March 22, 2009

Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - After trailing 10-2, Wake Forest rallied to cut the NC State lead to 10-7 but the rally fell short as NC State won the series with a 13-7 victory on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Wake Forest Baseball Park.

NC State improves to 12-10 and 3-6 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, while the Demon Deacons drop to 10-10 and 1-8 in league action.

Ryan Semeniuk led Wake Forest offensively with a career-high three RBIs. Steven Brooks, Shane Kroker and Evan Ocheltree each had two hits in the contest. Kroker and Ocheltree scored two runs each, while Ocheltree also drove in a run. Dustin Hood had two RBIs for the Deacs.

John Lambert earned the win for NC State, improving his record to 1-1 on the season. Lambert pitched three innings in relief, allowing three runs on two hits, while striking out three batters. Phil Negus suffered the loss to drop to 1-2 on the season. Negus gave up seven runs, six of them earned, on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. Joey Cutler picked up his first save of the season, surrendering two unearned runs on five hits in three innings of action.

The Demon Deacons struck first with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Brooks led off the inning with a double off the wall in left field and then moved to third on a stolen base. A groundout to third by Hood scored Brooks to put Wake Forest on top 1-0.

NC State evened the game with a run in the top of the second without the benefit of a hit. Drew Poulk led off the inning with a walk. After Dusty Quattlebaum struck out swinging, Pat Ferguson reached on a fielding error by the second baseman, which allowed Poulk to advance to third. A fielder's choice to third by Andrew Ciencin scored Poulk to tie the game at one.

Wake Forest retook the lead with a run in the bottom of the second. Austin Stadler led off the inning with a single to right-center field. Weldon Woodall struck out for the first out of the inning. Kroker hit a grounder to the mound, but the pitcher threw wild to second for an error to put runners at second and third with one out. A groundout to short by Ocheltree scored Stadler to give Wake Forest a 2-1 lead.

NC State took its first lead of the game with six runs in the top of the fifth inning, with all the runs coming with two outs. With a runner at third and two outs, Drew Martin singled up the middle to score Wade Moore and tie the game at two. A double by Dallas Poulk off the wall in right-center field scored Martin to put the Wolfpack on top 3-2. Kyle Wilson followed with a double to left-center field to score Poulk for the fourth run of the game for NC State. Pratt Maynard was the third straight batter to get an RBI double for NC State, scoring Wilson to make the score 5-2. A two-run home run over the wall in left field from Drew Poulk capped the six-run rally and stretched the NC State lead to 7-2.

After NC State scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning, Wake Forest answered with three runs of its own in the bottom of the seventh. Woodall led off the inning with a walk and Kroker and Ocheltree hit back-to-back singles to load the bases with no outs. Semeniuk came in to pinch hit and grounded out to third to score Woodall to make the score 10-3. After Brooks struck out for the second out of the inning, Hood singled to score Kroker for the fourth Wake Forest run of the game. A double by Mike Murray to the left-center field alley

Wake Forest inched closer with two runs in the bottom of the eighth. It appeared that Wake Forest would be set down in order in the inning, but Maynard dropped a foul ball with two outs to extend the inning. After the error, Kroker singled to right and Ocheltree followed with a single of his own to put runners at first and second. A double by Semeniuk down the left field line scored both runners to cut the lead to 10-7.

NC State extended the lead with three runs in the top of the ninth. Ferguson reached on a one-out single and moved to second after Ciencin was hit by a pitch. Moore hit a three-run home run over the wall in right field to make the score 13-7 in favor of the Wolfpack.

The Demon Deacons were retired in order in the ninth inning to end the game.

Wake Forest is back in action on Tuesday, March 24, when it travels to Davidson for a midweek contest. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. (ET).