April 4, 2006
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The No. 19 Wake Forest baseball team loaded the bases in two separate innings, but were unable to score runs in either situation as Coastal Carolina came away with a 6-5 victory Tuesday afternoon at Hooks Stadium. The Demon Deacons drop to 23-8 overall, while the Chanticleers improve to 12-15. Redshirt freshman Greg Young (1-1) was charged with the loss in relief. The southpaw went 2.0 innings and allowed one earned run on one hit. He struck out one and walked two. The loss is the first for a member of the Wake Forest bullpen since February 18 against UNC Wilmington. David Anderson (2-0) picked up the win for the Chanticleers. The lefty pitched 1.1 innings of scoreless relief. He did yield one hit and issued one walk, but also struck out one. Redshirt junior Brendan Enick led the Wake Forest offensive attack. The designated hitter went 3-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI. Junior All-American Matt Antonelli and freshman Dustin Hood each added two hits. Antonelli scored two runs and also walked twice. The two walks give Antonelli 114 and move him past Jamie D'Antona for tops on the Wake Forest all-time list. Freshman Allan Dykstra went 1-for-2 with an RBI double and drew three walks. Dykstra has now walked 32 times already this season. Junior Brian Shust went 1-for-5 with an RBI single and extended his hitting streak to six games. All nine hits on the day came from the top five batters in the Wake Forest order. The 6-7-8-9 hitters were a combined 0-for-14.
The Demon Deacons spotted Coastal Carolina an early 3-0 lead, but look poised for a big inning in the bottom of the third. With the bases loaded and one out, Enick was hit by a pitch to bring Wake Forest within two runs, 3-1, but the threat was short-lived as Shust grounded into an inning-ending double play. Coastal increased its lead to 4-1 with a solo run in the top of the fourth, but the Deacs drew even with a two-out rally in the bottom of the fifth inning. After Chanticleer starting pitcher Austin Fleet allowed just two hits over the first four innings and then retired the first two Deacons in the fifth, Hood singled and raced around to score on Dykstra's RBI double. Enick followed with another RBI double to bring Wake Forest within two runs, 4-3. Shust then tied the game, 4-4, with an RBI single back up the middle, but was thrown out to end the inning try to steal second base. The game was not tied for long. Coastal Carolina regained the lead in its half of the sixth inning. Aaron Verrett singled to open the inning off Wake Forest releiver Greg Young, moved to second on a balk, went to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a wild pitch. The Demon Deacons had the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth, but Anderson got Hood to ground out to end the inning. In the seventh, Dykstra opened with a walk and moved to second on a balk, but Coastal Carolina reliever Kevin Salmon got Enick to foul out, struck out Shust and Austin Jones ending the threat. The score remained, 5-4, until the top of the ninth inning. After Demon Deacon closer Ben Hunter struck out the first Coastal Carolina batter of the inning, John Mariotti smacked Hunter's first pitch out for a solo home run making the score, 6-4. Mariotti, who entered the game to pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning, did the exact same thing in the ninth inning of the Chanticleers' 7-4 win over Georgia Southern on March 29. The run off Hunter was the first earned run he has allowed all season -- snapping a streak of 26.2 scoreless innings. Wake Forest did make some noise in the bottom of the ninth inning. Antonelli smoked a leadoff double and moved to third on a groundout from Hood. He then coasted home on an RBI groundout from Dykstra. Enick singled which brought the winning run to the plate in Shust with two outs, but Mariotti got Shust to ground to end the game. Fleet went the first 4.2 innings, giving up four runs and six hits. Mariotti earned his third save of the season going the last 1.2 innings. He gave up one run and struck out one. Anderson was the only Coastal Carolina player with more than one hit. Wake Forest starting pitcher Sean Souders tossed 4.0 innings and allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits. He walked two and struck out two. Redshirt sophomore Andrew Knox and junior Josh Ellis each tossed 1.0 scoreless inning of relief. The Demon Deacons return to action tomorrow in Rock Hill, S.C. for a 7:30 p.m. contest against Winthrop. Freshman Tyler Smith will get the start for Wake Forest. -- WakeForestSports.com -- |
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