Sports > April 10, 2008

By Martin Rickman | Staff writer

The Diamond Deacs continued their slide, losing a weekend series to N.C. State in Raleigh on April 4-6. The Deacs, who have now lost 12 of their last 13 games, have struggled to put it all together in the last couple of weeks and the series against N.C. State was no different.

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Junior Allan Dykstra waits for the ball from the pitcher in attempt to pick off a Florida State base runner. The Deacs won one of three in the series. (Jeff Merski/Old Gold & Black)

In the first game of the series, N.C. State starter Clayton Shunick struck out 11 Deacon batters in the first five innings and finished with 12 strikeouts on the day, giving up one run on 7 2/3 innings. The Deacs could only muster two runs on the day and although starter Garrett Bullock was able to work six quality innings, settling down after giving up three runs in the first to allow just four runs total on the day.

The problem was that in a game that saw a rare quality start for the Deacons, the bats could not come alive. The Deacs had just six hits on the day but left nine men on base.

As has been a recurring trend this season, the second game of the series was rained out, but a double-header was set for April 6. In the first game, the Deacs could not provide enough offense to overcome N.C. State’s potent lineup. After jumping out to a 8-3 lead through the fifth inning, with all of those runs coming on two outs, the Deacons were outscored 6-1 in the final four innings, losing 14-4.

Senior Andy Goff hit his first homefun of the season, with a three-run blast in the second inning and junior Allan Dykstra went 2-3. On the day, the Deacs left 10 runners on base. After striking out Deacon starter Charlie Mellies took the loss, going 5.1 innings and giving up 11 ER on 11 hits. N.C. State starter Eric Surkamp recorded the win, doing damage control and giving up zero runs in his last three innings after giving up three ER through the first two innings.

The second game of the double-header was not much better. Although the Deacon bats came alive for 14 hits in the game, led by junior Dustin Hood’s three hits, homeruns from Ben Terry and Mike Murray and multi-hit games from Dykstra and senior Willy Fox, this was not enough to overcome the Wolfpack’s 23 hits and the Deacons lost by a final score of 18-6.

Junior Brad Kledzik, who has served as the Deacon closer through much of this season, started the game for the Deacs and allowed nine runs, seven earned on nine hits through just 2.1 innings. The Deacon relief pitchers let up nine more runs in the next 5 2/3 innings, but Ben Hunter pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Quickly down 12-1 after three innings, the Deacs were just overmatched in their rally.

The series sweep dropped the Deacs to 12-19 on the year and 5-10 in ACC play.

Wake struck out 34 times in the three games and left 29 men on base, while surrendering 39 runs. The Deacon bats just could not keep up with the Wolfpack during the three games.

This seems to be the story of the year, as opposing teams are batting .332 against Deacon pitchers, who have surrendered 168 walks and 366 hits in 260 innings pitched.

Wake hosted High Point April 9 at Hooks Stadium and lost 12-8. Coming into the game, High Point had an 11-20 record, already having lost to Wake Forest 12-3 March 11.

In the first inning, High Point took the lead 2-1, however the Deacs came back in the second inning with two runs and then added three more in the fourth inning.Senior pitcher Ben Hunter allowed two hits and zero errors after coming in to relieve freshman pitcher Mark Adzick. Adzick pitched 1.1 innings, allowed three hits and had four errors. Sophomore pitcher Phil Negus came into the game in the beginning of the seventh inning. He came in the game as the third pitcher to replace Hunter and allowed four hits, three errors and three runs, giving High Point the lead in the seventh inning.Sophomore pitcher Alex Wiesner came in the game with two outs in the seventh inning and allowed one run. Junior Brad Kledzik finished off the pitching for the Deacs.

The Deacon’s RBI’s were spread out on the team, with six different players each recording an RBI.Sophomore center-fielder Mike Murray led the team in hits with two.

The Deacs have a pivotal weekend series against Virginia Tech at Hooks Stadium over the weekend and have a real chance to stop the bleeding and turn the season around.

There are five weekend series left and six more weekday games.The first pitch against Virginia Tech is scheduled for 3 p.m. on April 11.