Wake Forest Rallies to Defeat Elon Baseball

ELON, N.C. – The visiting Wake Forest Demon Deacons scored three runs in their final three at bats to rally to down the Elon University baseball team by a 4-3 margin at Latham Park on Tuesday night.

For Elon (9-15), Nick Zammarelli went 2-for-4 with a double and one RBI.

Will Craig hit his ninth home run in a 2-for-4 day, while Gavin Sheets scored twice for Wake Forest (17-10).

The loss went to Jordan Barrett (0-3) who gave up two runs on two hits in 1.1 innings out of the Phoenix bullpen.

Chris Farish (1-1) picked up the victory with 0.2 scoreless innings. Farish was one of 10 pitchers used by the Deacs. Donnie Sellers tossed the ninth and allowed one run to pick up his third save of the year.

How It Happened: Elon took a 2-0 lead in the last of the second when, with runners on second and third, Ryne Ogren grounded a ball to short, but the throw to first was wild and both runners scored. Wake Forest got one back in the third when Jonathan Pryor grounded in to a double play with the bases loaded.

It remained a 2-1 contest until the seventh when the Deacons scored twice without a hit. Three of the first four hitters reached on walks to load the bases with one out. Joey Rodriguez then lifted a sacrifice fly to center, allowing the tying run to score and the runner on second to advance to third. A wild pitch then allowed the go-ahead run to race home.

Wake Forest upped its edge to 4-2 in the eighth when Craig homered to lead off the inning.

Elon threatened in the ninth as CJ Young drew a leadoff walk, went to second on a ground out and to third on a two-out wild pitch. Zammarelli then drove him home with a double to center. Brett Guba then drove the first pitch he saw from Sellers deep to center, but it was hauled in to end the game.

Notes: Kory Shumate’s hitting streak ended at a career-best 10 games… The teams combined to use 16 pitchers… Elon turned two double plays, giving the Phoenix 23 on the season.

On Deck: Elon will remain at home to take on CAA rival College of Charleston in a three-game series this weekend. The set begins on Friday, April 1, with a 6:30 p.m. contest.