Wake Forest Athletics
No.1-Seed Demon Deacons Host NCAA Regional
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 25, 1999
Wake Forest (44-13, 16-7 ACC)
at 1999 NCAA Baseball Championship
May 28-30, 1999
Ernie Shore Field * Winston-Salem, NC
The 11th-ranked Wake Forest baseball team returns to the postseason for the second consecutive season when the Demon Deacons host the NCAA Regional at Winston-Salem this weekend at Ernie Shore Field. First round matchups feature No.2-seed Richmond (38-15) against No.3-seed Virginia Tech (41-15) on Friday at 3 p.m. Top-seeded Wake Forest will take on No.4-seed Siena (34-20) on Friday at 7 p.m. The tournament will continue with three games on Saturday at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., and on Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. (if needed).
Wake Forest enters the tournament with a 44-13 overall record after winning their second straight ACC Championship last week in Durham. The Demon Deacons are riding an 13-game winning streak and have won 25 of their last 28 games.
PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION Senior southpaw John Hendricks (9-5, 5.32 ERA) will make his 15th start of the season on Friday night against Siena in the NCAA Tournament first round. Hendricks, who is Wake Forest's all-time leader with 33 career victories, will be looking to reach the 10 victory plateau for the second consecutive season. In 1999, he leads the Demon Deacon pitching staff with 116.2 innings pitched and four complete games.
Junior right-hander Mike MacDougal (12-2, 2.42 ERA) will make his 16th start of the season on Saturday in the Deacs' second game of the NCAA Regional against either Richmond or Virginia Tech. MacDougal has been the anchor of the Wake Forest pitching staff all season, leading the team in ERA, victories, strikeouts (103) and opponent batting average (.201). He has already reached the 10 victory plateau for the first time in his career and become just the seventh pitcher in Wake Forest history to accomplish that feat. He finished the regular season with a 7-1 record in eight starts against ACC opponents.
Sophomore right-hander Scott Siemon (12-1, 4.35 ERA) will make his 9th start of the season and 29th overall appearance should the Demon Deacons play a third game in the NCAA Regional. Siemon, who was the top man out of the bullpen during weekend series before the season-ending injury to Eric Schmitt, owns a 7-0 record in eight previous starting assignments
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY Wake Forest is making its second consecutive and seventh overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Demon Deacons made previous appearances in 1949, 1955, 1962, 1963, 1977 and 1998, and own an overall record of 13-9 in NCAA Regional games.
Wake Forest made College World Series trips in 1949 and 1955 and claimed the National Championship in '55, the only one in ACC history, with a 7-6 win over Western Michigan. The Deacs advanced to the title game in 1949 before falling to Texas, 10-3.
In Wake Forest's most recent NCAA appearance in 1998, the Deacs posted a 2-2 record in the NCAA South I Regional in Gainesville, Fla. Wake Forest opened with two straight wins over Illinois and Richmond before dropping back-to-back games against host Florida and Illinois. Following is
Wake Forest's record in previous NCAA trips:
1949 55 62 63 77 98 Total NCAA Regional 1-0 3-1 2-2 3-2 2-2 2-2 13-9 College World Series 2-2 5-1 - - - - 7-3
VS THE REGIONAL FIELD Of the other three teams in the regional field, Wake Forest has the longest history with Virginia Tech. The Demon Deacons and Hokies have met on 37 previous occasions, with Virginia Tech holding a 21-16 lead in the all-time series. The two schools met three times during the 1999 season, and Wake Forest won all three games. The Deacs won by scores of 4-2 and 10-9 on Feb. 27-28 in Winston-Salem and by a score of 8-4 on Apr. 6 in Blacksburg.
Wake Forest leads the series with Richmond, 4-3. The two schools last met during the 1998 season with the Deacs and Spiders splitting a pair of meetings. Richmond defeated Wake Forest by a score of 4-0 in Winston-Salem, but the Demon Deacons got revenge with a 6-5 win in the NCAA South I Regional in Gainesville, Fla.
Wake Forest and Siena have never met in baseball.
DEACONS CAPTURE BACK-TO-BACK ACC TITLES Wake Forest made yet another magical run through the 1999 Atlantic Coast Conference last week in Durham to capture its second consecutive league championship. The Demon Deacons, seeded No.2, opened the tournament with a 4-3 win over No.7 Virginia and then knocked off No.3 seed Clemson, 6-3. In a matchup of the two remaining undefeated teams, the Demon Deacons blanked top-seed Florida State, 4-0, to guarantee a spot in the tournament's championship game. On the final day of the tournament, Wake Forest defeated No.6-seed NC State, 11-6, and then knocked off Clemson, 9-5, to claim their sixth overall ACC Championship.
Much like 1998, Wake Forest was paced by outstanding pitching throughout the tournament. In 1998, the Demon Deacons posted a 2.33 ERA in six games while the 1999 staff recorded a 2.80 ERA and held opponents to a .208 batting average.
RIEPE NAMED ACC TOURNAMENT MVP Senior catcher Andrew Riepe doesn't get nearly the amount of praise that he deserves. An ironman who has caught all but five innings this season, Riepe was overlooked on the All-ACC teams. He finally got the respect that he was due with his strong play in the ACC Tournament en route to earning tournament MVP honors. Riepe batted a team-best .474 with three doubles and four RBI while also managing a Wake Forest pitching staff that posted a 2.80 ERA.
Joining Riepe on the All-Tournament team were pitchers Mike MacDougal, Scott Siemon and David Bush, designated hitter Danny Borrell, shortstop Chase Voshell, and outfielders Matt Price and Scott Daeley.
FOUR DEACS EARN ALL-ACC HONORS Four Wake Forest players were tabbed to the 1999 All-Atlantic Coast Conference team after a vote of the league's nine head coaches, the highest total since four Demon Deacons earned all-conference honors in 1991. Senior first baseman Jon Palmieri was tabbed to the first team for the second consecutive season, becoming the first Wake Forest player to record back-to-back first-team All-ACC seasons since Tommy Gregg did so in 1983 and 1984. Joining Palmieri on the first team were junior pitcher Mike MacDougal and sophomore DH Danny Borrell. Senior center fielder Scott Daeley was voted to the second-team All-ACC squad.
PITCHING STAFF LOOKS FOR THREE 10-GAME WINNERS Should senior southpaw John Hendricks pick up his 10th win of the season on Friday against Siena in the first round of the NCAA Regional, Wake Forest will have three pitchers reach the 10-win plateau in the same season for the first time in school history. Mike MacDougal (12) and Scott Siemon (12) have both already reached double digits in wins.
In fact, only two other pitching staffs in ACC history recorded three 10-game winners. Clemson's Kris Benson (14), Billy Koch (10) and Ken Vining (10) accomplished the feat in 1996, while Georgia Tech's Roger Kinard (12), Sam Drake (11) and Todd Shiver (10) did so in 1987.
MacDOUGAL & SIEMON EYE SEASON WIN MARK The record lasted for 48 years before it was broken last spring, but it might be broken for the second time in as many years this season. Junior Mike MacDougal and sophomore Scott Siemon are tied for the ACC lead with 12 victories apiece and each are just one win away from tying the school record of 13 wins in a season. Moe Bauer won 11 games during the 1950 season, a record that stood for 48 years until John Hendricks won 13 games last season.
DEACONS ENTER NCAA REGIONAL WITH A 13-GAME WINNING STREAK The streaking Wake Forest baseball team enters the NCAA Regional at Winston-Salem with a 13-game winning streak, the second longest in school history. The school record for consecutive victories is 20, set during the 1949 season when Wake Forest was the national runner-up to Texas. During this current streak, Wake Forest is batting .366 and owns a 3.88 ERA, while opponents are batting just .236 and have a 10.38 ERA.
Additionally, Wake Forest is a perfect 12-0 during the month of May.
DEACS LIGHT IT UP SINCE FSU SERIES Since a disappointing three-game series sweep at the hands of top-ranked Florida State in Tallahassee, the Demon Deacons have stepped up their level of play and posted a 25-3 record in their final 23 games of the regular season and five postseason games.
The Seminole pitching staff limited the Deacon batters to just 10 runs on 14 hits in three games, but since then the Wake Forest offense has been red hot. The Deacs are batting .359 as a team in that stretch, scoring an average of 10.4 runs per game, while the pitching staff has turned in a solid 4.49 team ERA and held opponents to a .263 batting average.
PALMIERI JOINS ELITE 300/200/200 CLUB & 100/100 CLUB On Apr. 24 against NC State, first baseman Jon Palmieri joined an elite group of five players in ACC history that have recorded 300 hits, 200 RBI and 200 runs in their careers. Here's the list of those who have accomplished this feat:
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) 329 231 225
Additionally, Palmieri is just the second player in ACC history to record back-to-back 100 hit seasons after collecting a school-record 112 hits last season and 103 this spring. Clemson's Shane Monahan, who had back-to-back 100 hit seasons in 1994 and 1995, is the only other player in league history to accomplish that feat.
DEMON DEACONS IN THE ACC Spanning the 1998 and 1999 seasons, Wake Forest has been impressive against ACC opponents. The Demon Deacons have 39 wins over ACC clubs (including regular season and tournament games), second among all ACC schools behind only Florida State's 46 wins.
ACC Wins in the Last Two Years*
1. Florida State 46
2. Wake Forest 39
3. Clemson 30
t4. North Carolina 28
t4. Georgia Tech 28
6. NC State 27
7. Virginia 14
t8. Duke 13
t8. Maryland 13
*Includes regular season and tournament games)
