Wake Forest Athletics
Baseball Faces Georgia Tech in Key ACC Series
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 15, 1999
WAKE FOREST (26-10, 9-5 ACC)
at GEORGIA TECH (27-10, 8-4)
April 16-18
Russ Chandler Stadium * Atlanta, GA
DEMON DEACONS TAKE 7-GAME WIN STREAK TO ATLANTA FOR KEY ACC SERIES Riding a seven-game winning streak, the Wake Forest baseball team wraps up its five-game road stretch this weekend with a key Atlantic Coast Conference series at Georgia Tech. After sweeping Virginia last weekend, the Demon Deacons (9-5 ACC) are in third place in the league standings behind first place Florida State (13-1) and second place Georgia Tech (8-5). The weekend series between the Deacons and the Yellow Jackets is critical to both teams as the conference race reaches the home stretch.
Game times for the three-game series are 7 p.m. on Friday, 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and 4 p.m. on Sunday. Friday's game will be televised on Fox Sports South while Sunday's game will be televised regionally by the ACC TV Network (Fox SS, HTS and Sunshine).
PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION Junior right-hander Mike MacDougal (7-2, 2.27 ERA) will make his sixth consecutive start on Friday of an ACC series this weekend at Georgia Tech. He owns a 4-1 record in those previous five starts against ACC opponents. MacDougal has been impressive all season as the anchor of the Wake Forest pitching staff, leading the team in ERA, strikeouts (69) and opponent batting average (.212). He has been most impressive in his career against Georgia Tech, and below is a look at his two career starts vs the Yellow Jackets:
Year W/L IP H R ER BB K
1997 (Atl) - 7.0 7 5 1 5 6
1998 (W-S) W 9.0 6 0 0 2 10
Totals 1-0, 0.56 ERA 16.0 13 5 1 7 16
Sophomore southpaw Eric Schmitt (3-1, 4.14 ERA) will start the second game of the series on Saturday afternoon. Schmitt has pitched brilliantly in his last three starts against Clemson, Florida State and Virginia despite having just one win to show for it. In that span he owns a 1.57 ERA in 23 IP while recording 25 K's. He struck out a career-high 11 batters at Florida State and followed that with a second straight double-figure outing with 10 K's against Virginia. Following is Schmitt vs Georgia Tech in his career:
Year W/L IP H R ER BB K
1997 (Atl) - 2.0 3 2 2 0 2
1998 (ACC) W 9.0 4 1 1 2 8
Totals 1-0, 2.45 ERA 11.0 7 3 3 2 10
Senior southpaw John Hendricks (6-4, 5.03 ERA) will start the series finale on Sunday afternoon. Hendricks became Wake Forest's all-time victory leader when he picked up his 30th career win in a complete game effort against UNC Greensboro on Wednesday night in addition to already setting school career records for strikeouts and innings pitched. (See notes below). After battling through a tough stretch in late March, Hendricks has bounced back with two wins and a save in his last three appearances, posting a 4.15 ERA in 17 1/3 innings. He has struggled in his career against the Yellow Jackets, however:
Year W/L IP H R ER BB K
1996 (W-S) - 0.2 0 0 0 0 0
1997 (Atl) L 2.2 4 6 1 4 3
1998 (W-S) - 1.0 2 3 3 2 0
1998 (W-S) L 3.2 9 7 5 2 8
Totals 0-2, 10.13 ERA 8.0 15 16 9 8 11
SERIES VS. GEORGIA TECH Georgia Tech leads the all-time series with Wake Forest, 42-25-1, dating back to the first meeting in 1898. The Yellow Jackets took two of three games from the Demon Deacons last season in Winston-Salem, but Wake Forest won the fourth meeting of the year in the ACC Tournament after a strong pitching performance from Eric Schmitt. Wake Forest has not won a game in Atlanta since the 1982 season, having dropped 21 straight contests to the Yellow Jackets in their home park.
DEMON DEACONS IN THE ACC Spanning the 1998 and 1999 seasons, Wake Forest has been impressive against ACC opponents. The Demon Deacons have 27 wins over ACC clubs (including regular season and tournament games), second among all ACC schools behind only Florida State's 36 wins.
ACC Wins in the Last Two Years
1. Florida State 36
2. Wake Forest 29
3. Georgia Tech 23
4. North Carolina 20
5. NC State 19
6. Clemson 17
7. Virginia 11
8. Duke 10
9. Maryland 9
(*Includes regular season and tournament games)
HENDRICKS BECOMES "W" AND "K" KING Senior southpaw John Hendricks recorded his 30th career victory with his complete game effort against UNC Greensboro on Apr. 14 to move past Frank Humber (1986-89) into first place on Wake Forest's all-time victory list. He became just the 11th pitcher in ACC history to win at least 30 games in his career. The ACC record for victories is held by Brian Barnes, who won 44 games at Clemson from 1986-89.
Hendricks became Wake Forest's all-time strikeout king when he fanned Virgina's Ryan Kalamaya on April 10. Hendricks currently stands at 283 career K's, passing previous record holder Buddy Jenkins who struck out 277 batters from 1987-91.
Additionally, Hendricks became Wake Forest's career leader in innings pitched during the UNC Greensboro game. He now has tossed 356.0 innings in his career, good for 8th place on the all-time ACC list.
For more information on where Hendricks stands on all of Wake Forest's career pitching charts, please see the lists on the next pages in this packet.
PALMIERI APPROACHES ELITE 300/200/200 CLUB Senior first baseman Jon Palmieri is quickly approaching an elite group of four players in ACC history that have recorded 300 hits, 200 RBI and 200 runs in their careers.
Player (School) Hits RBI Runs
Jake Austin (WF, 1989-92) 317 236 213
Jason Varitek (GT, 1991-94) 351 251 261
Jeremy Morris (FSU, 1994-97) 302 273 222
Jake Weber (NCS, 1995-98) 366 239 288
Jon Palmieri (WF, 1996-99) 286 193 190
STREAKS & SKIDS Batters: Second baseman Jason Aquilante broke a 4-for-34 slump with a 5-for-14 (.357) performance last weekend against Virginia . . . designated hitter Danny Borrell has hit safely in 17 of the last 20 games, batting .397 with 20 RBI in that stretch . . . center fielder Scott Daeley is batting .400 (12-for-30) over the last seven games . . . right fielder Ben Danosky broke an 0-for-13 streak with a home run against Virginia, but has not been in the lineup in the last four games with a bruised hand . . . left fielder John Kubachka went 2-for-7 in two midweek starts against Appalachian State and UNC Greensboro . . . left fielder Ricky Mendez went 2-for-6 in two starts in the Virginia series . . . first baseman Jon Palmieri has hit safely in 15 of the last 16 games, batting .435 with 26 RBI in that stretch . . . catcher Andrew Riepe is batting .419 (13-for-31) in the last seven games . . . third baseman Corey Slavik has reached base safely in 12 straight games, batting .400 with 15 RBI in that stretch . . . left fielder Stephen Sullivan snapped an 0-for-13 at FSU and is 5-for-16 (.313) since . . . infielder Chris Turner is 5-for-14 (.357) in his last four games . . . shortstop Chase Voshell is batting .458 (11-for-24) in the last six games.
Pitchers: Right-hander Matt Briggs has allowed just one earned run in his last three appearances out of the bullpen (7.1 IP, 1.23 ERA) . . . when working out of the bullpen righty David Bush has a 4.05 ERA in 13.1 innings, while his ERA as a starter is 23.14 . . . lefty John Hendricks is 2-0 with 1 save in his last three appearances . . . in his last 7 starts, righty Mike MacDougal is 5-1 with a 2.21 ERA . . . in his last 3 starts, righty Eric Schmitt is 1-0 with a 1.57 ERA while recording 25 K's in 23 IP . . . righty Scott Siemon is 3-0 with a 3.31 ERA in three starts this season.
