April 19, 2007

IN THE BATTERS BOX -- Wake Forest returns to ACC play this weekend with a three-game set at Boston College. The Demon Deacons are coming off a mid-week split with Big South opponents High Point and Coastal Carolina. After suffering a tough loss at High Point on Tuesday, Wake recovered to post a season series-sweeping win against No. 21 Coastal on Wednesday. The split moved the Deacs to 22-19 overall this season. The Deacons are beginning a five-game road trip. Following this stretch, Wake will play seven of eight games at Hooks Stadium.

GAME TIME CHANGE -- Saturday's game, originally scheduled for 1 p.m. at Commander Shea Field, has been moved to Brockton, Mass. The Deacons and Eagles will now square off at 4 p.m. at Campanelli Field, the home of the independent league Brockton Rox.

BOSTON COLLEGE INSIDER -- Boston College enters the weekend 12-21-1 overall and 6-12 in the ACC. The Eagles have won three of their last four, not counting Thursday's contest with Harvard. BC is just 1-7 at home this season. As a team, the Eagles are hitting .273 with 15 home runs. Tony Sanchez leads the squad with a .347 average, while Eric Campbell has a team-best 25 RBIs. Campbell and Peter Frates are tied for the Boston College lead with three home runs apiece. The Eagles have had 74 stolen base attempts already this season. Ryan Hutchinson leads BC with nine steals in 13 attempts. On the mound, Boston College has a team ERA of 6.06 in 292.2 innings pitched. Reliever Geoff Oxley leads the team with a 2.75 ERA in 14 appearances. Kevin Boggan has started eight games this year, going 3-4 with a 4.24 ERA. Boggan leads the team with 49 strikeouts in 46.2 innings pitched. Terry Doyle (2-3, 6.50) has three of BC's six saves.

LAST MEETING -- Wake Forest swept Boston College March 17-19, 2006, in Winston-Salem. The Demon Deacons posted a 5-0 shutout of the Eagles on Friday. Brad Kledzik pitched six shutout innings to earn his third win of the year. Allan Dykstra homered, and Austin Jones went 2-for-5 with an RBI in the leadoff spot. On Saturday, Wake defeated BC 11-4. Charlie Mellies earned the win in his last start before having Tommy John surgery. Dustin Hood went 3-for-5, while Andy Goff was 2-for-4. The Deacons earned the sweep with an 8-6 victory over the Eagles on Sunday. Wake Forest pounded out 14 hits to complete the sweep. Hood and Dykstra contributed two hits each, and Ben Hunter earned his seventh save of the season with a scoreless ninth.

ON DECK -- The Demon Deacons have two road games in the upcoming mid-week. Wake will travel to Charlotte on Tuesday and then head to Appalachian State on Wednesday. The Deacs will be looking to avenge their 10-9 loss to Appalachian State on Feb. 20.

RANKINGS -- Both Boston College and Wake Forest are unranked.

MID-WEEK LEFTOVERS --
-Wake Forest split its mid-week games, losing 8-7 at High Point on Tuesday and defeating Coastal Carolina 12-5 at home on Wednesday.
-The Deacons took a 6-0 lead on High Point and looked as if they might spoil the Panthers' dedication game at the new Williard Stadium, but HPU scored six runs in the seventh and won it on a homer in the eighth. Allan Dykstra and Tyler Smith each homered for Wake Forest. Starter Joel Ernst allowed one run through the first six innings before getting into trouble in the seventh. High Point scored six runs off Ernst and Phil Negus in the inning.
-Wake recovered to post a quality win over No. 21-ranked Coastal the following day. The Deacs broke a 3-3 tie with seven runs in the seventh inning. Ben Hunter made his second start of the season and was solid in six innings of work. He received a no-decision after the bullpen let a 3-2 lead slip away in the seventh. Smith homered for the second time in as many days, and Evan Ocheltree added a two-run home run. The win gave the Deacons a season series sweep of the Chanticleers.

ONE-RUN WOES -- Wake Forest suffered its ninth one-run loss of the season at High Point on Tuesday. The Demon Deacons are 6-9 in one-run games, including a 2-4 mark in conference play. No other ACC team has more than four one-run losses and none have played more than nine one-run games (Clemson is 5-4 in one-run games, while Boston College is 3-4).

ELLIS CLOSING THE DOOR -- In 21 relief appearances this season, senior closer Josh Ellis has been touched up for at least one run just three times. Ellis has allowed 10 runs total on the season, only four of which have been earned. He began the season with a 16.1 scoreless innings streak before allowing six runs, one earned, in a March 18 appearance at Florida State. Ellis allowed three runs, two earned, against NC State on March 23. He then went five appearances without allowing a run. Coastal Carolina stopped the streak with a run off Ellis on April 18. On the season, the Lexington, Ky., native is 2-1 with a 1.24 ERA and six saves. He has struck out 42 batters and walked just seven.

YES, SEVEN LEFTIES -- The Wake Forest lineup has featured an abnormal number of right-brained players in its lineup of late. The Deacons have featured as many as seven lefthanded-hitting regulars in their starting lineup. Andy Goff, Dustin Hood and Austin Jones are the only recent starters who swing the bat from the right side of the plate. Willy Fox, who has been out with an injured left leg, is normally in the lineup as another righthanded bat.

MURRAY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF STARTING ROLE -- After playing sparingly early in the season, freshman Michael Murray has been a stalwart in the Demon Deacon lineup of late. Murray has started 15 straight games, 11 as the DH and four 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 14 of his last 16 games. He has batted .254 with two home runs and 11 RBIs during the 16-game stretch.

TERRY IS CENTER OF ATTENTION -- Junior Ben Terry has been one of Wake Forest's hottest hitters recently. In the Deacons' last 10 games, beginning with the Friday game at Maryland, Terry has hit .364 (12-for-33) with 10 RBIs and 11 runs scored. He has had a hit in nine of the 10 games, including a 4-for-4 performance against Maryland on April 6.  The Cincinnati native has gotten on base at a clip of .533 during the stretch, with five walks and six HBPs. Terry has started each of the past 13 games and has taken over the job in centerfield.

CURRENT HITTING STREAKS -- Sophomore Allan Dykstra has Wake Forest's longest active hitting streak at 10 games. The streak began on April 6 at Maryland. Juniors Brett Linnenkohl and Ben Terry each are riding eight-game hitting streaks, while freshman Michael Murray is in the midst of a six-game hitting streak. Murray has had a hit in 14 of his last 16 games.

Player Statistics During Streak
Allan Dykstra (10) .333 (13-for-39), 9 R, 2 2B, 3 HR, 12 RBI, 7 BB, .615 SLG, .426 OBP
Brett Linnenkohl (8) .429 (12-for-28), 6 R, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, .536 SLG, .515 OBP
Ben Terry (8)  .320 (8-for-25), 8 R, 2B, 9 RBI, 5 BB, 5 HBP, .514 OBP
Michael Murray (6) .304 (7-for-23) 2 R, HR, 7 RBI, .435 SLG

CLEMSON LEFTOVERS --
-Clemson took two of three from Wake Forest, the last game with the aid of Mother Nature. The Deacons entered the bottom of the ninth on Sunday trailing 5-2 but rallied for two more runs. The tying run was at second base with one out when it began to pour down rain. After a delay of an hour and a half, the umpires called the game giving Clemson a 5-4 victory.
-Wake Forest walked off with a 6-5 win on Saturday. Brett Linnenkohl singled home Tyler Smith from second with the winning run in the ninth. The Deacs had blown a 4-1 lead earlier in the game and fell behind 5-4 in the sixth. Linnenkohl had three hits in the game, and Eric Niesen pitched 3.2 innings of scoreless relief for the win.
-The Demon Deacons struck out 30 times in the series and had just four walks. Every Deacon regular had at least one strikeout, while Ben Terry had two of Wake's four walks. Linnenkohl finished the series 6-for-12 with three runs scored.

LINNENKOHL WINNING BATTLE -- Junior Brett Linnenkohl had quite a week after returning from a minor injury on April 10. In five games from April 10-15, Linnenkohl hit .500 (10-for-20) with a home run and six runs scored. The Olympia, Wash., native had the game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth against Clemson on April 14. He is currently riding an eight-game hitting streak that dates back to Wake Forest's March 31 game at North Carolina. During the streak, Linnenkohl is hitting .429 (12-for-28) with a .536 slugging percentage and a .515 on-base percentage.

HUNTER FROM  CLOSER TO STARTER -- Junior Ben Hunter made a solid debut as Wake Forest's newest starting pitcher on April 11 at Coastal Carolina. Making the first start of his Wake Forest career, Hunter earned the win by holding the Chanticleers 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.

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 11 appearances this season, the lefty has picked 10 runners off first base. He leads the ACC in that category and has 10 of Wake's 13 pickoffs this season (Brad Kledzik, Phil Negus and Alex Wiesner have the other three). 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 four steal attempts while Bullock's on the mound. Two of those attempts have been successful--UNC Wilmington's Jesse Haney on March 11 and Maryland A.J. Casario on April 7.