Deacons Open New Season at ACC Baseball Tournament

May 18, 2003

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30th ACC TOURNAMENT
SALEM (VA.) MEMORIAL STADIUM
MAY 20-25, 2003

Game One:
Wednesday May 21
5:00 p.m.
vs. Georgia Tech

Wake Forest on the Airwaves
All of Wake Forest's postseason games can be heard across the Piedmont Triad and southwest Virginia on 98.1 WBRF and on the internet at www.wakeforestsports.com. Stan Cotten and Carter Blackburn will call the action. In addition, theACC.com will provide Gametracker for each and every ACC Tournament game.

Deacons Begin New Season at ACC Tournament. . .

Wake Forest enters the 30th Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament as the seventh-seed with a 29-22 overall record, 8-15 in the ACC.
It is Wake Forest's lowest seed since 1996 when the Deacons were in the play-in game as the #8 seed.
However, in the last five years, no school has been as successful in the ACC Tournament as Wake Forest. Plus, the Deacons have been postseason underdogs before.
In 1998, Wake Forest won the ACC Tournament in Durham as the five-seed. It was the first of Wake's three ACC Championships in a four-year span. The Deacons weren't the pre-tournament favorites in 1998, 1999 or 2001 and yet each time, went on to win the tournament.
Wake Forest is looking to become the third team in ACC history to win the conference tournament despite posting a losing regular season ACC record.
Georgia Tech accomplished the feat in 1985 (6-7) and more recently, Virginia did it in 1996 (11-13).

Game One: Georgia Tech. . .

The Deacons will send All-American and Golden Spikes Award Finalist Kyle Sleeth to the mound in the tournament opener on Wednesday against Georgia Tech.
It will be Sleeth's second start of the year against the Jackets. On April 18, in a two-hour, three-minute sprint to the finish line, Sleeth gave up just one outfield hit in 7 1/3 innings. But Georgia Tech and Kyle Bakker won 2-0.

Starting Pitching Gaining Consistency. . .

In the last month, Wake Forest has been getting quality starts out of its rotation with much more frequency. In the team's last 17 games, Deacon starters have turned in 11 quality starts (5+ innings, less than 3 three runs).
That's a rate of 73 percent. In the middle third of the season, the Deacons received quality starts only 53 percent of the time (10 of 19).
Just two of the team's last 11 quality starts have come from Sleeth who last two starts have been cut short due to rain or because of a planned "staff day."
The other positive outings have come from Brian Bach (three), Kyle Young (three), Tim Morley (two) and Seth Hill (one).
Bach and Hill each have a complete game to their credit.

Bottom of the Order Picking it Up. . .

Earlier in the year, the Deacons were getting the large majority of their production from the top of the order. Coming down the stretch, however, the bottom half of the order has been outshining the top.
Since coming out of the break for finals, the team's hottest hitters are Steve LeFaivre (5-for-9), Ryder Mathias (.444), Ben Ingold (.409), Brad Scioletti (.400) and Jeff Ruziecki (.368).
Those five have combined for 17 RBI in those six games.

Deacons at Salem Memorial Stadium. . .

Although Wake Forest has never played at the home of the Salem Avalanche, two former Deacons are more than familiar with the ballpark.
Last season, Dan Conway and Cory Sullivan played for the Avalanche when the club was affiliated with the Colorado Rockies (now a part of the Houston organization).
Sullivan experienced great success with the Avalanche, batting .288 and leading the Carolina League in doubles (42) and runs (90). In home games at Salem, he batted .315.
Sullivan was promoted in the offseason to Double-A Tulsa.
See page four for more on Deacons in professional baseball

Deacons in Virginia. . .

Wake Forest is 0-2 in the Commonwealth of Virginia this year with losses at Liberty and VCU. However, prior to that, the Deacons had won five straight and 11 of their last 14 in the Commonwealth, including five of six against the Cavaliers.

Speed Demons. . .

The Demon Deacons boast the best base stealing duo in the Atlantic Coast Conference in Ryan Hubbard and Adam Bourassa. The pair have combined for 63 thefts this season. Hubbard's 34 bags lead the ACC and Bourassa's 29 rank third.
No Deacon has led the conference in that category since 1985 when Tommy Gregg swiped 41 bags.

George Greer Closes in on 700 Career Division I Wins. .

Now in his 16th year at Wake Forest, head coach George Greer has moved into the top five in overall wins while a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Greer has 591 wins in his 15-plus seasons, trailing only Bill Wilhelm (1161, Clemson), Mike Roberts (780, North Carolina), current Florida State coach Mike Martin (620) and current Virginia coach Dennis Womack (593).
Greer is three wins away from his 700th career victory in his 22nd year at the Division I level.

Sleeth Named Golden Spikes Award Finalist. . .

Junior right-hander Kyle Sleeth is one of five finalists for the Golden Spikes Award, given by USA Baseball in partnership with the Major League Baseball Players to the top player in college baseball -- amateur baseball's most esteemed honor.
Sleeth is joined as a finalist by Tulane infielder Michael Aubrey, Stanford outfielder Carlos Quintin, Richmond pitcher Tim Stauffer and Southern infielder/outfielder Rickie Weeks. Sleeth was teammates with four of the players -- Aubrey, Quintin and Weeks -- last summer on the Team USA team that toured the United States and participated in tournaments in The Netherlands and Italy.
Earlier this year, Sleeth, a native of Westminster, Colo., tied the NCAA record for consecutive winning decisions with 26 earlier this season. He owns a 7-2 record as a junior with a 2.76 earned run average. Sleeth has struck out 97 hitters in 88 innings while opposing hitters are batting just .218 against him.
Sleeth is the first ever Wake Forest to be named a finalist.
The 2003 winner will be announced on July 15.
The 2002 Golden Spikes Award winner was Khalil Greene of Clemson. Past winners of this prestigious award include current Major League Baseball stars such as Mark Prior ('01), Jason Jennings ('00), Pat Burrell ('98), J.D. Drew ('97), Travis Lee ('96), Mark Kotsay ('95), Jason Varitek ('94), Darren Dreifort ('93), Phil Nevin ('92) and Robin Ventura ('88).

D'Antona Ranks Among Top Players in ACC History. . .

Junior third baseman Jamie D'Antona has put together not only one of the best seasons in Atlantic Coast Conference history, but also one of the best careers in ACC history.
On April 29 at UNC Greensboro, D'Antona became Wake Forest's all-time leading home run hitter. He now stands at 58, tied for fifth in ACC history. (see page five)
At 239, He is two RBI away from tying for first place on Wake Forest's all-time RBI chart with Jon Palmieri.
With all these records in sight, it's easy to forget that D'Antona is a junior.
The only three-year player in the ACC to have more RBIs than D'Antona is J.D. Drew (257).
This season, D'Antona ranks second nationally in RBI and third in home runs.
He is hitting ACC pitching at a .370 clip with 8 HR and 31 RBI with an ACC best .728 slugging pct. The last three ACC slugging percentage leaders (Khalil Greene, John-Ford Griffin and Mark Teixeira) were all first-round draft picks.
He hit .444 in the FSU series, .417 against NC State, .385 against Clemson and .364 in the UNC series.
D'Antona has not let five games pass without hitting a home run this year.
One area where D'Antona is underappreciated is at third base where his .933 fielding percentage ranks second in the ACC.

Wake Forest Athletics

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