April 20, 2007

Box Score

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Boston College rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to earn a 5-4 comeback win over Wake Forest Friday afternoon at Shea Field.

The Demon Deacons, who blew leads of 2-0 and 4-2, fall to 22-20 overall and 8-11 in the ACC. The Eagles move to 14-21-1 overall and 7-12 in conference play.

After BC tied the game at 2-2 in the eighth, Wake Forest scored two runs in the top of the ninth to take a 4-2 lead.

However, Boston College rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth off closer Josh Ellis to earn its first-ever win against Wake.

Eric Campbell and Mike Augustine hit back-to-back singles up the middle to lead off the inning. Ellis then struck out Jared McGuire for the first out of the inning. Joseph Ayers cut the Wake lead to 4-3 with another single up the middle to score Campbell.

Ellis followed by hitting the next two batters in succession to bring home the tying run. Ryan Hutchinson completed the comeback with an RBI fielder's choice. Hutchinson hit a slow roller to second baseman Andy Goff. Goff's only choice was to try to turn the double play. He got the runner at second, but Hutchinson easily beat Dustin Hood's throw to first to give BC the victory.

The late-inning debacle spoiled a stellar outing from starter Brad Kledzik. Kledzik pitched 7 1/3 innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on four hits. He struck out three and walked two in the no-decision. Kledzik gave up just one unearned run through the first seven innings before allowing a game-tying run in the eighth.

Peter Frates led off the eighth with a double off Kledzik. After a sacrifice bunt moved Frates up to third, Wake Forest went to Ellis. Ellis was able to get Hutchinson to hit a slow grounder to third baseman Tyler Smith, but Smith took the out at first instead, allowing Frates to score the tying run.

The Deacons responded with two runs in the top of the ninth. Reliever Geoff Oxley hit Goff to put the leadoff man on. Evan Ocheltree sacrificed Goff to second, and Smith then walked to put two runners on.

Dan Rosaia came through with a single up the middle to score Goff with the go-ahead run. Hood drove in Smith, who had advanced to third on Rosaia's hit, with a sacrifice fly to center, giving Wake a seemingly safe 4-2 lead.

Ben Terry provided all of Wake's offense prior to the ninth inning. Terry broke a scoreless tie in third with his first home run of the season. BC starter Kevin Boggan hit Hood to lead off the inning. Hood moved up on a sacrifice bunt from Brett Linnenkohl, putting him in scoring position for Terry. Terry responded by hitting a 3-2 pitch from Boggan just inside the rightfield foul pole to give Wake an early 2-0 lead.

Boston College cut the deficit in half with an unearned run in the sixth. A single and two Wake Forest fielding errors loaded the bases with no outs. However, the Deacon defense atoned for its mistakes with an unconventional triple play to end the inning with just one run across.

Campbell started the play by hitting a sacrifice fly to center to score Hutchinson. However, Terry threw to cutoff man Hood who fired it to Goff at second to cut down Sanchez trying to take the extra base.

The Deacs completed the triple play when the umpires ruled that Michael Belfiore had left early from second base, and all Goff had to do was touch the bag to end the inning.

The triple play was Wake's first since turning one at Maryland on April 22, 2005. The Deacs also lost that game, 5-4, in 10 innings.

Smith saved a run in the third inning. With runners at the corners and two outs, Smith made a leaping catch on a screaming line drive off the bat of Sanchez.

Linnenkohl also made a nice catch in the fourth. With one on and one out, Mike Augustine popped a ball up near the line in short leftfield. Linnenkohl came racing in and made a full-out dive forward to snag the ball.

Linnenkohl and Terry each had hits to extend their respective hitting streaks to nine games each. Allan Dykstra saw his 10-game hitting streak come to an end, going 0-for-2 with two walks. Michael Murray's six-game hitting streak was ended with an 0-for-3 day.

Ellis (2-2) took the loss for the Demon Deacons. The senior righthander allowed three runs on three hits in 1 1/3 innings. He struck out two and walked one.

Reliever James MacDonald (1-0) earned the win for the Eagles despite facing just one batter.

Boggan allowed two runs on four hits in seven innings of work. He struck out seven batters and walked four.

Hutchinson and Campbell had two hits each to lead the BC offense.

With the 5-4 loss, Wake Forest drops to 6-10 in one-run games this season.

The Demon Deacons and Eagles will square off in the second game of the series on Saturday in Brockton, Mass. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at Campanelli Field, home of the independent league Brockton Rox. LHP Garrett Bullock (3-1, 5.50) will start for Wake, while RHP Terry Doyle (2-3, 6.50) will pitch for BC.