April 23, 2005

Box Score

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Wake Forest relief duo of senior Kip Byrum and junior Kyle Young limited Maryland to just one run over the final 5.2 innings as the Demon Deacons held off Maryland, 7-6, in ACC baseball action from Shipley Field Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the Deacs improve to 18-23 overall and 10-13 in the ACC, while the Terps fall to 19-23 and 6-17 in the conference.

Maryland made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth inning. After cruising through the eighth inning, Young ran into a little trouble in the ninth. With one out, Truan Mehl singled. Mehl, who went 4-for-5 on the day with two runs scored and one RBI, is now 8-for-10 in the series. Young then struckout Will Frazier looking for the second out of the inning. Jordan Wilson followed with an infield single, but sophomore Matt Antonelli's throw sailed over Demon Deacon first basemen Grant Achilles, which allowed Mehl to race to third base. With runners on the corners and two outs, Brian Jarosinski, who drove in the gamewinning run Friday night, laced Young's offering, but junior right fielder Casey Sterk took a couple steps in to make the catch.

Young picked up his fourth save of the season. The right-handed hurler tossed 2.0 scoreless innings. Young allowed a couple hits, but also struckout two and did not walk a batter.

Byrum (2-1) earned the victory in relief. The southpaw worked 3.2 innings and allowed one earned run on three hits. Byrum walked one and struckout one.

Senior J.B. Tucker led Wake Forest at the plate for the second straight game. Tucker, who went 2-for-3 with a three-run home run and three walks Friday night, was 3-for-4 with a run scored and RBI. Senior Ben Ingold went 1-for-5 with a two-run single.

The Deacs grabbed an early 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Senior Ryder Mathias walked and senior Matt Miller reached safely on a bunt single to open the inning, then both moved up on a wild pitch from Maryland starting pitcher Ben Pfinsgraff. Sterk plated the first run of the inning on an RBI ground out to second base and freshman Andy Goff gave Wake Forest its second run of the frame with a sacrifice fly to deep centerfield.

The Terrapins moved ahead with a four-run outburst in the bottom of the third inning off Demon Deacon starter Charlie Mellies. After getting through two innings without any trouble, Mellies lost command in the third. The Terrapins pounded out five hits and four runs to grab a 4-2 lead. The four runs were the most Mellies has allowed in a single inning over his two-year career with the Deacs.

Mellies would not get out of the fourth inning. The sophomore, whose twin brother is a catcher at Maryland, failed to reach the fourth inning for the first time in a start this season. Mellies pitched 3.1 innings and allowed five runs, all earned, on eight hits.

Pfinsgraff (4-3) picked up the loss. The righty entered the outing with a paltry 2.88 earned run average, but was knocked around for six runs on seven hits in 5.0 innings. Pfinsgraff struckout two and walked two.

The Deacs wasted no time and regained the lead with a two-out rally in the top of the fourth inning. After Mathias led off the inning with a single, Miller lined out and Sterk struckout, but five straight Demon Deacons would reach base, four on consecutive singles from freshman Brett Linnenkohl, Antonelli, Ingold and Tucker which gave Wake Forest a 6-4 advantage.

The Terps narrowed the deficit to a single run, 6-5, in the bottom of the fourth inning on Mehl's RBI ground out. The one time Saturday Wake Forest was able to retire Mehl, he still had a productive at-bat with an RBI ground out.

The Deacs pushed the lead back to two runs, 7-5, on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Mathias in the top half of the seventh inning. Maryland scratched a run across on Byrum in their half of the seventh to make it 7-6, but Young would come on and close the door for Wake Forest.

Wake Forest returns to action Sunday afternoon for the third and final game of the series. Senior Brian Bach will take the mound for Wake Forest. First-pitch is scheduled for 1:00 pm.

-- WakeForestSports.com --