Wake Forest Drops 12-1 Decision at Georgia Tech
Dustin Hood homers, Ben Terry reaches base four times to lead Wake

April 25, 2008

Box Score

ATLANTA, Ga. - Dustin Hood homered for the second time this week, but Wake Forest was unable to keep up with Georgia Tech as the Yellow Jackets sent the Demon Deacons to a 12-1 defeat Friday evening at Russ Chandler Stadium.

The loss drops Wake Forest to 16-26 overall and 7-14 in the ACC. Georgia Tech improves to 30-12 overall and 11-12 in conference play.

In the teams' first meeting since the 2005 ACC Tournament, the Yellow Jackets got out of the gate quickly by scoring two runs in each of the first two innings. That was all starter David Duncan would need, as the lanky lefthander held the Deacons to just one run on six hits over his eight innings of work.

Ben Terry was the only Deacon with multiple hits, reaching base in all four plate appearances by going 2-for-2 with two walks.

Hood hit his second home run of the year to lead off the fourth. After going homerless over the first 156 games of his career, Hood now has two homers in the past three games. He hit his first career home run on Tuesday at Elon.

Starter Garrett Bullock (3-5) took the loss for Wake. The junior lefty allowed seven runs on seven hits with five walks and two strikeouts over six innings. He came out to start the seventh but was forced to exit the game during his warm-ups due to a strained groin. Bullock recorded his sixth pickoff of the year in the fourth inning.

Wake Forest continued to play solid defense, turning in its sixth straight error-free game. The span covers a total of 219 chances.

Georgia Tech scored first with a pair of runs in the first inning. Chris House reached on a one-out single, and Luke Murton followed with a double to deep center to drive him in ahead of the relay throw. After two straight walks loaded the bases, Tony Plagman brought Murton home with a sacrifice fly to left.

The Yellow Jackets added another two runs an inning later. Jeff Rowland was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and Jason Haniger followed with a two-run home run to left on a 1-0 offering from Bullock.

The Deacons got on the board in the fourth, courtesy of Hood's leadoff home run. Hood pulled the first pitch he saw from Duncan to left field for his second home run of the year, cutting the deficit to 4-1.

Georgia Tech got the run back in its half of the fourth. Haniger hit a one-double and then scored on Charlie Blackmon's single through the left side. Blackmon's hit barely got past a diving Andy Goff, allowing Haniger to score on the play.

The Jackets pushed across two more runs against Bullock in the fifth. Brad Feltes and Plagman hit back-to-back two-out home runs to give the home squad a 7-1 lead.

Georgia Tech plated four runs against reliever Alex Wiesner in the seventh. Feltes reached on a one-out single, and Thomas Nichols followed with a single one out later. Rowland drove the lead runner in with the third single of the inning. Haniger then hit his second home run of the night, driving a 3-2 pitch from Wiesner to left to give the Jackets an 11-1 advantage.

The Yellow Jackets scored another insurance run off reliever Matt Hammond in the eighth. Murton hit a one-out double and then came around to score three batters later on a single from Plagmon.

Wake Forest did not threaten in the ninth, going down in order against reliever Kevin Jacob.

Duncan (5-2) earned the win for Georgia Tech, going eight innings. He gave up one run on six hits with seven strikeouts and three walks.

Haniger led the Jackets at the plate, going 3-for-5 with five RBIs, three runs and a pair of homers. Feltes, Murton and Plagman had two hits apiece.

Georgia Tech put at least one runner on in every inning and had multiple runners on base in each frame except for the third and sixth.

Defensively for Wake, Nathan Frazier made a diving catch in foul territory in the second inning. Charlie Blackmon tried to push a bunt to third base but hit a low-flying line drive instead. Frazier raced on to make the diving grab just in front of the third base bag. Mike Murray also made a nice catch on a popped-up bunt in the sixth, getting out from behind the plate to make the stab up the third base line.

Wake Forest and Georgia Tech will play game two of the weekend series on Saturday. RHP Charlie Mellies (1-4, 5.82) is scheduled to start for the Deacons, while RHP Eddie Burns (4-3, 4.78) will go for the Jackets. The game will be broadcast on FSN and can be heard on 98.1 FM WBRF. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.