/
.
#24 Wake Forest Holds On to Defeat #21 Virginia, 3-2
Story Links
March 25, 2006
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – – Freshman right-hander Jacob Thompson struck out four in 6 2/3 innings, but Wake Forest’s Eric Niesen struck out seven in five innings as the No. 24 Demon Deacons held on to defeat No. 21 Virginia, 3-2, Saturday evening in the second game of the Atlantic Coast Conference series at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium. Wake Forest (19-6, 5-3 ACC) evened the series at 1-1 as the Demon Deacons snapped the Cavaliers’ 16-game home winning streak. UVa fell to 21-5 and 5-3 in the ACC.
“Last night, we were able to get the runs we needed and had good pitching to come away with a win. Today, Jacob (Thompson) battled and we had good relief performances from Shooter Hunt and Michael Schwimer, but we couldn’t get that one more run,” UVa head baseball coach Brian O’Connor said. “We knew how tough this series was going to be. It’s tough to win in the ACC, when you only have three hits. We’re going to regroup and get ready for the series finale.”
Thompson held the Demon Deacons to three runs on five hits before giving way to Shooter Hunt and Michael Schwimer. Hunt pitched 2/3 of an inning while Schwimer tossed the final 1.2 innings. He struck out three. Brandon Marsh went 2-for-4 and Sean Doolittle was 1-for-3 for the Cavaliers, who had a season-low three hits. Seven different Wake Forest players combined for seven hits led by Evan Ocheltree, who finished 1-for-3 with two RBIs.
Niesen (2-0) limited the Cavaliers to two hits in five innings before leaving after the fifth. Ben Hunter picked up his eighth save as he recorded three strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings. Josh Ellis pitched 1.1 innings, allowed two runs, both unearned and had two strikeouts.
Virginia pulled within, 3-2, in the bottom of the seventh. Doolittle and David Adams drew back-to-back walks. With one out, Jeremy Farrell reached on a fielder’s choice and Doolittle advanced to third on a throwing error. Tom Hagan drew a bases loaded walk to bring in UVa’s first run. Beau Seabury then laid down a sacrifice bunt with the bases loaded to score another run as the Cavs trailed, 3-2. Virginia had runners on second and third with two outs, but Hunter struck out Tim Henry to end the threat.
Wake Forest took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Matt Antonelli singled to right field to score Austin Jones, who led off the game with a single. The Demon Deacons used a two-run triple from Ocheltree in the top of the seventh to go ahead, 3-0.
Virginia and Wake Forest will wrap up their three-game series Sunday at 1p.m. Senior Mike Ballard will start for the Cavaliers while the Demon Deacons will counter with freshman Tyler Smith.