May 25, 2007

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla.(AP)-Wake Forest outfielder Brett Linnenkohl singled past a drawn-in Clemson infield in the bottom of the ninth inning to score Dustin Hood with the winning run in the Demon Deacons 3-2 win over the Tigers Friday in the ACC Baseball Championships.

Wake Forest (32-26, 14-16) loaded the bases with no outs on Hood's single, an intentional walk to Allan Dykstra and Willy Fox reaching on a fielder's choice when Clemson tried to throw out Hood on Fox' sacrifice bunt attempt. Linnenkohl, a .307 hitter this season, then laced his single up the middle to bring home Hood with the winning run.

The win kept alive the Deacons' hopes of reaching Sunday's championship game but needs a Miami win over Florida State in the late game on Friday as well for the right combination of wins and losses on Saturday to reach their first finals appearance since 2001.

Wake Forest overcame a 2-0 Clemson lead by scoring single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. Dystra walked with the bases loaded in the seventh and Tyler Smith had an RBI single in the eighth before Linnenkohl delivered the game-winner in the ninth inning.

Clemson (37-21, 18-12) got its first run on an RBI-double from Doug Hogan in the fourth inning and pushed across another run the next inning on Wilson Boyd's sacrifice fly.

Wake Forest reliever Eric Niesen (6-5), who hurled the final 1 2/3 innings, was credited with the win. Stephen Clyne (5-2) closed out the eighth inning but allowed all four batters to reach base in the ninth took the loss.