April 27, 2008
ATLANTA – Allan Dykstra drove in three runs, two of which came on a seventh-inning home run, to help Wake Forest (17-27, 8-15 ACC) avoid a sweep at the hands of Georgia Tech (31-13, 12-12 ACC), as the Demon Deacons pulled out a 7-5 win Sunday afternoon in the series finale at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Dykstra and Evan Ocheltree each had two hits as the Demon Deacons posted 10 as a team Sunday afternoon.
Ben Hunter (3-5) picked up the win despite giving up five runs on seven hits to the Yellow Jackets. He worked 8.1 innings before turning the ball over the Alex Wiesner, who forced a fly out for the second out of the ninth inning. Phil Negus then picked up his second save of the season by striking out Luke Murton to end the game.
Tech starter Zach Von Tersch (5-3) suffered his third loss of the season by yielding four runs, only two of which were earned, on seven hits through six innings of work. Charlie Blackmon led Tech with two hits, while Thomas Nichols had a pair of RBI on the afternoon.
The Demon Deacons scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the second inning to take their first lead of the series, but the Jackets answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame on a two-run home run by Thomas Nichols to tie the game at 2-2.
An RBI single by Dykstra gave Wake Forest a one-run edge in the third inning, but Jeff Rowland reached on a one-out walk in the fifth inning, stole second base, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Derek Dietrich’s RBI groundout to tie the game at 3-3.
The Deacs re-gained the lead in the sixth inning with an RBI single from Weldon Woodall and tacked on three more runs in the seventh with a two-run home run from Dykstra and an RBI single by Evan Ocheltree to push their lead to 7-3.
With runners on first and second in the bottom of the seventh, Rowland bunted down the third base line for a sacrifice, but a throwing error by third baseman Nathan Frazier allowed both runners to score, pulling the Jackets within two runs at 7-5, but Tech could get no closer as the Deacs avoided the sweep with the two-run victory.
Tech will take the week off for final exams before hosting Coastal Carolina for a three-game series next weekend.
–GT–
