April 3, 2009

Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Wake Forest hit three home runs in the first four innings of the game and opened its three-game series against Virginia Tech with an 11-4 win on a cloudy and blustery Friday night at English Field.

Wake Forest extended its winning streak to five games and improved its record to 16-11 and 4-9 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. The Hokies are now 16-11 and 3-9 in league play.

The Demon Deacons flexed their muscles early in the game, belting three home runs in the first four innings of the contest. Mike Murray hit a home run in the first, while Tyler Smith added a homer in the third and Evan Ocheltree homered in the fourth.

Steven Brooks had a team-high three hits and drove in two runs, while also scoring a run. Shane Kroker went 2-for-5 in the game and drove in two runs and Ocheltree also had two hits and had two RBIs. Murray and Smith each turned in two-RBI performances in the contest. Each player in the Wake Forest starting lineup had at least one hit in the game.

Senior Dustin Hood started his 200th consecutive game for Wake Forest.

Freshman Austin Stadler earned the win to improve his record to 3-2. The Midlothian, Va., native threw a career-high 7 1/3 innings and allowed four runs, two of them earned, on 11 hits. He tied a career high with seven punch outs. Ryan McGrath closed out the game by throwing 1 2/3 scoreless innings.

The Demon Deacons scored first with two runs in the top of the first. After the first two batters were retired, Hood drew a two-out walk. Murray hit a 3-2 pitch over the wall in the left-field corner to put Wake Forest up 2-0. The homer was Murray's fourth of the season.

Wake Forest added another run in the top of the second. Carlos Lopez hit a one-out single and moved to third when Ocheltree singled through the right side of the infield. After Stadler struck out for the second out of the inning, Brooks singled to center to score Lopez and give the Deacs a 3-0 lead.

Virginia Tech recorded three hits in the second, but were held off the scoreboard. Anthony Sosnoskie led off the inning with a single up the middle. Make Kaminski followed with a single to center, but Sosnoskie was thrown out trying to advance to third on a great throw by Brooks for the first out of the inning. Michael Seaborn singled for the third straight Hokie hit to put runners at first and second with one out. Stadler got Ronnie Shaban to line out to third for the second out of the inning and struck out Marc Zecchino swinging on a 3-2 pitch to end the inning.

The Demon Deacons plated two more runs in the top of the third, again with two outs. Weldon Woodall drew a two-out walk. Smith followed with an opposite field, two-run home run, his first of the season, to put Wake Forest in front 5-0.

The Hokies dented the scoreboard for the first time with two runs in the bottom of the third. Matt Blow led off the inning with a single into left field. Consecutive balks by Stadler moved Blow to third with none out. Klint Reed hit a grounded back to Stadler, who threw to third to catch Blow in a run down for the first out of the inning. Steve Bumbry flied out to left for the second out of the inning. Steve Domecus doubled to the right-center field alley to put runners at second and third. Both runners scored on a double to right center by Sosnoskie to cut the Wake Forest lead to 5-2.

The Demon Deacons answered with two runs of their own in the top of the fourth. Ocheltree led off the inning with his sixth home run of the season, a prodigious blast to center field to put Wake Forest in front 6-2. Stadler followed with a walk and moved to second on a single by Brooks. A sacrifice bunt by Kroker moved the runners to second and third. Hood hit a ground ball to second to score Stadler's for Wake's seventh run of the game.

Virginia Tech cut the lead to three with two unearned runs in the sixth. Luke Padgett and Seaborn hit back-to-back singles with one out to put runners at first and third with one out. Seaborn moved to second on a stolen base. After Shaban struck out swinging for the second out of the inning, Zecchino reached on a fielding error by Lopez that scored both runners to trim the Wake Forest lead to 7-4.

The Deacs responded with four runs in the top of the seventh. Smith led off the inning with a base on balls. With one out, Ocheltree hit a ground ball to second. The second baseman threw wildly to second, allowing Smith to advance to third and Ocheltree to second. The left fielder tried to throw Smith out at third, but his throw went awry, scoring Smith and sending Ocheltree to third base. Stadler reached on an infield single to put runners at the corners with one out. Brooks doubled down the left-field line to score Ocheltree for Wake's ninth run of the game. With runners at second and third with one out, Kroker looped a single to right field to score both runners to stretch the lead to 11-4.

Rhett Ballard suffered the loss for the Hokies to drop to 3-2 on the season. Ballard gave up seven runs on seven hits in five innings pitched.

Wake Forest and Virginia Tech continue the three game-series on Saturday at 1 p.m. Phil Negus (2-2, 5.34) will take the mound for the Demon Deacons, while the Hokies will counter with Mathew Price (2-1, 5.40). The game will be televised by RSN.