WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest Demon Deacons scored the game's first seven runs en route to a 9-3 win over the VMI Keydets, in non-conference baseball action Wednesday at Wake Forest Baseball Park. The game was a late scheduled contest due to weather forcing the cancellation of both teams' originally scheduled games.
After Wake (9-4) took the early 1-0 lead in the first, the first two Demon Deacons reached in the third against VMI (7-4) starter Campbell Henkel. Charlie Morgan struck out, but WF then executed a double steal to put runners at second and third. Matt Conway struck out, but Will Craig won a double-digit pitch battle with Henkel by lacing a two-out, two-run double down the left field line to make it 3-0. Wake would add another run later in the inning, two in the fifth and one in the sixth to break the game open and go on to the victory in the first meeting between the teams since 1994.
Offensively, Evan Stephens led Wake with a 4 for 4, three runs batted in and two runs scored night, while Cameron Walter paced the Keydets with two doubles in three at-bats. On the mound, Henkel dropped to 1-1 by taking the loss after giving up four runs, all earned, in three innings, while Connor Johnstone faced the minimum over five innings, allowing just one hit and striking out four to get his first career win.
After the home team took its 4-0 lead, it added on in the fifth when Conway hit a two-run home run off Taylor Edens, the first earned runs Edens had surrendered all season. Stephens had an RBI single in the fifth to make it 7-0, but VMI rallied in the eighth.
Thomas Stallings led off with a walk and Eric Mayers followed with a RBI double to left center to put VMI on the board. Walter then doubled home Mayers for a second run and Will Malbon had a sacrifice fly to cut the Wake lead to 7-3 headed to the bottom of the eighth, but the Demon Deacons answered immediately. The first two hitters reached against Jason Stafford, and they would score later in the frame on a two-run single by Stephens that accounted for the final margin, 9-3.
In the loss, Brandon Angus extended his hitting streak to nine straight games with a seventh-inning double, but Jordan Tarsovich's 10-game run came to an end with a 0 for 3 night. VMI is now 2-2 against ACC opponents this season.
VMI baseball will return to action Saturday, opening a three-game series with a doubleheader against Binghamton at Gray-Minor Stadium. First pitch for game 1 is set for 1 p.m. The previously scheduled Friday game has been cancelled.
