Sports > March 25, 2004

By Gerard McMahon

Old Gold and Black Reporter

The Deacons opened up ACC play March 19-21 by splitting the first two games of a home series against Georgia Tech before dropping the rubber game of the three-game set. Their record now stands at 11-10, 1-2 in the ACC.

Junior Justin Keadle took the hill in game one of the series March 19 as the Deacs went for their third consecutive victory, a victory that seemed unlikely as they fell behind 7-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh. However, the team fought back late, this time in the final three innings.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh, senior Brad Scioletti followed senior Steve LeFaivre’s walk with his second home run of the year. Later in the inning, freshman Matt Antonelli singled home two runs to cut the Yellow Jackets lead to 7-4 after seven innings.

After freshman Josh Ellis held Tech scoreless in the eighth and ninth innings, the Deacons headed into their final at-bat down three.

Junior Matt Miller led off the inning with a walk and scored on a double by sophomore Casey Sterk. After a groundout, Antonelli tied the game with his second home run of the year, a blast to left field that brought the Deacons all the way back from their seven-run deficit and sent the game into extra innings.

After Ellis allowed a two-run homer in the top of the tenth, the Deacs again made things interesting in the bottom of the inning when LeFaivre homered to right field with one out in the inning. Unfortunately for Wake Forest, that was all for the home team as the Deacs dropped the game in 10 innings by the final of 9-8. Despite keeping the Deacs in the game throughout the late innings, Ellis took the loss, his first of his college career, to drop his record to 1-1.

Head Coach George Greer was impressed by his team’s effort but still saw some aspects of the game that needed help.

“Our team really has heart and plays well,” Greer said.

In reference to his club’s pitching, which has been inconsistent at times, Greer has a clear plan. “We try to keep the ball down, change speeds and throw strikes,” Greer said.

The Deacs took the field the following day behind sophomore starter Kyle Young, who was looking to bounce back from a disappointing outing against Memphis March 13.

Young showed he was back in form early, as he did not allow a run until the sixth inning and left the game after allowing only three runs in seven innings of work.

Wake Forest started the scoring in the third inning when Antonelli and junior Ben Ingold hit back-to-back singles. Following a fielder’s choice, LeFaivre singled to left center, scoring Ingold from second. Junior Ryder Mathias followed by driving in two more runs with a double to right.

The Deacs extended their lead to 5-0 in the fourth on Ingold’s second home run of the year, a two-run shot to left that scored Antonelli in front of him.

After the Deacons tacked on another run in the fifth on an RBI single by Miller, Wake Forest finished its scoring on the day in the eighth inning when senior Doug Riepe led off the inning with his second home run. After Antonelli reached on an error, Scioletti singled him home to plate the Deacs’ eighth and final run en route to an 8-4 victory.

Wake Forest closed out the series by falling 9-2 to the Yellow Jackets after allowing six extra-base hits in the game.

Although the game started out positively for the Deacons, as Ingold hit his second two-run home run in as many days, they had no answer for Georgia Tech’s bats. Junior starter Brian Bach dropped to 2-4 on the year after allowing six runs in 5 1/3 innings.

The Deacs coul muster only four hits against Tech starter Andrew Kown, who went the distance to earn the victory for the Yellow Jackets.

The team took the field again March 23 at Davidson to make up for a postponed game Feb. 17 and lost a slugfest by a final of 11-9 after relinquishing an early lead.

Ellis got the start and dropped to 1-2 on the year after allowing nine runs in five innings of work. Three runs came in the second inning and four more in the fifth.

The Deacs went up early 3-0 on a pair of runs in the first inning and another in the second when Riepe homered in his second consecutive game.

After Davidson tied the game in the bottom of the second, Wake Forest tacked on two more runs in the third when Riepe singled home LeFaivre and Scioletti to give the Deacons another brief two-run lead.

Davidson’s offense proved to be too much, though, as the Wildcats withstood several Deacon surges and pulled out the win.

The Deacs’ slump continued March 24 when they fell to UNC-Greensboro by a score of 3-0. Greensboro pitcher Scooter Michael threw a complete game shutout.

With the loss, the Deacs’ record fell to 11-11 on the season. Next up will be a series at Clemson March 26-28. Their next home game will be March 30 against Harvard.