April 29, 2003

Box Score

Greensboro, N.C. -- Behind a strong pitching performance from Brian Bach and a home run from Wake Forest's new home run king, Jamie D'Antona, the Demon Deacons defeated UNC Greensboro 5-2 in the Gate City on Tuesday night.

Bach, a Winston-Salem native and Mount Tabor graduate, threw 8 1/3 sharp innings for the win to improve to 6-1 on the season. He allowed two runs, scattered six hits and no walks. He kept in defense involved with just two strikeouts. Bach went to three balls in the count just twice against UNC Greensboro. Ten Spartan batters swung at first pitches and nine of those were retired. Of Bach's 103 pitches, 74 were strikes.

Bach retired 13 of 15 batters between the fourth and the eighth innings. Due mostly to Bach's effectiveness, the game lasted just two hours and one minute, the shortest game of the season for the Deacons.

After allowing a run in the ninth, Bach gave way to Adam Hanson who needed to face one batter. He forced David Adams into a game-ending double play for his third save.

Jamie D'Antona broke the Wake Forest career home run record with a solo blast in the eighth inning. He took the first pitch he saw from Jarrett Santos and drilled it over the wall in left-center field for his 19th homer of the season and 56th of his career, passing Jake Austin (1989-92) as Wake Forest's new home run king. D'Antona ranks 8th all-time in Atlantic Coast Conference history in that category.

The Deacons (27-17) broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the top of the fifth. With one out, Steve LeFaivre and Chris Getz laced back-to-back singles. Ben Ingold followed with a high chopper through the middle into center field to score LeFaivre from second. Getz moved to third on the play and scored on Steven Malinowski's sacrifice fly. Ingold later scored on Ryan Hubbard's RBI single.

After getting a double play to end the first, UNC Greensboro starter Chris Mason mowed through the Deacon order, retiring the next 10 until the Deacons got on the board in the fifth. But Mason took the loss to fall to 3-2.

Eight of the nine Wake Forest batters recorded a hit led by Adam Bourassa's two.

It was Wake Forest's 10th straight victory over UNC Greensboro and the third straight game that D'Antona has homered against the Spartans.

UNC Greensboro fell to 32-13 overall.

The Deacons play at Charlotte on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. before taking a 10-day break for finals.