May 10, 2007

IN THE BATTERS BOX -- Following a nine-day break for final exams, Wake Forest returns to the field for a crucial three-game set with Miami. The Hurricanes come to town tied for sixth place in the ACC Tournament seedings, one game up on the Deacons. Wake Forest, who enters the weekend 28-22 overall and 11-13 in the league, will have to shake off some rust after breaking for more than a week due to final exams. The Deacs are still riding a six-game winning streak, their longest of the season. Miami stands at 30-19 overall and 12-12 in the ACC. The `Canes are coming off a three-game sweep of Wright State last weekend in Coral Gables.

SUNDAY'S GAME TO AIR ON CSS -- Sunday's game will be broadcast live on Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS), in addition to other network affiliates. The game will also air live on CSN-Mid Atlantic and ACC Select. Comcast SportsNet Mid Atlantic airs in Washington, Baltimore, Maryland and Virginia and is also available on satellite. The game will also air same day tape delay on CSN-West (Sacramento, Bay Arena, North and Central California) at 6pm ET / 3pm PT and on Comcast Local (Detroit, Indianapolis, Michigan and Indiana) at 7pm ET / 6pm CT. Matt Stewart (play-by-play) and Weecho Hernandez (color) have the call.

MIAMI INSIDER -- Miami enters the weekend riding a four-game winning streak. Following a sweep of Wright State last weekend, the Hurricanes have an overall mark of 30-19 and a conference record of 12-12. Miami is 8-8 on the road this season, including a 6-6 mark in ACC play. UM has won each of its last five road contests dating back to April 1. The `Canes have dropped two of their last three ACC series. As a team, Miami is hitting .293 with 45 home runs. Yonder Alonso leads the Hurricanes in a number of offensive categories, including batting average (.371), home runs (16), RBIs (60), runs scored (48), slugging percentage (.713) and on-base percentage (.518). Mark Sobolewski is not far behind, hitting .351 with six homers and 49 RBIs. Blake Tekotte has stolen 14 bases in 21 attempts, while Alonso is 12-for-15 in steals. On the mound, Miami has a team ERA of 4.22. Eric Erickson is 7-3 with a 2.03 ERA in 11 appearances, while Scott Maine leads the team with 64 strikeouts in 73.1 innings pitched. Danny Gil has four saves out of the bullpen.

LAST MEETING -- In a matchup of top-20 teams, Miami took two of three from Wake Forest last season in Coral Gables. The Hurricanes held the Deacs to just one hit in a 13-1 win on Friday. On Saturday, Wake squandered leads of 6-0, 7-2 and 10-7 to fall 11-10 in 10 innings. The Deacons salvaged a win on Sunday, holding on for an 8-5 victory. Brett Linnenkohl drove in three runs, and Ben Hunter earned his 14th save of the season.

ON DECK -- The Demon Deacons will wrap up regular season play next week at Virginia Tech. The series will begin on Thursday, May 17, with a 7 p.m. game. Following regular season play, the top eight teams in the conference qualify for the ACC Tournament, May 23-27 in Jacksonville.

RANKINGS -- Both Miami and Wake Forest are unranked. The Hurricanes are receiving votes in several polls.

UNCG LEFTOVERS --
-Wake Forest extended its winning streak to six games with a 6-5 win at UNC Greensboro. Wake notched its ninth one-run win of the season, moving its record to 9-11 in one-run games. The Deacs jumped out to a 6-1 lead midway through the game and held on from there.
-Senior Kirby Wedekind made the first start of his collegiate career and earned the win. Classmate Josh Ellis earned his seventh save of the season with a scoreless ninth. The Deacons marched out six pitchers total on a scheduled staff day.
-Brett Linnenkohl led off the game with a solo home run, his seventh of the year. Linnenkohl, Allan Dykstra, Tyler Smith and Ben Terry each had two hits on the evening.

DYKSTRA INCLUDED ON WALLACE AWARD REVISED WATCH LIST -- Sophomore Allan Dykstra has been listed on the revised watch list for the 2007 Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Award, as announced by the College Baseball Foundation on May 3. Dykstra is one of 112 players in the country, including 10 from the ACC, that were included on the midseason list. The annual award goes to the top collegiate baseball player in the nation. The selection committee will pare the midseason list down to 30 semifinalists at the end of May. From there, three finalists will be announced during the College World Series, and the winner will be announced during a three-day celebration of college baseball July 2-4 in Lubbock, Texas.

LINNENKOHL LEADING THE WAY -- Junior leadoff man Brett Linnenkohl has turned up the heat at the plate recently. In his last 17 games, Linnenkohl has hit a team-leading .418 (28-for-67) with 19 runs scored. During the stretch, Linnenkohl has gotten on base at a .536 clip and has slugged .632. He has had a hit in 16 of his last 17 games, including nine 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. The Olympia, Wash., native led off the game at UNC Greensboro on May 2 with a home run.

ONE-RUN WARRIORS -- Wake Forest has had a lion's share of one-run games this season. After defeating UNC Greensboro 6-5 in their last contest, the Demon Deacons are 9-11 in one-run games. That figure includes a 3-6 mark in conference play. Wake has won three one-run games in a row. No other ACC team has more than six one-run losses and none has played more than 14 one-run games. Boston College is 6-6 in one-run games, while Clemson is 9-5. Miami (9-4) has played 13 one-run games, and Maryland (6-5) and Virginia (6-5) have each played 11. Georgia Tech is the only other team to play at least nine one-run games in the conference, compiling a 5-4 record.

CURRENT HITTING STREAKS -- Sophomores Dustin Hood and Evan Ocheltree are each riding seven-game hitting streaks, the longest current streaks on the team. Junior Brett Linnenkohl is not far behind with a six-game hitting streak of his own. Linnenkohl has had a hit in 16 of his last 17 games, dating back to March 31 at North Carolina. Sophomore Tyler Smith is riding a five-game hitting streak.

Player Statistics During Streak
Dustin Hood (7) .419 (13-for-31), 6 R, 2 2B, 6 RBI, .484 SLG, .455 OBP
Evan Ocheltree (7) .360 (9-for-25), 3 R, 3 2B, 7 RBI, .480 SLG, .407 OBP
Brett Linnenkohl (6) .448 (13-for-29), 12 R, 4 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, .862 SLG, .500 OBP, 3 SB
Tyler Smith (5) .333 (6-for-18), 2 R, HR, 3 RBI, .500 SLG, .400 OBP

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.

DUKE LEFTOVERS --
-Wake Forest earned its third straight series sweep of Duke, pushing its win streak to 10 games against the Blue Devils. The Deacons trailed just once in the series, 2-0 in the first inning of Friday's game. However, Wake scored six in its half of the first and didn't look back the rest of the weekend.
-The Deacs were solid in every aspect of the game against Duke. Wake Forest hit .360 as a team with 11 extra base hits. The Deacon hitters struck out just 11 times on the weekend. The pitching staff had a 2.57 ERA for the series, allowing just eight earned runs in 28.0 innings. In the field, Wake committed four errors, compared to six for Duke.
-Individually, Dustin Hood led the hitters with a .538 average (7-for-13) on the weekend. Hood had the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 10th on Saturday. Willy Fox hit .500 (7-for-14) and drove in six runs, while Allan Dykstra also hit .500 (6-for-12) with four RBIs. Ben Hunter made Sunday's start on short notice but still managed to pick up the win with 6.1 strong innings.  Hunter struck out 10 and walked just one in the win. Garrett Bullock received his third straight no-decision despite pitching a stellar 7.2 innings.

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.

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 hime fifth on Wake Forest's all-time list. Willy Fox has been plunked 12 times on the year.

DYKSTRA SELECTED AS GOLDEN SPIKES SEMIFINALIST -- Sophomore Allan Dykstra has been selected as a semifinalist for the 2007 Golden Spikes Award, as announced May 1 by USA Baseball. The award, to be announced June 29, is presented annually to the premier amateur baseball player. Dykstra is one of 50 Golden Spikes semifinalists representing 40 schools across the country. The semifinalist list includes 10 players from the ACC, the most by any conference in the nation.

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 35 games with Fox in the lineup, Dykstra has hit .376 (47-for-125) with 13 home runs, 39 RBIs and a .523 OBP. Sophomore Dustin Hood's production dipped during Fox's absence as well. Hood hit .186 (11-for-59) with eight RBIs without Fox and .324 (47-for-145) with 26 RBIs with Fox in the lineup.