Sports > March 22, 2007

By Gerard McMahon

Senior writer

The Demon Deacons dropped their record to 13-10 (2-4) following an up-and-down two weeks that saw Wake Forest take two out of three from then-No. 4 Virginia before falling twice to Ball State and suffering a sweep at the hands of No. 2 Florida State. The Deacs then responded with consecutive victories over Ohio and Winthrop.

“Our goal here is obviously to win every game,” assistant coach Jon Palmieri said. “(Virginia and Florida State) are both tough teams, but so is everyone else we play. We just have to bring it every day.”

Opening conference play at home in the friendly confines of Hooks Stadium on March 9, Wake split the first two games against Virginia before taking the rubber game in the series by a final of 7-6.

Junior infielder/designated hitter Willy Fox blasted a pair of home runs and tallied five RBIs to lead the Deacons to an 8-3 victory in game one of the series. Sophomore Brad Kledzik allowed three runs on nine hits in five innings to improve his record to 2-1 on the year. Senior Josh Ellis shut down the Cavaliers over the final 2.2 innings to earn his first save of the year.

After losing the second game 13-5, Wake Forest bounced back in the final game of the series, notching their fifth walk-off victory of the season in the 7-6 win.

Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh, sophomore first baseman Allan Dykstra crushed his second home run of the game to propel the Deacons to a four-run inning that gave them a 6-5 lead.

Following a Cavaliers run in the top of the ninth that tied the game, Fox singled in the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the inning to hand Wake the series.

Following the dramatic victory, however, the Deacs continued their homestand by dropping a two-game series against Ball State on March 13-14.

Despite Dykstra’s second consecutive game with a pair of dingers and Fox’s third home run of the year, Wake dropped the first game to Ball State by a 7-6 final. Trailing throughout much of the game, the Deacs fought back to a 6-6 tie in the eighth inning, but after allowing a run in the top of the ninth, they could not continue their walk-off magic in the bottom of the inning.

Although redshirt freshman Joel Ernst took a no-hitter into the sixth inning in the second game of the series as Wake jumped out to a 3-0 lead, things fell apart for the Deacons during a six-run sixth inning for Ball State as the Cardinals finished the sweep with a 6-5 victory. Wake’s losing streak continued into the weekend in Tallahassee as the Deacs put up a tough battle but ultimately fell in three straight games to undefeated Florida State March 16-18.Trailing 6-4 in the ninth inning of the series’ first game, Dykstra unleashed a two-run homer — his eighth of the year — to send the game into extra innings. But with runners on first and third and two out in the bottom of the eleventh, a line drive hit off the glove just out of reach of freshman infielder Keith Mauney to give the Seminoles the winning run and hand the Deacs a 7-6 loss.

Down 4-0 in game two, Wake Forest scored three runs in the seventh to pull within one, but the comeback came up just short as a fly out with the bases loaded would be as close as Wake would come to victory in the 4-3 defeat. The Deacons lost their fifth straight game on March 18 in an 11-1 thrashing from Florida State. After taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, the Seminoles scored 11 unanswered runs to sprint away with the victory.

“We’re 2-4 in conference right now,” Palmieri said, “but it’s really only one hit away from 4-2. We’re confident we can come back strong in the conference.”

The Demon Deacons returned home on March 20, where they defeated Ohio, 6-4.

Freshman Alex Wiesner earned his first collegiate win after pitching six scoreless innings before leaving with a 6-2 lead and one out in the seventh. Kledzik and Ellis threw the final two innings to preserve the victory. Ellis pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his second save of the year.

Fox, who started at second base for the first time this year, once again led the Deacs’ offensive attack. Fox belted a three-run homer into the trees in left-center to highlight a five-run second inning for Wake Forest. The Deacons added another run in the sixth to provide some more breathing room in the victory.

Wake finished the week with a 10-8 win over Winthrop in the front-end of a home-and-home series with the Eagles.

Wake Forest got off to a rocky start with the score sitting at 5-1 after the first inning, but a five run rally in the third put the Deacs up 8-7. Wake Forest was lead by Dykstra and Ocheltree, who both homered in the game. The pitching win went to freshman Phil Negus, who pitched 2.2 innings.

“It’s important for us to win these midweek games,” junior pitcher Eric Niesen said. “We had our losing skid playing against a pair of top five teams, now it’s time for us to turn it on.”

The Deacs return home this weekend for a three-game series with conference rival North Carolina State starting March 23. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.