April 25, 2010
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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -
Starter Michael Dimock had the best outing of his career, giving up only one run in eight innings with a career-high 11 strikeouts, as Wake Forest won its first Atlantic Coast Conference series of the year with a 7-1 victory over Duke Sunday afternoon at Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park.
Dimock (2-7) tied a career high with eight innings pitched and gave up one run on five hits with 11 strikeouts and no walks. Dimock is the first Wake pitcher record 10+ strikeouts in a game since Brad Kledzik mowed down 10 Old Dominion batters in 2009.
"That's as dominating a pitching performance as you'll see in college baseball," said head coach Tom Walter. "He struck out 11 and walked none over eight innings. That's as good as it gets."
Joel Ernst finished the game, giving up one hit with a strikeout in the ninth inning.
Starter Dennis O'Grady (0-3) took the loss for Duke, giving up three runs, two of them earned, on seven hits in five innings pitched.
The Deacs took a 1-0 lead in the second inning and added one run in both the fourth and the fifth on solo home runs from Matt Conway and Ryan Semeniuk. Wake scored two in the sixth and seventh before the Blue Devils got their only run of the day on a ninth-inning homer from Will Piwnica-Worms.
With the win, Wake improves to 12-31 (4-17 ACC) while Duke falls to 23-18 (7-14 ACC). The Demon Deacons have now won six consecutive series against the Blue Devils.
Taylor Kaprive had an excellent day at the plate for the Deacons, going 2-for-4 with a double, 2 runs and three RBIs. Conway went 3-for-5 with a home run. Mike Murray went 2-for-5 and scored a run. Semeniuk homered for the second straight game and hit his team-leading eighth of the season, finishing the game 1-for-4 with two runs scored. Steven Brooks went 0-for-3 to snap his 11-game hitting streak.
"Any time you win you relax a little more and it takes a little pressure off you for the next game," said Walter. "Those guys at the bottom of the lineup, (Mike) Lubanski, Kaprive and Conway, who had struggled earlier in the series came through for us today. Anytime guys who are struggling can get a couple hits, it takes the pressure off the next game and they can relax and play a little better."
Eric Brady had two hits to lead the Blue Devils, while Piwnica-Worms hit his fourth home run of the season.
The Deacons drew first blood in the bottom of the second inning, taking a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Kaprive. Murray reached first with no outs when leftfielder Mike Carroll dropped a fly ball. O'Grady struck out Carlos Lopez and Conway before Lubanski drew a walk to put men on first and second. Kaprive singled to center, scoring Murray for the first run of the game. Mark Rhine grounded out to short to end the inning.
Conway led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a solo home run to left-center to extend the Wake lead to 2-0.
Duke's Marcus Stroman led off the fifth with a double down the left field line, but Dimock struck out the next three batters to keep the Blue Devils off the board.
Ryan Semeniuk launched a monster home run to left to start the bottom of the sixth, putting the Deacs ahead 3-0. Wake put runners on the corners with two outs, but could not push any more runs across.
The Deacons scored two in the bottom of the sixth, making the score 5-0. Kaprive drew a leadoff walk off of new Duke pitcher Ben Grisz, and Rhine bunted him to second. Pat Blair walked, and both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Semeniuk hit a slow roller to third but the third baseman bobbled the ball and had no play at any base, allowing Kaprive to score on the error. Grisz hit Brooks with a pitch to load the bases with one out. Murray hit a chopper to first and the Blue Devils got the force at home for the second out of the inning. Lopez walked with the bases loaded, scoring Semeniuk and ending Grisz's outing. Conway grounded out to short to end the inning.
Wake scored two more in the bottom of the seventh to extend the lead to 7-0. Lubanski roped a double to left to lead off the frame. Kaprive followed with a double off the wall in left-center, scoring Lubanski. Rhine grounded out to short, sending Kaprive to third. Kaprive then scored on a wild pitch from Michael Seander. Pat Blair followed with a single down the left field line and advanced to second on another wild pitch from Seander. Blair stole third on the next pitch. Semeniuk walked, putting runners on the corners with one out, but Brooks grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Piwnica-Worms led off the top of the ninth with a long home run to left field, scoring Duke's first run of the day, but new pitcher Joel Ernst was able to retire three Blue Devils to end the game.
The Deacons will return to action when they travel to Boone, N.C. to take on Appalachian State on Wednesday, April 28 at 4 p.m.
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