Quote:WFU 140 000 000  5  5  1
FSU 001 060 00X  7  7  2

W - Chambers (1-0)  L - Ellis (4-3)  S - Chambliss (9)

Chambers' relief and Jernigan's slam lift the Noles
by Drew Hankin

Behind shortstop Ryne Jernigan's fifth inning grand slam, and stellar relief pitching from Brian Chambers, the Seminoles came from behind to defeat the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 7-5 in Friday's series opener at Dick Howser Stadium.  Chambers earned his first win of the season, allowing only one base runner in 4.2 innings on the mound for the Noles.  He replaced starter Barret Browning who had a rough time of it throwing to both the plate and second base.

Browning gave up five runs on four hits in just 3.1 innings of work, but only one of those runs was earned due to two costly errors on similar plays where he fielded the ball and threw wild to second base try to get a double play instead of going for the sure out at first.  Tyler Chambliss earned his ninth save of the season by striking out the side in the top of the ninth inning.

With the Demon Deacons holding a five-run lead after just two innings, the Seminoles finally got on the board in the bottom of the third when Jernigan lead off and was hit by a pitch, went to third on a single to left by center fielder Shane Robinson, and scored on a sacrifice fly by first baseman Ryne Malone.

Florida State had the bases loaded with two outs in the fourth inning, but third baseman Bryan Henry grounded out to end the threat.

With one out in the fifth, Malone was hit by a pitch, catcher Aaron Cheesman walked, and right fielder Jack Rye reached on an infield single over the pitcher's head to load the bases with just one out. Designated hitter Brant Peacher plated Malone and Cheesman with a single to left, before left fielder Gibbs Chapman reach on another infield single to load the bases again. After second baseman Tony Thomas Jr struck out on three straight pitches, Jernigan launched his grand slam to the scoreboard that put the Tribe ahead 7-5.

With the win, the Noles improved to 31-7 and 8-2 in the ACC.  Wake fell to 14-18 and 7-9 in conference play.  The Deacs are now 0-11 on the road this season.  Game two of the series is scheduled for 7:00 on Saturday, with Michael Hyde (6-2, 4.03 ERA)  on the hill for Florida State.


Section B Online Players of the Game:
Brian Chambers (W, 4.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K)
and
Ryne Jernigan (1-2, 2 R, 4 RBI, HR, BB, HBP)