2007 Wake Forest Baseball Recruiting Class Arrives On Campus
8/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Aug. 23, 2006
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest baseball team will begin practice in less than two months as the 2006 fall semester got underway Wednesday. Fall baseball practice at Hooks Stadium will begin on Oct. 17 and the team's Black & Gold World Series is scheduled to start on Nov. 16.
The eight newcomers include six freshmen and two transfers. Ryan Bouton (Utility/Wilmington, NC), Michael Murray (C/Westfield, NJ), Keith Mauney (3B/Charlotte, NC), Phil Negus (RHP/Milford, MA), Ryan Semeniuk (OF/Charlotte, NC) and Alex Wiesner (LHP/Chesapeake, VA) make up the rookie class.
The two transfers include junior 3B Willy Fox (Scottsdale, AZ/Arizona State) and junior OF Ben Terry (Cincinnati, OH/Furman). Fox batted .312 with two home runs and 32 RBI in 55 games for the Sun Devils. He also swiped 11 bases and tied for the team-high in triples with five. Terry batted .354 with a home run and 23 RBI in 54 games for the Paladins. He stole five bases and committed just two errors all season.
The Deacs welcome back position players sophomore SS Dustin Hood (.288/0 HR/23 RBI), junior OF Brett Linnenkohl (.273/2/16), sophomore OF Tyler Smith (.242/1/8), sophomore OF Evan Ocheltree (.276/6/30), redshirt sophomore INF Nathan Frazier (.250/0/2), redshirt senior C Dan Rosaia (.231/4/24), redshirt junior OF Eric Williams (.215/0/20), sophomore 1B Allan Dykstra (.324/15/56), junior 2B Andy Goff (.266/1/22), redshirt sophomore DH Weldon Woodall (.244/1/11), junior C Austin Jones (.221/3/21) and redshirt freshman C Cory Hindel.
Wake Forest also returns nine of its 13 pitchers from a year ago, including Smith (1-2/4.95 ERA), sophomore LHP Garrett Bullock (1-0, 6.10), junior RHP Ben Hunter (1-2, 1.47), junior LHP Eric Niesen (3-2, 4.68), sophomore RHP Brad Kledzik (5-4, 5.00), redshirt junior RHP Charlie Mellies (4-1, 3.50), senior LHP Sean Souders (0-0, 6.92), senior RHP Josh Ellis (4-3, 4.96) and redshirt sophomore LHP Greg Young (2-1, 8.83). Wake Forest also gets back the services of sophomore RHP Matt Hammond, senior RHP Kirby Wedekind and redshirt freshman RHP Joel Ernst -- all of whom missed the entire 2006 season. Mellies underwent Tommy John surgery midway through last season, but is expected to return in mid-March of 2007.
The entire squad of 31 players attended the first official day of classes Wednesday before meeting with the coaching staff. The 2007 Demon Deacons hope to build upon the continued improvement in 2006.
Simply put, Wake Forest put together its best season since 2002. The Demon Deacons went 33-22 overall and 16-13 in the brutal ACC -- good for a tie for third place in the Atlantic Division. After winning only 17 games in 2004 followed by 28 in 2005, Wake Forest improved its victory total for the second consecutive season under head coach Rick Rembielak. The program's resurgence is even more apparent within the ACC. The Demon Deacons won just four games in conference action in 2004, improved to 12 in 2005 and posted 16 last spring.
Below is a list of other accomplishments from the 2006 season:
... Wake Forest's victory over Miami on May 14 was the Demon Deacons' seventh win against a team ranked in the top 25. The Demon Deacons also defeated a pair of top five and three top 10 teams in the same season for the first time since 2002.
... With a record of 16-13 in the ACC, the Deacons fell just one conference victory shy of the school record for league wins in a single-season. The school record is 17 set by the 2002 club that went 47-13-1 overall and 17-6 in the league. The 2006 club joins two other teams (1999 and 2001) that reached the 16-win plateau.
... Wake Forest recorded an 11-game winning streak. The Deacons fell shy of the school-record 15 game winning streak set in 1999, but it was the longest winning streak since 2002. During the last 50 years of Wake Forest baseball, only eight teams have won 10 or more consecutive games.
... The Deacons allowed two or fewer earned runs in each of the first eight games during the winning streak.
... Wake Forest only allowed more than two earned runs three times during the entire streak. The Deacons posted a 2.52 earned run average and its opponents batted just .220 over the 11 games.
... Wake Forest moved into the Rosenblatt Report national poll at No. 24. The Demon Deacons entered the top 25 for the first time since April 14, 2003.
... The Demon Deacons' victory against No. 1 Florida, 4-0, on February 26 was its first over the nation's top-ranked team since April 26, 2002 when the Deacs beat Clemson, 4-2.
... Wake Forest captured the 2006 Pepsi Baseball Classic Tournament title and finished the weekend as the only undefeated team. After defeating No. 10 Missouri on February 25, the victory over No. 1 Florida gave the Demon Deacons consecutive wins against ranked opponents for the first time since March 15 and 16 of 2002 when Wake Forest swept Georgia Tech.
... Junior Charlie Mellies not only tossed his third career complete game in the triumph over top-ranked Florida, but his first career shutout. It was Wake Forest's first shutout since February 11, 2003 when the Deacons blanked Appalachian State, 26-0. Former All-American Kyle Sleeth was the last WFU pitcher to toss a complete game shutout -- blanking Maryland on April 19, 2002.
... Wake Forest registered victories against members of the Big 10, Big 12 and SEC in the same season for the first time in school history. The Demon Deacons were the first ACC school to accomplish the feat since 2004.
... The Demon Deacons allowed a total of five runs, only four of which were earned, the entire Pepsi Baseball Classic. The four earned runs were the fewest allowed by a Wake Forest pitching staff since 1998 when the Deacons allowed just three earned runs in victories over UNC Wilmington (twice) and Radford.
-- WakeForestSports.com --
