Wake Forest Sweeps Duke In Sunday Double Header To Win Series

Sunday, March 29

Durham, N.C.

1:00 PM

Duke University

Wake Forest (Game One of DH)

Wake Forest Sweeps Duke In Sunday Double Header To Win Series

3/29/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? Wake Forest rebounded from a series-opening loss on Saturday to take both games of a double header against Duke, 4-2 and 12-8, to win the three-game series on Sunday evening at Jack Coombs Field.

Wake Forest (13-11, 3-9 ACC) overcame early deficits in each game, negating Duke's 1-0 lead in game one and the Blue Devils' 4-0 lead in game two. Wake Forest's bullpen gave up just two runs over five-plus innings on the day and got a pair of two-inning saves from Austin Stadler in game one and Zach White in game two.

Stadler also homered in game two for one of Wake Forest's three home runs on the day. Center fielder Steven Brooks broke open a 1-1 ballgame with a two-run homer in game one, and left fielder Weldon Woodall mashed a tie-breaking three-run shot in game two.

Duke first baseman Nate Freiman mashed a career-high three home runs in game two on the way to driving in five runs in a 4-for-4 performance, but his effort was not enough to outpace Wake Forest's offensive explosion. Freiman's three long balls marked the fourth time this season and the 11th time in his career that Freiman, a 6-8, 250 pound senior, tagged at least two home runs in a game. The offensive explosion brought his season home run total to nine and his career total to 32, making Freiman only the fifth Blue Devil in school history to reach the 30-home run mark.

After getting no-hit for the first five innings by Christopher Manno in game one on Saturday, Wake Forest hammered a combined 25 hits on Sunday, knocking 13 in game one and 11 in game two. Woodall and first baseman Tyler Smith each had four of those on the day, while Shane Kroker and Mike Murray finished with three apiece.

Wake Forest's game one starter Phil Negus (2-2) held Duke to one unearned run over seven complete innings before Stadler finished out the final two innings to lock up the save. Duke (17-9, 6-6 ACC) knocked Wake Forest's game two starter Garrett Bullock around for seven runs ? six earned ? in 5.1 innings, but managed just three hits off the relief duo of Ryan McGrath and Zach White.

Duke game one starter Andrew Wolcott (4-1) took his first loss of the season after surrendering three earned runs over five complete innings. Wolcott gave up 10 hits, but stranded eight base runners while striking out four. Wolcott, who extended a streak of 18 straight starts of at least five innings, saw his ERA rise to 1.79, which is still the lowest on Duke's pitching staff.

Game One: Negus Shuts Down Duke In 4-2 Wake Forest Win

Starting pitcher Phil Negus held Duke to four hits and one unearned run over seven complete innings to lead Wake Forest to a 4-2 win in the opening game on Saturday.

Negus (2-2) threw 107 pitches in the win and stranded eight Blue Devils on base, including seven in scoring position. Reliever Austin Stadler took over for the final two innings and scattered three hits and a run to notch his second save of the season.

The only run Duke scored after the first inning came on a solo home run by shortstop Jake Lemmerman in the bottom of the eighth inning. The long ball left the park in straight-away center field and was the first of the season for Lemmerman and one of seven Duke hits in the game. Catcher Matt Williams was the only Blue Devil with multiple knocks, going 2-for-5 with a pair of singles.

Wake Forest, however, had five hitters with two hits, including leadoff man Steven Brooks, who ripped a solo home run, scored twice and stole a base. Ten of those knocks came off Duke starter Andrew Wolcott (4-1) who suffered his first loss of the season after giving up three earned runs in five innings. Reliever Michael Ness took over for Wolcott and pitched the final four innings, holding Wake Forest to three hits and one run for the remainder of the game.

Negus struggled with his control in the first inning and let Duke's first three batters reach base, two on walks to Hassan and Freiman and the other on a single from Williams. But despite having the bases loaded and no outs, Duke came away with just one run in the inning. The lone run scored on a fielding error by Negus, who got an infield popup out of Lemmerman with the bases still loaded, but had the ball kick off the heel of his glove and roll down the first base line. Hassan, who was on third base when Lemmerman popped up, immediately took off for the plate after Negus dropped the ball and cruised in to give Duke a 1-0 lead.

Wolcott ran into some trouble of his own in the top of the second, but escaped unharmed after giving up leadoff hits in the inning. Wolcott had runners on second and third with no outs following a leadoff single by Tyler Smith and an ensuing double by Carlos Lopez, but Wolcott struck out the next two batters and forced a foulout to his catcher to end the threat.

The Demon Deacons continued to hit Wolcott and loaded the bases with one out in the third, but came away with just one run thanks to a run-saving catch in the outfield by Piwnica-Worms. With the bases juiced following a single from Murray and a hit batter, Smith stepped into the box and ripped a high fly ball to the gap in left-center field. Piwnica-Worms tracked it all the way from center field, however, and took off in a dead sprint to the gap where he laid out parallel to the ground to catch the ball and rob Smith of extra bases. Kroker would score on the sacrifice fly after opening the inning with a single, but it would be Wake Forest's only run of the inning after Wolcott induced an infield fly to end the inning.

Duke put two different runners on third base in the bottom of the third, but once again came away empty-handed to keep the game tied at 1-1. Williams and Gould both singled in the inning, but Williams was thrown out at the plate after trying to score from third on a ground ball to the left side by Lemmerman. Lemmerman's ground ball came with one out and runners at the corners, but Lopez fielded it and got it to the plate just in time to keep Williams from scoring the go-ahead run. Negus then gave Sherlock a free pass to first base with a base-loading walk, but stranded all three runners after Saade mashed a fly ball to deep center field where Brooks made an overhead catch on the warning track for the third out.

Wake Forest's hits finally turned into runs in the top of the fourth when the Deacs scored twice to go ahead 3-1. Ocheltree opened the inning with a triple to deep right field and just beat a throw to the plate on a sacrifice fly from nine-hitter Austin Stadler to put Wake Forest ahead for the first time in the series. Brooks then followed with a solo homer that stayed just inside the left field foul pole to put his team up 3-1 before Wolcott sat down two straight to end the rally.

McCurdy responded by knocking a one-out double to start the bottom of the fourth for Duke, but Negus immediately killed the rally by getting Hassan to fly out to center and getting Williams to chase a 1-2 breaking ball off the plate. Wolcott came back out in the top of the fifth and surrendered two singles to the Demon Deacons, but got out of the inning unharmed to keep the score at 3-1.

The fifth would be Wolcott's last inning, as Ness took over in his place to start the sixth. The first batter he faced was Stadler, who ripped a hard-hit line drive to the left side that Lemmerman snagged with an outstretched arm for the first out. Lemmerman's play not only robbed Stadler of a base hit, but saved a run as the Demon Deacons would follow with two singles. Wake Forest got one run out of the inning, however, thanks to a two-out base hit through the left side by Dustin Hood that scored Brooks after he opened the rally with a single and a stolen base.

Negus, meanwhile, had put together five straight shutout innings after giving up the unearned run in the first inning. He sat down eight straight Duke batters from the fourth through sixth inning and allowed just four hits to that point in the game.

Duke turned its ACC-leading 24th double play of the season in the top of the seventh to negate a one-out double by Smith, which was his second hit of the game. With Smith on second after his two-bagger down the left field line, Lopez ripped a line drive right at Lemmerman, who caught it and then immediately fired to second base where Saade got to the bag just in time receive the ball for the second out. It was the second double play of the series for Duke.

Negus came out again in the seventh with a pitch count over 90 and sat down three of Duke's next four hitters to keep Wake Forest ahead 4-1. Negus used 14 more pitches in the inning to bring his pitch count to 107, but was allowed to take the mound again the eighth inning, but only briefly as Stadler took over just after Negus completed his warm-ups.

Negus, who held to Duke just one hit over nearly three innings in relief in game one, started out the inning the same way by forcing Gould to ground out for the first out. His next pitch, however, was drilled into the batter's eye in deep center field by Lemmerman, who homered for the first time this season. Lemmerman's long ball gave Duke a 4-2 lead and was the first of three hits in the inning by Duke. Despite ensuing singles by pinch hitter Trevor Cesar and Saade, however, Stadler was able to get two clutch outs to strand both runners in scoring position.

Lemmerman's home run would be the last run of the game for Duke, however, as Stadler shut the door with a three-up, three-down ninth inning. The two-inning save was the second of the season for Stadler, who held Duke to one run over 4.2 innings in his two appearances of the series.

Game Two: Freiman's Three Homers Not Enough To Outscore Deacs

Wake Forest overcame an early four-run deficit, thanks to a pair of three-RBI outings from Weldon Woodall and Tyler Smith, to win game three 12-8 and lock up the series win.

Woodall mashed a three-run homer and a double in a 3-for-4 outing, while Smith accounted for four total runs with his two hits. Evan Ocheltree and Austin Stadler also sent in two runs each with Stadler driving in both of his with a two-run homer in the seventh inning.

Duke first baseman Nate Freiman homered three times and went 4-for-4 with five RBI to provide the bulk of Duke's run production. Three-hitter Jeremy Gould also logged two hits, an RBI and a pair of runs, while second baseman Gabriel Saade drove in Duke's other RBI with a double.

Duke jumped on Wake Forest starter Garrett Bullock early and scored four runs in the first inning before Wake Forest could record an out. Duke's top four hitters tagged four of Bullock's first six pitches for hits, including Gould, who drove in a run with a single, and Freiman, who crushed a three-run homer to right field that put Duke on top 4-0. The long ball was the seventh of the season for Freiman and the 30th of his career, moving him into sole possession of fifth place on Duke's all-time home run list.

Wake Forest got back one of those runs in the top of the second on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to 4-1. Weldon Woodall doubled to the warning track in right field with one out to open the rally and was soon pushed over to third on a groundout by Tyler Smith to first base. The groundout gave Duke two outs in the inning, but Knott gave Woodall a free pass to the plate with a pitch that was off the plate and well out of the reach of Williams, who dove for the ball but could not keep it from rolling to the backstop. Knott would bounce back, however, striking out Lopez with a 2-2 two-seam fastball that cut back across the outside edge of the plate for a called strike three.

Knott came back out in the third and picked up his third strikeout to open his second 1-2-3 inning of the game. Knott got Evan Ocheltree looking with a 1-2 breaking ball that started on the outside part of the plate against the left-handed hitting Ocheltree, but broke back into the strike zone the sophomore right-hander's second straight called strikeout.

Freiman mashed his second home run of the game in the bottom of the third to regain a four-run Duke lead at 5-1. Freiman's second bomb was another opposite field shot that sailed just under the scoreboard in right field at Jack Coombs Field. The solo homer gave Freiman four of Duke's first five RBI in the game along with his fourth multi-home run game of the season.

While the Blue Devils got four of their runs on two swings of the bat from Freiman, the Demon Deacons strung together four hits, a hit batter and a Duke error to put up four runs in the fourth and tie the game at 5-5. All four runs scored with two outs on the board as part of a rally that started with a leadoff single by Shane Kroker. Kroker was soon joined on the base paths by Mike Murray, who slapped another single to right field. Knott bounced back to strike out Woodall for the second out, but gave up an RBI single to Smith for the first run and then hit Carlos Lopez to load the bases. Ocheltree then slapped another base knock back up the middle to score two runs before the Blue Devils gave away another run with a throwing error on a ground ball to the right side. With runners at first and second after Ocheltree's two-run single, Austin Stadler pulled a ground ball between Freiman and Saade on the right side that both Blue Devil infielders went for. Saade came up with it, but was forced to throw on the run to Knott, who was hustling over to an unoccupied first base. The throw was wide of Knott and hit Stadler just before he crossed first base, but still gave Lopez enough time to score unearned from second base and tie the score at 5-5.

The four-run fourth inning signaled the end of the game for Knott, who handed the 5-5 tie over to Pfisterer at the start of the fifth. Pfisterer pitched well enough to get out of the inning without a run, but the Blue Devils committed a fielding error on a potential inning-ending double play to set up runners at the corners with one out for Woodall, who drove them all in with a three-run homer to left field. The long ball was the fifth of the season for Woodall, who put Wake Forest ahead 8-5 with the shot.

Wake Forest would return the favor, however, committing an error on a double play that would have ended the inning, but instead allowed Gould to score from second base after he reached base with a one-out single. He was soon moved over to second when Freiman was hit by a pitch, setting the table for Lemmerman, who slapped a ground ball to the left of the pitcher's mound toward second base. Kroker got to the ball, but had it bounce off the heel of his glove into center field for an error that allowed Gould score from second base. Freiman went from first to third on the play, but Lemmerman, who never slowed down after touching first base, was thrown out at second base by second baseman Dustin Hood, who fielded the ball in the outfield. That out turned out to be crucial, as Bullock got Trevor Cesar to ground out to strand Freiman on third.

The Demon Deacons got that run back and added one more in the top of the sixth on a two-run home run by nine-hitter Austin Stadler that put Wake Forest ahead 10-6. Stadler's knock sent in Ocheltree, who reached on an error to lead off the inning.

Duke mounted a rally in the bottom of the sixth and cut the deficit to 10-7 on an RBI double by Saade. Saade's double banged off the wall in the left field power alley and sent in Piwnica-Worms from first base after the Duke outfielder reached with a base hit to right field. Wake Forest would change pitchers after Saade's double, however, and brought in McGrath to cut down Duke's rally. McGrath came in to face Hassan and walked him on four pitches, but followed by rolling a double play ground ball to end the threat and keep Wake Forest ahead 10-7.

McGrath could not cool down Freiman's bat, however, as the senior first baseman opened the seventh inning with his career-high third home run of the game. After going the other way with his previous two long balls, Freiman pulled the first pitch he saw well over the left field fence to cut into Wake Forest's lead and put Duke within two runs at 10-8.

After putting Will Currier on the mound to throw a scoreless seventh inning, Duke changed pitchers again and brought in left-hander Joe Pedevillano to throw in the top of the eighth. Pedevillano made quick work of the Deacs in his first inning, striking out Ocheltree to start a 1-2-3 inning.

With the Wake Forest offense finally halted, Duke had just six outs left to overcome the 10-8 deficit. Piwnica-Worms opened the eighth inning as if Duke was about to do so, mashing a double over the head of Woodall in left field. Following the double, however, Wake Forest brought White to shut down the rally. White did his job by getting three quick outs against Duke's nine through two hitters to end the threat and keep his team on top 10-8.

Pedevillano stayed on to start the ninth, but opened by giving up a bunt single and hitting Murray to put two men on with one out. That cued Duke to bring in Hassan from right field to get out of the jam, but Hassan walked the first batter he faced to load the bases and then gave up a two-run single to Smith that left runners on the corners with one out. Hassan bounced back to strike out the next two batters and end the inning, but the damage had already been done with Smith's two-run single that put Wake Forest back on top 12-8.

Down to their final three outs, the Blue Devils had the heart of the order coming to the plate against White. White gave up a one-out single to Freiman for his fourth hit of the game, but shut the door on Duke's last two batters to lock up the win and the series for Wake Forest.

Duke will play a pair of in-state foes during the week with a 7 p.m. contest against N.C. Central on Tuesday, March 31, at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and a 7 p.m. home meeting against Elon at Jack Coombs Field. The Blue Devils will then head to Clemson, S.C., for their third ACC road trip of the season.

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