University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Wake Forest
Wake Forest Rallies Past Baseball, 7-6
April 7, 2002 | Baseball
April 7, 2002
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - No. 7 Wake Forest rallied for six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to score a 7-6 ACC baseball win over No. 21 North Carolina on Sunday afternoon at Hooks Stadium. Ben Ingold drove in the game-winning runs with a two-run single in the eighth to clinch the series for Wake Forest and improve the Demon Deacons to 25-6, 8-3 in the ACC. Carolina falls to 22-11, 9-3 in the ACC.
Chris Maples homered in his first two at bats and finished 2-for-5 with four RBIs, while Russ Adams was 2-for-3 and scored twice to lead UNC at the plate. But Maples (0-2) took the loss for Carolina after walking one and allowing a two-run single to Ryan Johnson in the pivotal eighth inning. Dave Bush (4-1) pitched a scoreless 1.2 innings to seal the dramatic win for Wake.
"It's hard to think of the positives right now," said UNC head coach Mike Fox. "I give them a lot of credit for battling back, but you have to avoid big innings in every game, especially on the road. We didn't do that, and we got beat."
The Tar Heels jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first and chased Wake starter Tim Morley after just one out and 15 pitches. Morley hit Adam Greenberg, walked Russ Adams and Maples made him pay with a three-run homer to right field.
The Deacs went to their bullpen right away and got 5.2 stellar innings from Seth Hill. Hill struck out a career-high nine batters and gave up just three hits, but Maples connected on his second homer of the game and 14th of the season with a solo shot to left in the third for a 4-0 UNC lead.
Meanwhile, UNC starter Daniel Moore cruised through the first three innings, striking out six of the first 11 batters he faced, before Jamie D'Antona led off the fourth with his third home run of the series and 10th of the season.
Carolina widened the gap to 5-1 with a two-out, RBI single by Russ Adams in the seventh and Maples beat out a misplayed ball by D'Antona that would have ended the inning to score Adams from third for a 6-1 advantage.
Wake finally got to Moore in the eighth, and got six runs on four hits and a 7-6 lead before the inning was done. Moore allowed two singles and walked his first two batters of the game, including a bases-loaded free pass to Nick Blue to cut the UNC lead to four runs, before being relieved by Maples. A wild pitch by Maples cut the game to 6-3, Johnson's single made the game 6-5 and Ingold's two-out, two-run single off of Carter Harrell capped the scoring in the inning.
Carolina threatened in the ninth with Russ Adams connecting on a leadoff double, but Bush got Maples to line out to second and struck out Ryan Blake to end the game with Adams at third.
Carolina is back home this week for 6 p.m. games against Charlotte on Tuesday and vs. Davidson on Wednesday. The Tar Heels host top-ranked Clemson for three games next weekend at Boshamer Stadium.
