Demon Deacons Record 7-4 Win Against No. 6 Seed Virginia
Dykstra blasted a three-run home run to put the Deacons on the board first, a lead they never relinquished.
Wake Forest's Willy Fox

Wake Forest's Willy Fox

May 25, 2008

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Allan Dykstra slammed a three-run homer in the fourth inning to lead Wake Forest to a 7-4 victory over Virginia early Sunday morning in the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.

Virginia (38-20) will still advance to the ACC Championship title game in spite of the loss, facing top-seeded Miami at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Virginia, the sixth seed, finished 2-1 in Division B round-robin play -- the same record as second-seeded Florida State -- but is in the title game because the Cavaliers defeated FSU earlier in the tournament.

Wake Forest (25-31), which reached the ACC title game last year, got four runs in the fourth to break a scoreless tie, highlighted by Dykstra's 16th homer of the year. The Deacons added two runs in the fifth on Ben Terry's two-run singled, then another in the seventh when Terry hit a sacrifice fly to center.

Dykstra went 3-for-5, with two doubles.

Brad Kledzik (3-5) shut the Cavaliers out over the first five innings, allowing two hits and departed the game after a career-long outing of seven and third-thirds innings. He allowed seven hits in all, struck out four and walked two.

Matt Hammond pitched a perfect ninth inning for his first save.

Virginia scored three runs in the eighth, highlighted by David Coleman's RBI double.

Jeff Lorick (3-3) took the loss for the Cavaliers.

The game didn't end until 1:10 a.m. Sunday due to a rain delay in the previous game, which saw Florida State rally from behind for a 9-6 victory over North Carolina.

Photographs for any of the games played at this year's ACC Baseball Championship are available for purchase at www.theACC.com/photostore.

Game 12 Notes: Wake Forest 7, Virginia 4

• Wake Forest, which improves to 25-31 on the year with the victory, is now 6-6 in 12 all-time ACC Championship match-ups against Virginia.

• Virginia and Wake Forest last faced off in tournament competition on May 23, 2003, on day three of the 2003 ACC Championship. In that game, which pitted the sixth-seeded Cavaliers against the seventh-seeded Demon Deacons, Wake Forest prevailed 12-11.

• Wake Forest, which finishes the 2008 ACC Championship with a 1-2 overall record, has now won at least one game in three of the last four tournaments.

• Wake Forest starter Brad Kledzik made his second start and fourth overall appearance in tournament play, and recorded his longest career outing with 7.2 innings on the mound. Kledzik, who tossed 7.1 innings in a 3-2 Wake Forest win over Clemson in last year's tournament, has allowed 18 hits and six earned runs in 17.1 career innings of ACC Championship play.

• Allan Dykstra finished 3-for-5 against the Cavaliers, with a pair of doubles and a three-run home run. Dykstra, who leads the Demon Deacons and ranks third in the ACC with 16 home runs this season, is now tied for the tournament lead with 12 total bases this week.

• Dykstra now ranks third on Wake Forest's career home run list with 49. Wake Forest was 8-6 this season when Dykstra went deep.

• Virginia finished with three stolen bases against the Demon Deacons, extending its single-season school record to 132. The Cavaliers have stolen at least one base in 46 of 56 games this season.

• Wake Forest completed the game with 11 hits against the Cavaliers. The Demon Deacons last registered double-digit hits in an ACC Championship contest on May 27, 2005, when they hit safely 10 times in a 7-3 loss to Florida State. The last time Wake Forest bested 11 hits in a tournament game was on May 23, 2005, when they picked up 23 hits in a 33-run slugfest against Maryland.

-ACC-