University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Wake Forest (ACC Tournament)
Baseball Falls to Wake Forest in ACC Tournament, 11-8
May 17, 2001 | Baseball
May 17, 2001
FORT MILL, S.C. - North Carolina fell 11-8 to Wake Forest Wednesday evening in the first round of the ACC Baseball Tournament at Knights Stadium in Fort Mill, S.C. The Tar Heels, who have now lost eight straight to the Demon Deacons, fall into the loser's bracket of the Tournament and will face second-seeded Clemson in an elimination game on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. The Tigers were upset by Virginia on Wednesday.
With UNC starter Ralph Roberts struggling with his control early, Wake Forest jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning. Roberts issued three consecutive two-out walks and Corey Slavik ripped a two-run single to push the Deacons in front early. Roberts lasted just 1.2 innings before Daniel Moore came on to get the final out of the second.
Moore held the explosive Wake Forest offense in check as the Tar Heels worked their way back into the game. Adam Greenberg drove in a Carolina run in the third with a sacrifice fly and, trailing 5-1 entering the fourth, Carolina evened the score with a wild top half of the fourth. Wake Forest ace Cory Sullivan lost his control and issued four two-out walks and Brandon Russell added a two-run single as UNC evened the score 5-5.
UNC scored again in the fifth and briefly took the lead, 7-6, with one run in the sixth, but Wake Forest's three-run bottom of the sixth made the score 9-7 and Wake would hold on for the final margin. In the sixth, Corey Slavik's solo homer deep over the wall in right field tied the game 7-7, and an RBI triple by Matt Price and then an ensuing throwing error by Russ Adams which sent Price home on the play gave the Demon Deacons the two-run lead. Price got his triple after Brandon Russell slipped while trying to field the fly ball in right.
Adam Greenberg had a solo homer in the seventh for UNC's final run, while Sullivan made up for his woes on the mound with a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to finish the scoring.
Daniel Moore allowed seven runs on 10 hits to drop to 5-5, while Josh Bartlett pitched three innings out of the bullpen for the win. Dave Bush shut down the Tar Heels over the final 2.1 scoreless innings for his 14th save.
Wednesday's wild first-round game featured a combined 15 walks, five errors and just three of Carolina's eight runs were earned.
