The Virginia baseball team overcame a six-run deficit to beat Wake Forest Saturday but could not muster enough offense to recover from a middle-inning explosion by the Demon Deacons yesterday, as Wake grabbed a 13-5 victory to win the three-game series at the U.Va. Baseball Field.
Virginia (13-14-1, 2-4 ACC) dropped Friday's series opener 4-0 and came back to win 10-9 Saturday against the No. 22 Deacs (20-9, 5-4).
In yesterday's loss, the Cavaliers did not throw the ball well, both on the mound and in the field. Virginia righthander Kevin Shrout allowed nine runs in six innings, but only five were earned on a day the Cav defense committed five errors.
"The errors kind of set the tone of the game for us," Virginia coach Dennis Womack said. "Shrout made some mistakes pitching and when he did, they hit the baseball hard. But we also didn't help him at all defensively."
Already leading 2-0 in the fifth, the Deacs scored four times on a pair of Cavalier errors and a two-run home run by designated hitter Danny Borrell to open up a 6-0 lead.
"Our best players were throwing the ball away and we needed a close ballgame," Womack said. "You have to start with pitching and defense. You don't start with offense."
The Cavs got on the board in the bottom of the fifth on a Ben Himes solo homer, but Wake Forest catcher Dan Conway and shortstop Chase Voshell added their names to the list of Demon Deacon home-run hitters in the sixth inning, widening the lead to 9-1.
"I just didn't pitch well enough in the middle innings to get the win," Shrout said. "Overall we just didn't pitch good enough or play defense good enough to win the game."
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The Cavaliers mounted one final attempt at a comeback in the bottom of the eighth, loading the bases twice during the inning. Catcher Mark Rueffert smacked a one-out, bases-loaded RBI single, prompting Wake coach George Greer to call for righthander David Bush.
The Cavs got two more runs on a fielder's choice by center fielder Michael Floyd and an RBI single by left fielder David Stone. But slugger Jon Benick grounded out to end the inning, leaving the bases full.
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