Deacons Begins 2002 Baseball Season on Tuesday

Feb. 10, 2002

Wake Forest (0-0) at Davidson (0-0)

Deacons Open 2002 Campaign

Wake Forest begins its 89th season of baseball on the road Tuesday against Davidson. It will mark the season opener for both clubs.
The Deacons won the season series last year two games to none, outscoring the Wildcats, 26-9. Wake Forest leads the all-time series 40-7 and has won 11 straight meetings since 1996.
It also marks the 34th time Wake Forest coach George Greer has faced his old team. Greer spent six seasons at Davidson (1982-87) before coming to Wake Forest. Greer has experienced overwhelming success, posting a 30-3 record against the Wildcats.

Quickly Looking at Wake Forest

In the preseason, the strong suit of the Deacons would certainly appear to be the quality and depth of the pitching staff. Kyle Sleeth returns after leading the team with ten wins as a rookie. Also back this season is senior Dave Bush who led the team in ERA (2.65), saves (16) and strikeouts (78).
At the plate, there are more question marks. Just three starters return from last year's ACC Championship team -- Jamie D'Antona, Nick Blue and Ryan Johnson.
The Deacs will rely on a highly-touted class of transfers and freshmen to fill several key roles.

For Starters

Wake Forest has won four of its last five season openers including last year's win against James Madison.
The Deacons started on the road in Orlando against the Miami Hurricanes, but haven't played a true road game to start the season since 1998 when they defeated UNC Wilmington.

Preseason Rankings

Wake Forest ranks anywhere from 12th (Writers Association) to 21st (Baseball Weekly). The Deacons have been ranked in the Baseball America poll for 10 straight weeks dating back to last season. And amazingly enough, the Deacons jumped 10 spots in the Writers Association poll without having played a single game.

Programs! Get Your Programs!

Wake Forest welcomes 16 newcomers to the team for 2002 and returns just 14. Of those 16 newcomers, four will be on the infield where the Deacons should have a totally new look.
The only holdover from last year is second baseman Nick Blue. Jamie D'Antona will move across the diamond to third. JC transfer Jeff Ruziecki should claim first base. The shortstop position will likely belong to Ben Ingold, a freshman from Durham.

On Deck: Crowne Plaze / Rice Invitational

Following Tuesday's season opener, the Demon Deacons will travel to Houston, Texas, for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Rice's Reckling Park.
There, the Deacs will face preseason WAC favorite Rice and preseason Big 12 favorite Nebraska, both top ten teams, in addition to New Mexico.

Bush Back For Senior Season

Dave Bush, recognized by Baseball America as the nation's top senior and best overall closer, made a lot of Deacon fans happy when he passed on Tampa Bay's contract offer to return for his senior year.
The native of Devon, Pa., was the fourth-round choice of the Devil Rays in June but couldn't come to terms with the team, opting to return to the Deacons for his final season.
Bush, who originally came to Wake Forest as a catcher, has been showered with accolades since his dominating pitching performance against Clemson in the 1999 ACC Championship game. He is a two-time Cape Cod League All-Star, a third-team All-American last year and is Wake Forest's all-time leader in appearances and saves.

Bush, D'Antona: Preseason All-Americans

Dave Bush and Jamie D'Antona were named in a number of publications to preseason All-America teams.
Bush, a third team All-American last year, was named to the first team by the NCBWA and to the second team by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball.
D'Antona, last season's National Rookie of the Year, was placed on the second team by Collegiate Baseball.

Sleeth Among Nation's Best Sophomores

In its college baseball preview, Baseball America identified pitcher Kyle Sleeth as the seventh-best sophomore in the country.
The Colorado native got some attention last year by beating four NCAA tournament teams over the course of the season, winning ten games in all. But he really turned heads this summer on Cape Cod when he pitched his way to an all-star appearance for Cotuit.
In fall and spring scrimmages, Sleeth's fastball has been clocked in the upper-90's.

Bush, Clayton Rate Among Top Pro Prospects

Allan Simpson of Baseball America, considered to be college baseball's answer to Mel Kiper, has compiled an early look at the 2003 draft.
Among his top 100 draft-eligible pro prospects are senior RHP Dave Bush (14th overall and the top senior) and junior LHP Ben Clayton (74th).
Wake Forest will get a look at 18 of the remaining players on Baseball America's list over the course of the regular season. Thirteen of the top 100 players play their college ball in the ACC.

Greer Begins 15th Season at Wake Forest

Head coach George Greer is the fourth winningest coach in ACC history with 515 wins since coming to Wake Forest in 1988.
During his 15 years at Wake Forest, Greer has coached 11 All-American and 10 Freshman All-Americans. The Deacons have won 30 games each season and in the last four years, the team has won 40 contests and qualified for the NCAA Tourney for an unprecedented four straight years.

A Little of This, A Little of That

The Wake Forest roster has players from 15 different states... eight Deacons hail from California... Wake Forest was 36-0 when leading after seven innings last year... six teams on the 2002 schedule made the NCAA Tournament last year including two -- Georgia and Nebraska -- that made the College World Series... Ryan Hubbard and Jeff Ruziecki were teammates at Huntington Beach High School and Cypress Junior College before coming to Wake forest.

Deacons Picked To Finish Third in ACC

The Atlantic Coast Conference released its preseason polls for baseball on Jan. 30. Wake Forest, the defending league champion, was predicted to finish third in a vote by the league's coaches. Clemson narrowly edged Florida State to claim the title of preseason favorite.
Last year, Wake Forest was picked fourth in the preseason and finished third in the regular season before capturing the conference tournament for the third time in four years.

A Little More of the That

Eight current Deacons have been drafted at some point during their career... 10 of Wake Forest's 30 players did not start their college baseball careers at Wake Forest... five came from other four-year schools and five came from junior colleges... in a vote by their teammates, Dave Bush was voted the toughest pitcher to hit and Adam Bourassa the toughest hitter to get out.

Four Sign With Deacons in Early Period

Wake Forest baseball announced its four-member recruiting class from the early signing period in December. The class is consisted entirely of high school players, all of whom will come to Wake Forest from different states.
The four are: Brendan Enick (3B, Pittsburgh, Pa., Upper St. Clair HS), Chris Getz (SS, Grosse Point, Mich., Grosse Point South HS), Steve Malinowski (C, Kensington, Conn., Berlin HS), and Kirby Wedekind (RHP, Jacksonville, Fla, Episcopal HS).

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