May 19, 2007

Box Score

WF 9, VT 8

 

BLACKSBURG, Va. - A furious six-run outburst in the bottom of the ninth gave the Virginia Tech seniors some excitement in their final game as Hokies, but it wasn't enough to overcome the seven-run margin that Wake Forest had built, and the Deacons beat the Hokies by a score of 9-8 in a regular season-ending ACC game at English Field Saturday afternoon.

Tech's season comes to a close with a 23-31 overall record and a 7-23 mark in the conference, which is a three-game improvement over a year ago. The Demon Deacons wrapped up an ACC Tournament berth with the win and improved to 31-25 and 14-16 in league play.

Tech mounted their comeback when second baseman Matt Hacker (Richmond, Va.) led off the ninth with a solo home run - his third of the season - over the left field wall. The next three batters reached base for the Hokies, with Sean Ryan (Ashburn, Va.) singling, and catcher Matt Foley (Lansdowne, Va.) and first baseman Sean O'Brien (Chappaqua, N.Y.) walking. When Nate Parks (Roanoke, Va.) hit into a fielder's choice on the next play, Ryan scored and Foley moved to third, but O'Brien was out at second. After Parks stole second for the 99^th swipe of his career, a wild pitch by Wake's Josh Ellis allowed him to move to third and Foley to score.

After third baseman Bryan Thomas (Wilmington, N.C.) went down on strikes for the second out, the Hokies got even hotter, collecting three consecutive RBI doubles - all on two-strike counts - by shortstop Warren Schaeffer (Vandergrift, Pa.), designated hitter Anthony Sosnoskie (Front Royal Va.) and left fielder Luke Padgett (Lynchburg, Va.). With the score now at 9-8, Hacker walked in his second at-bat of the inning to bring Ryan to the plate. The center field laced a potentially game-tying shot down the right field line, but it was just foul, and he then grounded out to the pitcher to end the game.

Tech starter Adam Redd (Dumfries, Va.) struck out seven Wake batters in 6.1 innings, but also allowed seven runs on seven hits to take the loss and fall to 3-6. Wake starter Ben Hunter went 6.2 innings for the win, striking out eight on five hits while allowing just two runs. O'Brien, Schaeffer and Sosnoskie led the Hokies with two hits apiece, while Ben Terry, Dustin Hood and Andy Goff did the same for Wake.

Wake jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first behind two walks, two singles and a home run off of Redd. After walking Terry and Hood to lead off the game, Redd retired the next two batters via strikeout. Tyler Smith followed with an infield single to load the bases before Michael Murray delivered a base hit of his own to plate both Terry and Wood. Andy Goff furthered the damage during the next at-bat with a three-run homer, his second of the season.

The Hokies got on the scoreboard in their half of the first with an RBI single by Sosnoskie. After seniors Thomas and Schaeffer drew back-to-back walks, the freshman designated hitter blooped a base knock to center to score Thomas for Tech's first run of the contest.

The Demon Deacons answered back in the top of the second to make it 6-1. After Terry reached on an infield single to start the inning, he moved all the way to third on a pair of wild pitches by Redd during Hood's at-bat. Hood capitalized, immediately stroking a single to bring home Terry.

Tech plated its second run of the game in the third to pull within four. After O'Brien led off with a double to right-center, Parks sent him to third with a sacrifice bunt. O'Brien was then able to race home on a ground out to short by Thomas.

Wake pushed the lead back to five in the top of the fifth after Hood led off with his second single of the game. He then moved station-to-station on an Allan Dykstra walk, a Willy Fox hit-by-pitch and a Smith double-play ball to make it 7-2.

The Deacs added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh. After Murray reached on a throwing error by Tech reliever Josh Canova (Vienna, Va.), he moved to second when Evan Ocheltree was hit by a pitch. Nathan Frazier came on to pinch run for Murray, and Austin Jones promptly brought him in with an RBI single. Ocheltree made his way to third on a Terry base hit, and advanced home when Hood grounded into fielder's choice.