahassee for the first ACC road series of 2015 at Florida State from Friday-Sunday.
