Baseball Drops Series Opener To Wake Forest

April 1, 2011

RALEIGH, N.C. – Steven Brooks homered and drove in four runs and Carlos Lopez had three hits, including a double and a homer, and drove in two runs to lift Wake Forest past NC State 11-5 in the first game of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference baseball series at Doak Park at Dail Park.

The victory lifts the Demon Deacons to 10-15 overall and 4-6 in the ACC. The Wolfpack falls to 15-12 overall and 3-7 in the conference.

NC State got a double and a home run from Brett Williams, and Danny Canela homered and drove in three runs, but it was not enough for the Wolfpack.

NC State starter Cory Mazzoni (2-3), who came into the game with a sterling 2.59 ERA in six previous starts, proved himself mortal for the first time in 2011, allowing nine runs on nine hits in six innings of work. Mazzoni did tie his career high for strikeouts in a conference game with 10 and only walked one, but got the ball up in the strike zone enough times to allow three doubles and three home runs, accounting for eight of the nine runs he allowed. Mazzoni had given up just three home runs in 41 2/3 innings all season prior to Friday.

Wake Forest got a run off Mazzoni in the top of the second on a two-out double by Ryan Lloyd. The Wolfpack came back to take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning when Danny Canela hit a two-run home run to left, his second big fly of the season.

Wake Forest came right back to retake the lead in the top of the third on a two-run double into the left-field corner by Brooks. The Deacons made it 5-2 in the fourth on Brett Armour’s two-run homer to left. The Wolfpack got one run back in the bottom of the fourth on a one-out double by Brett Williams, a passed ball and an RBI groundout by Canela.

Brooks belted a one-out solo homer to left in the top of the fifth, and Lopez added a two-run shot later in the inning to give the Deacons an 8-3 lead. A wild pitch from Mazzoni got another run home for the Deacons in the sixth to give them a 9-3 lead.

Williams’ one-out solo homer and John Gianis’s two-out RBI double in the bottom of the sixth trimmed the lead to 9-5, but Wake Forest wasn’t finished. The Deacons added single runs in the top of the eighth and ninth. The run in the eighth came when Brooks reached base on catcher’s interference with the bases loaded. Charlie Morgan drove home a run in the top of the ninth with a single to left field.

Reliever Zach White (1-3) was the beneficiary of all that offense for Wake Forest. Starter Nate Jones was lifted after three innings and was not eligible for the win. White worked 2 1/3 innings of relief and allowed three runs on three hits. Justin Van Grouw, John McLeod and Michael Dimock combined to pitch 3 2/3 shutout innings of relief to close it out.

NC State and Wake Forest will play the second game of this three-game series on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and will be available on-line with videostreaming on GoPack.com's All-Access package. Live stats will be available on Gametracker. Just click the Gametracker icon on the baseball schedule page on GoPack.com.

As always, please visit GoPack.com regularly for full coverage of all NC State athletics news and events.

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Team Stats

Brett Williams

Matt Bergquist

John Gianis

Pratt Maynard

Players Mentioned

John Gianis