April 23, 2006
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The No. 24 Wake Forest baseball team grabbed a 2-0 first inning lead, but were shutout the rest of the way as Maryland slipped past the Demon Deacons, 3-2, to salvage the final game of their ACC series Sunday afternoon at Hooks Stadium. Wake Forest, which was looking for a school record fourth ACC sweep of 2006, drops to 30-14 overall and 14-7 in the ACC, while Maryland improves to 18-25 and 7-17. With the scored tied, 2-2, in the top of the eighth inning, Maryland went ahead following a couple of Wake Forest errors. Chad Durakis led off with a base hit and Mike Murphy followed with an infield single off Deacon reliever Kyle Young to put runners on first and second. Steve Braun followed with a sacrifice bunt, but third baseman Matt Antonelli made an errant throw to first base. Pinch runner Wink Nolan, who had moved to third on the bunt, broke for home and slid in safely with the go-ahead run following another throwing error by second baseman Andy Goff. With a run already in and two in scoring position with no outs, sophomore closer Ben Hunter got a pop out, foul out and strikeout to keep the deficit one run, 3-2, heading into the bottom half of the eighth. Wake Forest got a leadoff single from freshman Allan Dykstra, but Maryland reliever Seth Overbey got Antonelli to ground into a fielder's choice and redshirt junior Brendan Enick grounded out. With two outs and Antonelli at second base, sophomore Brett Linnenkohl pinch hit for Goff. The Terrapins pulled Overbey for closer Brett Cecil. Linnenkohl nearly tied the game with a screamer down the left field line, but the hot shot drifted just foul. Cecil fanned Linnenkohl two pitches later to end the threat.
After Hunter sent down Maryland 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth, redshirt junior Dan Rosaia opened the Deacs' half of the ninth with a single. Sophomore Austin Jones pinch ran for Rosaia and scampered into scoring position on senior Casey Sterk's sacrifice bunt, but Cecil retired redshirt sophomore Eric Williams on a pop out and freshman Evan Ocheltree grounded out to end the game. Overbey (2-1) picked up the victory. The righty tossed 2.0 scoreless innings and allowed just one hit. Cecil registered his 11th save of the season. The southpaw worked 1.1 scoreless innings. He surrendered one hit and struck out one. Cecil rebounded from his outing on Friday when he was tagged with the loss after allowing eight earned runs on six hits in 1.0 inning. Young (4-2) was charged with the loss. The right-hander yielded four hits and one unearned run in 1.0 inning. Hunter pitched 2.0 perfect innings of relief with three punch outs. Wake Forest managed just six hits all afternoon. The Deacons managed just two hits from the second inning through the seventh. The Deacons jumped on Terrapin starter Brett Tidball in the top of the first inning. With one out, freshman Dustin Hood dropped down a perfect bunt single and Dykstra walked. Antonelli then ripped an RBI double and Enick followed with an RBI ground out giving Wake Forest a two-run lead, 2-0. Demon Deacon starting pitcher Justin Keadle kept the score, 2-0, until the top of the fourth inning. After retiring the first two Terps in the inning, Murphy smacked his second home run of the season bringing Maryland within a run, 2-1. Keadle would limit the Terps to that one run over his 5.0 innings of work. He allowed three hits and struck out seven. Keadle did walk three, but left the game as the pitcher of record. Keadle has fanned 15 over his last two starts. The Terrapins tied the game, 2-2, in the top of the sixth inning off Deacon reliever Tyler Smith. As was the case yesterday, Maryland used the long ball. Gerry Spessard hit a solo home run, his second of the season, down the right field line. Tidball did not factor into the decision, but did not allow anything after the two first inning runs. He held Wake Forest scoreless on just two hits over his final 4.2 innings before leaving with a man on in favor of Overbey in the sixth. Tidball went 5.2 innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits. He fanned four and walked two. Murphy went 3-for-4 with the solo bomb and Durakis went 2-for-3 with a double. Nick Jowers also added a couple hits. Wake Forest returns to action Wednesday night at UNC Greensboro. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. -- WakeForestSports.com -- |
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