Sports > February 26, 2004

By Gerard McMahon

Old Gold and Black Reporter

Three days after their season opener was postponed due to a February snowstorm, the Demon Deacons traveled to a much warmer climate in Houston, Texas, to open up their season in the Rice Coca-Cola Classic. The Deacs had no time for a warm-up game, losing to No. 1 Rice 13-5 Feb. 20 in a game that saw four Deacon errors.

After two more consecutive close losses in Texas, 5-3 to Lamar and 13-12 to Cal State-Northridge, the Deacons finally returned home to Gene Hooks Stadium Feb. 24, where they defeated Appalachian State by a final score of 13-6.

Rice Preseason All-American pitcher Philip Humber struck out the first six Wake Forest batters he faced and did not allow a hit until junior catcher J.B. Tucker laced a single to center in the fifth inning, after Rice had already built up a 10-0 lead.

Sophomore leftfielder Casey Sterk provided the majority of the offense for the Deacs, doubling twice in three at-bats and knocking in three runs, as the Deacons managed to cut the lead to 10-4 before Rice pulled away late in the game.

Junior Tim Morley pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing seven runs, four of them earned, on six hits.

“I was a little nervous since it was my first outing of the season,” Morley said.  “I wasn’t too worried about facing a team as highly touted as Rice. We had nothing to lose going up against them.”

Given no time to recover from this tough game, the Deacs took the field again the very next day against 6-2 Lamar, where they ran into another team that had already played a week’s worth of games.

“It was not only difficult that they started before us,” Morley said, “but also the amount of snow we had that kept us off the (practice) field for days.”

If the lack of practice time bothered sophomore starting pitcher Kyle Young, however, he did not show it. Young held the Cardinals to only two runs, one earned, in four innings of work and left the game with the score tied at two apiece.

After junior Brian Bach kept the Cardinals’ bats silent throughout the fifth and sixth innings, they finally squeaked out three runs on the Deacon reliever in the seventh.

Although Tucker responded in the eighth inning with his first Wake Forest home run, a solo blast to right, his run was all the Deacs could scratch out in the last two innings against Lamar’s Jon Hunton.

In their third game of the weekend, the Deacons took on Cal State-Northridge and nearly made one of the more miraculous comebacks in recent history.

Junior starter Justin Keadle was knocked out early after allowing eight runs, seven of them earned, in three innings of work.

Eventually,  the lead ballooned to 13-3. But in the eighth, the Deacs began chipping away at the lead, starting with sophomore shortstop Ben Ingold.

Ingold singled to start the inning and moved to second two batters later on a Doug Riepe single. Later, senior second baseman Nick Blue slapped a two-run single to center to cut the lead to eight.

Tucker knocked in two more runs with a double to right to make the score 13-7, and an RBI groundout by centerfielder Matt Miller made it 13-9.

After freshman Lee Land, making his collegiate debut, held the Matadors scoreless in the bottom of the inning, Wake Forest came back strong in the ninth. A bases-loaded two-run single by freshman phenom Matt Antonelli put the tying run on first. After Tucker hit a sacrifice fly to left to make it 13-12, however, Scioletti bounced out back to the pitcher to end the ballgame. Still, the near-comeback was a positive for the Deacs.

“We went down by ten runs,” Ingold said, “and we refused to give up. It really shows our team’s character to keep competing and making a fantastic game out of one that other teams might have given up in.”

The Deacs returned to the field for their home opener Feb. 24 against Appalachian State.

Freshman Josh Ellis, in his first ever collegiate start, struggled early, allowing five first-inning runs. After his team bailed him out, answering with five runs of their own, Ellis held the opposition in check over the next five innings, allowing only one more run.

Souders relieved Ellis in the seventh and pitched three shutout innings, earning his first career save in the process.

The Deacons scored 12 of their 13 runs in the first four innings, with Blue and Ingold leading the way. Blue finished 4-for-5 with three runs scored, while Ingold went 3-for-4 with three runs batted in.

Ingold had only optimism on his mind after the game.

“Each time you take the field with your teammates, it is another time to gel as a team and build team chemistry,” Ingold said. “Teammates learn how to perform best with each other through experience, and each game we will become a better team capable of performing at a higher and higher levels.”

The Deacs were back in action Feb. 25, continuing to roll with a 14-5 victory over Liberty. Tucker continued his solid week with a grand slam home run, part of a seven-run sixth inning.

Tucker finished the day 2-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs and two runs scored. He leads the team with 10 RBIs on the year.

Wake Forest looks to ride its newfound momentum throughout a home series against Cincinnati Feb. 27-29 and home games against Charlotte and High Point March 2 and 3, respectively.