Feb. 29, 2008

The Wake Forest baseball team is in Dothan, Ala. this weekend for the Eighth Annual Screentech Wiregrass Classic. Hosted by Troy University, the tournament features the Deacons and the Trojans along with Penn State and Kennesaw State.

The tournament is hosted at Northcutt Field in Dothan.

Wake Forest opens play against Kennesaw State Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. EST. The Owls are 4-3 on the season and are coming off a 10-2 win over Stetson on Thursday. KSU took two of three games in a pair of three-game series with Stetson and Samford. Kennesaw moved to Division I in 2005 and posted a 32-23 record last year while playing in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The Deacons are expected to lead with their ace, senior right-hander Ben Hunter (0-1, 5.40). Hunter took the loss in Wake Forest's season-opener at Pepperdine on Feb. 23 but pitched well, striking out five in five innings of work. The Academic All-America candidate was 8-6 last year with 79 strikeouts in 77.1 innings.

Wake's offense is led by junior Allan Dykstra who is hitting .538 through the first four games of the year. He hit a pair of home runs against Appalachian State on Wednesday.

Wake Forest will play a doubleheader against Troy on Saturday with the first game scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. EST start. Head coach Rick Rembielak plans to sent Garrett Bullock (0-0, 10.80) in the first game with Charlie Mellies (0-1, 21.00).

Troy is 5-0 on the season with a win over Kennesaw State and a four-game sweep of Rhode Island. The Trojans have outscored their opponents 30-5.

The Deacons will finish tournament play against Penn State on Sunday in an 11:00 a.m. EST start. The Nittany Lions were 31-26 last year playing in the Big Ten.