WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Virginia Tech baseball team scored eight runs early, but needed to stave off a late Wake Forest comeback attempt to salvage a one win in the third game of the Hokies' ACC series at David Couch Ballpark Sunday afternoon.
Holding a 10-4 lead entering the bottom of the eighth, the Demon Deacons sent 10 to the plate, Tech used six pitchers, there were two plays reviewed by umpires, one Hokie error and despite not registering a hit, Wake Forest scored four runs.
The last of Tech's pitchers in the inning, Jaison Heard came into a bases-loaded, two-out situation and ended the threat with a grounder to short. Despite allowing a solo home run in the ninth, he struck out two in the inning to pick up his first save for the Hokies. Chris Gerard, who started the game for Tech and went 5.0, allowed three earned runs and struck out three, improved to 3-0 with the win.
Scoreless through two, Tech broke the game open in the third when they sent nine Hokies to the plate and scored five of them. With one out, Jack Owens and Nick Biddison drew back-to-back walks and Carson Taylor knocked in the game's first run with a double.
Luke Horanski followed with his own double, scoring a pair, and then crossed the plate himself on Kerry Carpenter's team-high tying eighth home run of the season that made it 5-0.
The Hokies put another crooked number on the board in the fourth, a frame started by Dalton Harum's fourth home run of the season. Horanski and Carpenter each added an RBI single – scoring Biddison and Taylor, respectively – to increase the team's lead to eight.
Wake Forest (18-15, 7-8 ACC) scored its first runs of the game in the home half of the fourth. An error on a failed pickoff attempt allowed one to cross the plate and a sacrifice fly brought the other home.
The Deacons pulled to within 8-3 on DJ Poteet's solo home run that led off the fifth, but the team's traded single-run innings in the sixth.
Nick Biddison's fourth home run of the year, a solo shot, in the seventh pushed Tech's lead back to six at 10-4 before the wild eighth transpired.
Up Next
Tech (18-14, 5-10 ACC) is busy this upcoming week, playing two midweek games before heading back to the Tar Heel state next weekend. The Hokies host Marshall on Tuesday and play at ETSU on Wednesday. First pitch for both games is 6 p.m. On Friday, Tech opens a three-game ACC series in Durham against Duke.