May 1, 2007
Complete Release in PDF Format
IN THE BATTERS BOX -- Wake Forest returns to the diamond on Wednesday for its last non-conference game of the season. The Demon Deacons will take their five-game winning streak to Greensboro to face Triad-rival UNCG at 6 p.m. Wake is coming off a three-game sweep of Duke last weekend at Hooks Stadium. The sweep moved the Deacs' record to 27-22 overall and 11-13 in ACC play. The Spartans come into Wednesday's contest 23-21 overall and 9-9 in the Southern Conference. Following its game with UNC Greensboro, Wake Forest will be off for nine days for final exams. UNCG INSIDER -- UNC Greensboro is coming off a weekend series loss at Elon. After winning Friday's game, the Spartans the final two games of the series to the Phoenix. Prior to Saturday's loss, UNCG had won six of seven games. The Spartans are 14-6 at home this season but have played seven of their last eight games on the road. As a team, UNC Greensboro is hitting .290 with 34 home runs. Greg Feltes is the Spartans' leading hitter with a .375 average. Feltes also leads in RBIs with 38 and is tied with Sean Snell for the team lead in homers with five apiece. Guy Welsh is second in average (.364) and RBIs (37). Tim Carrier leads the squad with 12 stolen bases in 16 attempts. The pitching staff has a team ERA of 4.93. Ryan Falcon leads the staff in most of the categories, including ERA (3.07), wins (5), innings pitched (73.1) and strikeouts (56). Clinton McKinney (2-1, 3.37) has made a team-high 22 appearances out of the bullpen. LAST MEETING -- Tyler Smith and Brett Linnenkohl both homered to lead Wake Forest to a 14-3 rout of UNC Greensboro on April 10, 2007, in Winston-Salem. The Deacons pounded out 14 hits and held the Spartans to just one run over the final eight innings. Smith's homer erased an early 2-0 deficit, while Linnenkohl's home run came in the fourth with the Deacons leading 4-2. Smith finished the day 2-for-4 with career-highs of three RBIs and three runs scored. Evan Ocheltree was 3-for-5 with a career-best four runs scored. Andy Goff was 2-for-3 with three RBIs, and Ben Terry scored three runs and drove in two more on the day. Kirby Wedekind picked up the win--his first since April 22, 2003--with two innings of scoreless relief. Starter Joel Ernst received a no-decision. ON DECK -- The Demon Deacons will be off for nine days due to final exams. Wake returns to action on May 11 in the first game of a home weekend series against Miami. The Deacs will then travel to Virginia Tech the following weekend to wrap up regular season play. RANKINGS -- Both UNC Greensboro and Wake Forest are unranked. DUKE LEFTOVERS -- DEACONS MAKE CONTACT -- Wake Forest struck out just 11 times in its three-game series with Duke, April 27-29. This came after the Demon Deacons had struck out 30+ times each of the two previous weekends. Wake struck out 30 times--and walked just four times--in its series with Clemson, April 13-15. The Deacs then went to Boston and struck out 34 times, including an alarming 23 whiffs in their 17-inning loss to the Eagles on Saturday. Against the Blue Devils, though, the Deacons struck out just twice on each Friday and Sunday. LINNENKOHL LEADING THE WAY -- Junior leadoff man Brett Linnenkohl has turned up the heat at the plate recently. In his last 16 games, Linnenkohl has hit a team-leading .417 (25-for-60) with 17 runs scored. During the stretch, Linnenkohl has gotten on base at a .539 clip and has slugged .617. He has had a hit in 15 of his last 16 games, including eight multi-hit performances. Linnenkohl hit the game-winning home run in the 11th inning of Wake's 3-2 defeat of No. 22 Charlotte on April 24. He then scored the game-winning run in the 10th inning of the Deacons' 4-3 win against Duke four days later. DON'T RUB IT -- Junior Ben Terry is making a push to break one of Wake Forest's most painful single-season records--hit by pitch. Terry was hit four times in the Duke series, three of which came in Friday's game alone. The four plunkings gave Terry 18 HBPs on the year, tying him for second place on Wake's single-season list. Terry is tied with Matt Miller (2005) for second and is 11 away from Ryder Mathias' school-record of 29, set in 2005. Terry is not the only Deacon getting hit at an alarming rate this season. Allan Dykstra has been hit 14 times, giving him a career total of 26 which ranks fifth on Wake Forest's all-time list. Willy Fox has been plunked 12 times on the year. CURRENT HITTING STREAKS -- Sophomores Dustin Hood and Evan Ocheltree are each riding six-game hitting streaks, the longest current streaks on the team. Juniors Willy Fox and Brett Linnenkohl are not far behind with five-game hitting streaks of their own. Linnenkohl has had a hit in 15 of his last 16 games. Player Statistics During Streak FOX MAKES BIG RETURN -- Junior Willy Fox made his return to the lineup on April 25 at Appalachian State and did his best to make up for lost time. After missing the previous 15 games with a laceration to his left leg, Fox went 1-for-3 with three RBIs and a double as the Deacons' designated hitter. Fox continued his hot hitting into the weekend series with Duke. He hit .500 (7-for-14) with two doubles, a home run and six RBIs. Fox had to sit out after receiving the laceration while stopping a burglary attempt in his Winston-Salem apartment in early April. Wake went 8-7 in Fox's absence. MORE ON FOX -- The Demon Deacons missed Willy Fox's presence in the lineup more than just his numbers show. Sophomore Allan Dykstra, who Fox protects in the cleanup spot, saw his statistics drop during the 15-game stretch. Dykstra hit just .258 (16-for-62) with three home runs, 14 RBIs and a .365 on-base percentage without Fox hitting behind him. In 34 games with Fox in the lineup, Dykstra has hit .372 (45-for-121) with 13 home runs, 39 RBIs and a .521 OBP. Sophomore Dustin Hood's producation dipped during Fox's absence as well. Hood hit .186 (11-for-59) with eight RBIs without Fox and .329 (46-for-140) with 25 RBIs with Fox. HUNTER IMPRESSIVE AS STARTER -- Junior Ben Hunter has been solid in each of his four starts this season. The Deacons' All-American closer in 2006, Hunter made the transition to a starting role in mid-April. He has made four starts, three coming against ranked opponents (Coastal Carolina twice and Charlotte). Hunter has gone 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA as a starter. He has struck out 25 batters and walked seven in 23.1 innings pitched. More importantly, Wake Forest is 4-0 in games that Hunter has started. In contrast, Hunter is 3-5 with a 6.91 ERA in 20 relief appearances in 2007. TERRY'S STREAK STOPPED AT 14 GAMES -- Junior Ben Terry saw his 14-game hitting streak come to an end on Saturday, April 28, against Duke. The streak dated back to April 8 at Maryland. Terry's streak is the second-longest by a Deacon this season, as Willy Fox had a 16-game streak earlier in the year. Terry had just two multi-hit days during the streak but had eight games with at least one RBI. He hit his first home run of the season during the streak on Friday, April 20, at Boston College. Player Statistics During Streak ONE-RUN WOES -- Wake Forest has had a lion's share of one-run games this season. The Demon Deacons are 8-11 in one-run games, including a 3-6 mark in conference play. No other ACC team has more than five one-run losses and none has played more than 12 one-run games. Clemson is 7-5 in one-run games, while Virginia is 5-5. Boston College has played 10 one-run games and is 6-4.
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