Baseball Looks Forward to First Home Weekend

Feb. 19, 2002

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Wake Forest (3-1) vs. Elon, Cincinnati

Date/Time: February 21-24, 2002
Site: Hooks Stadium
Broadcast: None

Probable Pitching Matchups

Thursday / 2:30
WF: #24 Ben Clayton, Jr., LHP (0-1, 9.00 ERA) vs.
Elon: #23 Tyson Blocker, Jr., RHP (0-0, 21.60 ERA)

Friday / 2:30

WF: #20 Kyle Sleeth, So., RHP (2-0, 2.77 ERA) vs.
UC: #43 B.J. Borsa, Jr., RHP (1-0, 3.86 ERA)

Saturday / 1:30

WF: #34 Tim Morley, Fr., LHP (0-0, 3.00 ERA) vs.
UC: #13 Chad Pennington, Sr., (2-0, 1.50 ERA)

Sunday / 1:30

WF: TBA vs.
UC: TBA

Wake Forest Returns to Friendly Confines

The Deacons face Elon and Cincinnati at home after starting with a four-game road swing.
Wake Forest is 3-1 after taking two of three at the Rice Invitational in Houston last weekend.
Elon travels to Winston-Salem with a 1-0 record prior to their Tuesday game at NC State. Cincinnati is off to a 5-1 start including two wins last weekend at ACC rival Duke.

Deacons Dominate At Home

Last season, Wake Forest posted an impressive 23-4 mark at Hooks Stadium with the only losses coming against Clemson (2), Duke and Liberty.
The Deacons won 37 of their last 39 non-conference home tilts dating back to 1999.

Sleeth Picks Up ACC Weekly Honors

Sophomore RHP Kyle Sleeth earns this week's Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Player of the Week recognition after leading the Demon Deacons to two victories this past week, including a 9-8 victory over No. 8 Nebraska. The Westminster, Colo., native threw a total of 13 innings on the week allowing four runs and three walks while striking out 13 of the 50 batters faced.
In addition to the victory over No. 8 Nebraska, Sleeth also tallied the opening day win over Davidson with a career-high ten strikeouts and no walks. With a 2-0 record, Sleeth has a 2.77 ERA and has recorded two of the three Wake Forest victories this season.

Recaping the Rice Invitational

After a 15-5 loss to 10th-ranked Rice on Friday, the Deacons rebounded to defeat New Mexico behind solid pitching performances by Tim Morley and Adam Hanson.
On Sunday, Wake Forest knocked off eighth-ranked Nebraska, a CWS participant last year, by a 9-8 margin. Eight players had hits for the Deacons including Steve LeFaivre, who went 3-for-5 with two doubles.

On Deck: At High Point, Vs. Albany

The Deacons go to High Point on Tuesday, site of the Panthers' 3-1 upset victory last April. On Thursday, Wake hosts the Albany Great Danes.

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. In 2001, he finished second nationally in saves with 16.
D'Antona, last season's National Rookie of the Year with a .364 average, 17 HR and 77 RBI, a second team selection by Collegiate Baseball.

In The Rankings

Wake Forest is in the Baseball America poll for the 13th straight week. For the fourth consecutive week, the Deacons are 21st. Wake Forest ranks anywhere from 10th (Writers Association) to 22nd (Baseball Weekly).

Quickly Looking at Wake Forest

Early on, 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 Deacons will rely heavily on Adam Bourassa, Ryan Hubbard and Jeff Ruziecki, a trio of junior college transfers for productivity with the bat and on the basepaths.

Programs! Get Your Programs!

Wake Forest welcomes 16 newcomers to the team for 2002 and returns just 14. Of those 16 new faces, four were in the starting lineup on Tuesday at Davidson.
In fact, from 2001 to 2002, there was a new starter at every position. Only Jamie D'Antona and Nick Blue were holdovers from last year's opening day lineup but both were at different positions.

Opening Day Lineups

    2001            2002C  Jason Aquilante    Stephen Ghutzman1B Jamie D'Antona   Jeff Ruziecki2B Nick Blue        Ryan HubbardSS Jamie Athas        Nick Blue3B Corey Slavik      Jamie D'AntonaLF Matt Price      Steve LeFaivreCF Cory Sullivan    Adam BourassaRF Carlos Brackley    Ryan JohnsonDH Josh Hansen        Brad SciolettiP  Scott Siemon      Kyle Sleeth

Bush Back For Senior Season, Cleared To Pitch Following Injury

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.
In November, a blood clot was discovered in his leg. A procedure performed at Duke Medical Center combined with proper medication has brought Bush back to full health and leading experts in the medical community expect no after-effects from the clot.
On Monday, Feb. 11, Bush was cleared to play. He pitched the ninth inning against #8 Nebraska on Sunday.

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 was clocked in the upper-90's.
He lived up to the billing last Tuesday at Davidson when he went seven innings to get the win. Sleeth allowed just one run on six hits with a career-high 10 strikeouts and no walks. On Sunday, he allowed just three runs in six innings to defeat #8 Nebraska.
Sleeth started both games in the neighborhood of 95-96 mph with his fastball and stayed around 93-94 even into the sixth inning.

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.

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: Steve Malinowski (C, Kensington, Conn., Berlin HS), Chris Getz (SS, Grosse Point, Mich., Grosse Point South HS), Kirby Wedekind (RHP Jacksonville, Fla, Episcopal HS) and Brendan Enick (3B, Pittsburgh, Pa., Upper St. Clair HS).

Deacons Picked To Finish Third in ACC

In the Atlantic Coast Conference preseason poll, Wake Forest, the defending league champion, was predicted to finish third in a vote by the league's coaches. Clemson is the preseason favorite.
Last year, Wake was picked fourth in the preseason and finished third in the regular season before capturing the tournament title.

Random Notes

The Wake Forest roster has players from 15 different states... eight Deacons hail from California... Wake Forest was 39-0 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 HS and Cypress Junior College before coming to Wake Forest.

Random Notes, Part II

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.

Greer's Milestone Wins At Wake Forest

#   Date    Opponent1   2/14/88 at Fla. Int'l100 5/6/90  vs. Ga. Tech200 4/21/93 vs. UNCG300 4/24/96 vs. NC A&T400 3/23/98 vs. Ga. Tech500 4/20/01 vs. NC State

ACC's All-Time Coaching Leaders

1. Bill Wilhelm (CU) - 1161
2. Mike Roberts (NC) - 780
3. Dennis Womack (VA) - 540 *
4. George Greer (WF) - 515 *
5. Mike Martin (FS) - 513 * entering 2002 season

Preseason Atlantic Coast Conference Poll

1. Clemson (5) 77
2. Florida State (4) 74
3. WAKE FOREST 57
4. Georgia Tech 57
5. North Carolina 45
6. NC State 43
7. Duke 29
8. Virginia 24
9. Maryland 9

Wake Forest Athletics

Related News

Related Videos