Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Valparaiso wrapped up a two-game series on Wednesday afternoon at Wake Forest, dropping a 3-0 decision to the Demon Deacons at Wake Forest Baseball Park in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The Crusaders managed eight hits on the afternoon, but only Tanner Vavra (Menomonie, Wis./Menomonie H.S.) registered more than one on the afternoon, finishing the day 2-for-4.

“Today was the true definition of scattered hits,” head coach Tracy Woodson said.  “We had some base runners but we couldn’t put the hits together.”

Wake Forest (11-4) jumped on top in the second inning, as James Harris homered with two outs.  Conor Keniry added a sacrifice fly in the third to increase the Demon Deacons advantage to 2-0.  A two-out error in the eighth led to Wake Forest’s third run, an unearned tally.

Valpo’s lone threat came in the eighth as Billy Cribbs (Rochester, Mich./Rochester H.S.) led off with a double and moved to third  with two outs when Steven Scoby (Delton, Mich./Delton Kellogg H.S.) reached on an error, but the Crusaders could not deliver the big hit to tie the game at that point.

Kyle Wormington (Norman, Okla./North H.S.) started and was solid in his start, allowing just two runs on seven hits in seven innings of work but suffered the loss (0-2).  He struck out four while walking three.  Jarad Miller (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll H.S.) worked the final two innings, allowing just the one unearned run.

“Worm was good for us today,” Woodson added.  “He did a good job of keeping them off balance.”

Nate Jones earned the win (1-0) for the Demon Deacons, pitching six innings of scoreless baseball, allowing just five hits and striking out one.

Valparaiso (4-7) will head to Buies Creek, N.C. on Friday afternoon to begin a three-game weekend series against Campbell.  First pitch is slated for 2 p.m. CST.