#ACCBase Championship: Virginia Powers Past Wake Forest
Wilson fans 12 Deacons, nine Cavalier hits earn extra bases.
Virginia's Tyler Wilson

Virginia's Tyler Wilson

May 25, 2011

DURHAM, N.C. - The Virginia Cavaliers powered past Wake Forest 13-1 in the 2011 ACC Baseball Championship's second game, which was called after six-and-one-half innings because of the league's tournament 10-run rule.

Virginia (46-9) came into the tournament on a rare three-game losing streak after being swept last weekend at North Carolina. Virginia pitcher Tyler Wilson said it was important to "just flush it. Hit reset."

Wilson made that easy. Accurately locating a variety of pitches, Wilson allowed only two hits in 6.1 innings, striking out 12 Deacons in running his record to 7-0. Wilson made one mistake, hanging a slider in the second inning that Wake Forest left fielder Mac Williamson deposited over the left-field wall. Williamson's 12th home run tied the game, after John Barr had given Virginia a 1-0 lead in the first with a sacrifice fly.

It was a brief respite for Wake Forest (25-29). Virginia struck for three unearned runs in the bottom of the second. An infield single by Kenny Swab, an error on Wake Forest shortstop Pat Blair and a walk loaded the bases for Chris Taylor. The Virginia shortstop ripped a double to the left-field wall, clearing the bases and putting Virginia up 4-1.


 

 

Virginia--the tournament's top seed--scored twice more in the third. With one out, third baseman Steven Proscia tripled. He scored on a double by Jared King, who advanced to third on a single by Swab and scored on a sacrifice fly by David Coleman.

Trailing 6-1 after three innings, Wake Forest was unable to mount a comeback against Wilson. Williamson conceded that the Virginia right-hander was in complete control. "He used his fastball to get ahead, then a really tight slider. He was hitting his spots really well."

Wilson agreed. "When you have command and control of your offspeed stuff, it's going to be a good day."

Virginia knocked out Wake Forest starter Brian Holmes (3-4) in the fifth inning, scoring three more runs. Doubles by Proscia and King made the score 7-1, a bloop single by Reed Gragnani made it 8-1 and John Barr was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, putting Virginia up 9-1.

The last four runs came in the sixth. Proscia led off with his sixth home run of the season. The eleventh run scored on a bases-loaded double play, the last two on an RBI double by Keith Werman and a Barr single.

Proscia ended with a double, triple and home run, while Taylor added three doubles. Taylor and Barr each drove in three runs, as Virginia pounded out 15 hits against five Wake Forest pitchers.

Both teams are off tomorrow, before resuming play Friday.

GAME NOTES

Pregame
Wake Forest is making its first appearance in the ACC Tournament since 2008 ... the Deacons have won eight of their last nine ACC games and ended the season with a 15-15 league mark, marking the first time since 2006 that they have finished .500 or better in the ACC ... Virginia is the tournament's top seed for the third time (1985, 2010) ... the Cavaliers have won two ACC Tournament titles (1996, 2009), with both tournaments played at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park ... the two teams did not play one another during the 2011 regular season.

Game Notes
Virginia 1B Jared King tied an ACC Tournament single-game record with three doubles; the Radford, Va., junior is the fifth player to have three two-b aggers in an ACC Tournament game ... in all, Virginia totaled seven doubles, one shy of the ACC Tournament record of eight set by Clemson in a 12-to-1 win over NC State in the 2004 tournament ... four Cavaliers - Chris Taylor, Steven Proscia, Jared King, Kenny Swab - had three hits in Virginia's 15-hit attack.

Virginia
SS Chris Taylor was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three RBIs, marking his third game this season with three-or-more RBIs and his fourth three-hit game ... Steven Proscia's third-inning triple off of the left field wall was the first triple of the season for the junior 3B; Proscia had his fourth three-hit game of the season, finishing the afternoon with a single, double and a triple, raising his average from .326 to .333 ... LF John Barr extended his hitting streak to five straight games with a 1-for-3 effort ... Tyler Wilson raised his record to 7-0 on the season while striking out a career-high 12

Wake Forest
Mac Williamson's third inning home run was his third in the last three games; Williamson leads the team and is now second in the ACC with 12 homeruns.