April 1, 2009

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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - A routine fly ball to left field off the bat of Steven Brooks with two outs in the bottom of the ninth turned into a walk-off single when the UNC Greensboro outfielder slipped, allowing the ball to drop and scoring Shane Kroker, as Wake Forest rallied for a 4-3 win over UNCG on Wednesday night at Wake Forest Baseball Park.

Wake Forest improves to 15-11 on the season, while UNCG drops to 8-14.

With the game tied at three entering the bottom of the ninth, the Wake Forest offense mounted a rally, scoring the game-winning run. Austin Stadler hit a one-out double down the right-field line. Bentley Heyman flew out to center field for the second out of the inning. With two outs and two strikes, Brooks hit a fly ball to left-center field. Left fielder Pedro Leon was striding over to catch the ball, but slipped and the ball fell between the left fielder and the center fielder, allowing Kroker, who had pinch ran for Stadler, to trot home for the game-winning run.

The Wake Forest pitching staff enjoyed a strong night on the mound. The four pitchers combined to allow three unearned runs and six hits, while striking out nine and walking one. The three Demon Deacon relievers, Mark Adzick, Brandon Johnson and Zach White, combined to allow just one hit in four innings of action.

White earned the victory to improve his record to 3-0. He threw a perfect top of the ninth inning with a strikeout. Johnson threw two hitless innings in the seventh and eighth, while Adzick allowed one hit in his inning of work.

Brad Kledzik started the game for Wake Forest and allowed three unearned runs on five hits in five innings, while striking out six.

A night after pounding out 19 hits and scoring 15 runs against Charlotte, the Wake Forest offense struggled in the first five innings, producing only one hit against UNC Greensboro starter Warren Slack. The Deacs were able to get the offense going in the sixth inning, with three runs, before the rally in the bottom of the ninth.

Slack gave up three runs, two of them earned, on four hits in five innings of work. He struck out six and walked just one batter.

Stadler led the Wake Forest offense with two hits in four at bats and a run scored. Evan Ocheltree drove in two RBIs and went 1-for-4 at the plate.

Corey Overholtzer had two hits and drove in a run for the Spartans, while Raymond Frias also had a multi-hit performance with two hits.

The Spartans scored first with a run in the top of the second. Trevor Edwards drew a one-out walk and moved to second on a single to right-center field Frias. Brent O'Berry hit a ground ball to second, which was booted by Bentley Heyman, allowing Edwards to score and sending Frias to third base. Kledzik got the next batter, Kris Richards, to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

The defense let Wake Forest down in the fourth as the Demon Deacons committed two errors, which led to two UNCG runs. Edwards reached on a fielding error by Tyler Smith to lead off the inning. Frias reached on a fielder's choice to third when Carlos Lopez threw wild to second trying to retire Edwards. O'Berry reached on a bunt single to load the bases with no outs. After Richards flied out to shallow center for the first out of the inning, Pedro Leon hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Edwards to make the score 2-0. Overholtzer singled through the right side to plate Frias to give the Spartans a 3-0 lead.

Wake Forest evened the game with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Stadler and Heyman hit back-to-back singles to lead off the inning. Brooks laid down a sacrifice bunt, but the catcher threw wildly to third putting runners at every base with no outs. Ocheltree singled through the right side to score Stadler and Heyman and cut the UNCG lead to 3-2. Brooks advanced to third on the single. A passed ball allowed Brooks to score to tie the game at three.

Alex Shelton suffered the loss for UNCG to drop to 0-3 on the season. Shelton allowed a run on two hits in 1 1/3 innings.

Wake Forest travels to Blacksburg, Va., this weekend for a three-game ACC series against Virginia Tech. The series begins on Friday with first pitch scheduled for 5:30 p.m. The game will be aired live on 98.1 WBRF-FM.