Sports > February 24, 2005

By Graham Hall

Old Gold & Black Reporter

Hoping to break a bitter five-game losing streak the baseball team returned home in desperate need of a win.

The patience paid off, and the Deacs got their second victory of the season against Appalachian State Feb. 22 with a score of 11-4.

The Deacon offensive began when freshman shortstop Andy Goff reached base in the first and was followed by sophomore third baseman Matt Antonelli, who lined a shot over the left field wall for his first home run of the season.

The team then scored their third run in the third inning when freshman left fielder Brett Linnenkohl led off the inning with a triple and was driven in by Goff on a sacrifice fly.

The offense had its best inning of the year in the fifth, scoring five runs on four hits. Senior center fielder Matt Miller started the inning off with a walk and later scored on a double to center field by sophomore designated hitter Brendan Enick.

Junior right fielder Casey Sterk then followed with a single to left that drove in Enick. The Deacons continued their offensive output when senior catcher J.B. Tucker came to bat with runners on first and second and drove a line drive down the left field line to bring in Goff and Antonelli.

The offense set up a pattern of scoring every other inning and scored three more runs in the seventh. Tucker led the seventh off with a home run and was followed with consecutive hits by senior first baseman Ryder Mathias and junior second baseman Grant Achilles.

Enick followed sophomore Brian Shust’s ground out with a single to left that scored the two runs, upping the score to 11-3.

The player of the game, sophomore Charlie Mellies, pitched the best game of the season by a Wake Forest pitcher, going seven strong innings allowing only one earned run on eight hits and striking out five.

“Every win is a big win,” Assistant Coach Marshall Canosa said. “It is good to get a win after a tough weekend series.”

Prior to Appalachian, the team took on South Alabama University in the first game of the South Alabama Tournament. 

Senior southpaw Tim Morley started the game for the Deacons and was dynamic, yielding just three earned runs and striking out six players.

The Deacons tied the game at one in the top of the fourth when Tucker launched a shot over the left field wall. With the Jaguars’ pitcher rattled, the Deacons managed to place men on first and second but a strikeout and double play ended their scoring opportunity in the fourth. Morley then suffered through his roughest inning in the fifth. After giving up a single and then a double which resulted in a run, the Deacons defense made a throwing error which allowed the runner on second to advance.

After a pop up, the Jaguars managed to reach base on a single then on a fielding error. With the bases loaded, Morley seemed to be on the verge of collapse but masterfully worked his way out of the inning with a strikeout and line drive out that kept the three runners on the bases and off the scoreboard.

Morley pitched a perfect sixth but ran into problems in the seventh when the Jaguars scored on a drive up the middle. Morley remained un-rattled by the unearned run and got himself out of the inning with a strikeout finishing the game with six strikeouts in 7-1/3 innings. The Deacs unfortunately lost 4-2.

The Feb. 19 match up with Jacksonville was an example of too little offense too late in a game.

Jacksonville got off to a quick start, scoring runs in the first four innings which resulted in a 5-0 lead. Despite scoring four total runs, the Deacs fell 5-4 after Jacksonville’s senior Hunter Davis pitched a scoreless inning

The Deacons followed up their heart- breaking loss the next day with a 12-2 defeat at the hands of 11th-ranked Texas A&M Feb. 20. The Aggies scored in every inning except for the sixth, and eight of their nine starters had at least one hit. Freshman pitcher Matt Hammond suffered his second loss of the season going four innings with eight runs surrendered and two strike outs.