April 27, 2005

Box Score

GREENSBORO, N.C. --- Wake Forest sophomore starting pitcher Josh Ellis tossed 6.0 shutout innings as the Demon Deacons captured their fourth straight game with a 4-2 victory over UNC Greensboro on Wednesday night at UNCG Baseball Stadium. With the victory, Wake Forest improves to 21-23 on the season, while the Spartans fall to 23-15.

After the Spartans loaded the bases in the bottom of the first inning, Ellis (5-4) settled down and pitched one of his sharpest outings in his two-year career. The sophomore allowed just four hits on the evening and struckout a pair without a walk in the victorious effort. He went three balls to just two hitters over the first five innings. Ellis tossed 84 pitches and 59 were for strikes.

Senior Tim Morley tossed a scoreless seventh inning and Wake Forest appeared as though they were on track for their first shutout since blanking Appalachian State back on Feb. 2, 2003 -- a span of 145 games.

But, the Spartans cut the lead in half, 4-2, in the bottom of the eighth inning off freshman Eric Niesen. UNCG designated hitter Chris Mason blooped an RBI triple down the right field line and came around to score on Justin Crist's RBI ground out. Sophomore Charlie Mellies came on for Niesen and got out of the inning when Tucker threw out Jay Maule trying to steal second base.

Junior closer Kyle Young retired UNCG in order in the ninth for his sixth save of the season.

Senior J.B. Tucker went 2-for-4 in the game with a double and two RBI, while junior Casey Sterk also added a couple hits. Tucker extended his hitting streak to 10 games -- just a couple of games short of his career-high 12 game hitting streak established earlier this season. In addition to his 10-game hitting streak, Tucker has also driven in a run in 10 consecutive games. During that stretch, Tucker is batting .514 (19-for-37) with four home runs and 20 RBI.

The Demon Deacons grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Sophomore Matt Antonelli led off the game with a double off the left field wall and eventually came around to score on Tucker's RBI single.

Wake Forest pushed the lead to 2-0 in the top of the third inning. Senior Ben Ingold started the rally with a two-out double down the line and cruised home on Tucker's RBI double.

The Demon Deacons plated two more runs in the top of the sixth inning. After senior Ryder Mathias grounded out to open the inning, senior Matt Miller and Sterk followed with back-to-back singles before redshirt junior Grant Achilles lined an RBI single through the infield to put Wake Forest up 3-0. Freshman Andy Goff then loaded the bases after being hit by a pitch and freshman Brett Linnenkohl followed with an RBI ground out to first base giving the Deacs a 4-0 advantage.

Wes McCall (4-2) started for the Spartans and was charged with the loss. The freshman southpaw went just 4.1 innings and allowed two earned runs on five hits. McCall struckout three and walked a pair.

Wake Forest now embarks on 13 days off for final exams. The Demon Deacons will not return to action until May 10 when they travel to Elon. First-pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. and will be broadcast live on WBRF-FM (98.1) and is available on the internet at WakeForestSports.com through the Yahoo subscription service. Live stats will be also available at WakeForestSports.com via Gametracker.