April 12, 2007

IN THE BATTERS BOX -- Wake Forest will look to keep its current five-game winning streak going with a three-game series against Clemson this weekend at Hooks Stadium. After dipping below the .500 mark last week, the Demon Deacons have won five straight to push their overall record to 20-16. Wake earned a sweep at Maryland last weekend to bring its ACC mark to 7-8. The Deacs are coming off a pair of mid-week wins. Wake Forest routed UNC Greensboro, 14-3, at home on Tuesday and then picked up a 4-3 win at No. 19 Coastal Carolina on Wednesday. Clemson comes in at 23-9 overall and 8-4 in ACC play. The Tigers have also won five straight and six of their last seven. Clemson did not play during the mid-week, as its Wednesday game against South Carolina was postponed due to rain.

CLEMSON INSIDER -- Clemson enters the weekend 23-9 overall and 8-4 in the ACC. The Tigers have won five straight and six of their last seven. CU did not play a mid-week game and is coming off a three-game sweep at Virginia Tech last weekend. Clemson is 5-4 on the road this season, including a 4-2 mark in ACC road contests. As a team, the Tigers are hitting .289 with 23 home runs. Brad Chalk leads the team with a .393 average. Marquez Smith has hit a team-leading six home runs, while Taylor Harbin is tops in the RBI column with 28. Harbin also leads the Tigers on the basepaths, stealing 10 bases in 12 attempts. CU has a team ERA of 3.28 in 285.2 innings pitched. Saturday's starter David Kopp has pitched the most innings, 50.2, and has a team-leading 39 strikeouts. Stephen Clyne is 4-0 with a 0.37 ERA in 15 relief appearances.

LAST MEETING -- Clemson took four games from Wake Forest in 2006. The Tigers swept the Demon Deacons May 18-20 in Clemson. CU then came back and defeated Wake in the first round of the ACC Tournament on May 24. In the 13-1 loss to the Tigers, Allan Dykstra accounted for the Deacs only run with his 15th home run of the season. Eric Niesen started the tournament game and took the loss, allowing six runs on five hits in 3.2 innings of work.

ON DECK -- The Deacs will play twice during the upcoming mid-week. Wake will travel to Triad-rival High Point on Tuesday. Coastal Carolina pays a visit to Hooks Stadium on Wednesday. The Chanticleers will be looking to avenge Wake's 4-3 win in Conway. Wake Forest will head north next weekend to face Boston College in a three-game set.

RANKINGS -- Wake Forest is unranked. Clemson is ranked in the top 15 of all four major polls. The Tigers are ranked No. 14 by Baseall America, No. 15 by USA Today/ESPN, No. 14 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 13 by the NCBWA.

MID-WEEK LEFTOVERS --
-The Demon Deacons earned two wins during the mid-week, routing UNC Greensboro, 14-3, at home on Tuesday and then picking up a 4-3 win at No. 19 Coastal Carolina on Wednesday. The pair of victories extended Wake Forest's winning streak to five games.
-Against UNCG, Wake pounded out 14 hits and held the Spartans to just one run over the final eight innings. Tyler Smith and Brett Linnenkohl both homered to lead the Deacons. Smith, who went 2-for-4 with career-highs of three RBIs and three runs scored, hit the game-tying two-run homer in the second inning. Linnenkohl hit a solo shot in the fourth. Evan Ocheltree scored a career-high four runs, and Andy Goff drove in three runs. Ben Terry scored three times and added two RBIs.
-The pitching staff led Wake Forest to 4-3 win at Coastal Carolina. Ben Hunter pitched five innings to earn a win in the first start of his Wake Forest career. Eric Niesen and Josh Ellis were almost untouchable at the back end of the bullpen. Niesen and Ellis combined to strike out six batters in 2.2 innings of work. Ellis picked up his sixth save of the year, stranding the tying run at third in the ninth inning.

HUNTER FROM  CLOSER TO STARTER -- Junior Ben Hunter made a solid debut as Wake Forest's newest starting pitcher. Making the first start of his Wake Forest career, Hunter earned the win by holding Coastal Carolina to two runs on six hits in five innings of work. Hunter earned All-American honors as the Demon Deacons' closer last season and came into 2007 as a Preseason All-American by multiple publications. However, Hunter's early struggles out of the bullpen thrusted him into the role of a starter. This is not new territory for Hunter, though, as he started 13 games as a freshman at Furman in 2005. He went 6-3 as a starter for the Paladins. His best outing came against Jacksonville State when Hunter pitched eight innings, allowing two unearned runs on five hits. He struck out eight and walked just one in the March 19 victory.

MURRAY & ROSAIA CATCHING ON -- After both played sparingly early in the season, senior Dan Rosaia and freshman Michael Murray have split the catching duties of late. Rosaia has been behind the plate in seven of Wake Forest's last eight ACC games, including each of the past six. Murray caught the last two mid-week games, while Rosaia served as the Deacons' designated hitter. Murray has started 10 straight games, seven as the DH and three as the catcher. Prior to that stretch, Murray had started just six of Wake's first 26 games. The catalyst for Murray's insertion into the lineup was his pinch hit single in the Deacons' March 25 game against NC State. Since that day, Murray has had a hit in nine of his last 11 games. He is batting .250 with one home run and five RBIs during the 11-game stretch. In Rosaia's last eight starts, he is hitting .276 (8-for-29) with a double and three RBIs. Rosaia has not committed an error in 35 chances during the stretch and is currently riding a four-game hitting streak.

CURRENT HITTING STREAKS -- Junior Andy Goff has Wake Forest's longest active hitting streak at six games. Goff began the streak April 3 at Elon, collecting one of just two Demon Deacon hits on the night. He had a hit in every game at Maryland last weekend, including his first home run of the season on Friday. Sophomore Allan Dykstra is currently riding a five-game hitting streak.

Player Statistics During Streak
Andy Goff (6) .429 (9-for-21), 4 R, HR, 9 RBI, .571 SLG, .519 OBP
Allan Dykstra (5) .300 (6-for-20), 4 R, 2B, HR, 8 RBI, 5 BB, .500 SLG, .423 OBP
Dustin Hood (4) .294 (5-for-17), 3 R, 1 RBI
Dan Rosaia (4) .333 (5-for-15), 2B, 2 RBI

MARYLAND LEFTOVERS --
-Wake Forest got some timely hitting and some strong outings on the mound to sweep Maryland in College Park. Wake earned its first ACC series sweep since taking three from Duke April 14-16, 2006, in Durham. Each game was close until the very end, as the Deacons had to stave off late Terrapin rallies.
-At the plate, Andy Goff and Ben Terry led the Deacs, each hitting .417 (5-for-12) on the weekend. Goff hit his first home run of the season on Friday, a three-run blast in the fourth inning that gave Wake Forest the lead. Terry went a perfect 4-for-4 on Friday. Allan Dykstra had seven RBIs in the series and hit his 13th home run of the season on Saturday. The two-run, ninth-inning blast gave the Demon Deacons an added cushion they would eventually need in the bottom of the inning.
-On the mound, each of Wake Forest's three starters earned victories. On Friday, Brad Kledzik settled down after giving up five runs in the first three innings. He shut down the Terps from then on, retiring 10 straight batters at one point. Garrett Bullock had the longest outing of his career on Saturday, pitching 7.2 innings in the win. Sunday saw Charlie Mellies make his much-anticipated return. Mellies pitched two scoreless innings and earned the win on a staff day.
-Closer Josh Ellis picked up two saves on the weekend. Ellis did not allow a run in either appearance, as he closed both Friday's and Saturday's games. Ellis did not give up a hit and surrendered just one walk to earn his fourth and fifth saves of the season.

MELLIES MAKES RETURN -- Fourth-year junior Charlie Mellies made his first appearance in over a year at Maryland on Sunday, April 8. Mellies was sidelined due to Tommy John surgery and went 386 days between appearances. He had the surgery on April 14, 2006, and had not pitched in a game since. His last appearance came on March 18, 2006, when he helped Wake Forest defeat Boston College. Mellies was 4-1 with a 3.50 ERA at the time. Against Maryland on Sunday, Mellies earned the win with a scheduled two innings of work. He allowed just one hit and walked two. He threw 31 pitches on the day. With Mellies now in Wake's weekend rotation, junior Eric Niesen has been shifted to the bullpen, giving the Deacons a top-notch lefty out of the pen.

BULLOCK KNOWS HOW TO PICK `EM -- Sophomore Garrett Bullock has mastered the art of the pickoff move. In 10 appearances this season, the lefty has picked nine runners off first base. He leads the ACC in that category and has nine of Wake's 10 pickoffs this season (RHP Phil Negus has the other). Bullock has picked off two runners in a game on two occasions--March 11 vs. Virginia and March 24 vs. NC State. In both games, Bullock recorded a pickoff in both the first and second innings. As a result of his crafty moves to first, opponents have had just three steal attempts while Bullock's on the mound. Only one of those attempts have been successful--UNC Wilmington's Jesse Haney on March 11.

ELON LEFTOVERS --
-The Deacons couldn't get it going on the mound or at the plate in an 8-2 loss at Elon. The Phoenix almost shut out the Deacs, but Wake pushed across two runs in the ninth--without the virtue of a hit. Weldon Woodall drove in a run with a bases loaded walk, and Dustin Hood followed with a sacrifice fly. Prior to the ninth, Wake Forest put just five runners into scoring position and only two of the five to third base. The Deacs had just four hits on the night. Starter Alex Wiesner spotted Elon five runs in the first two innings. The Phoenix added three more off Wiesner and reliever Joel Ernst in the fifth.