Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Baseball Weekly Update - March 22
3/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 22, 2010
Wake Forest Baseball Weekly Update
Week Ending March 21, 2010
Overall Record: 7-14, 1-5 ACC
Last Week's Record: 1-3, 1-2 ACC
Recent Results:
March 17 - Gardner-Webb 3, Wake Forest 2 (11 Innings) - Wake Forest Baseball Park
March 19 - NC State 17, Wake Forest 6 - Wake Forest Baseball Park
March 20 - NC State 5, Wake Forest 3 - Wake Forest Baseball Park
March 21 - Wake Forest 4, NC State 3 (10 Innings) - Wake Forest Baseball Park
Upcoming Games (All Times Eastern and Subject to Change):
March 24, 6 p.m. - Wake Forest at High Point - High Point, N.C.
March 26, 5:30 p.m. - Wake Forest at Virginia Tech - Blacksburg, Va.
March 27, 2 p.m. - Wake Forest at Virginia Tech - Blacksburg, Va.
March 28, 1 p.m. - Wake Forest at Virginia Tech - Blacksburg, Va.
Weekly Recap:
Wake Forest finished the last week with a 1-3 record after dropping a midweek game in 11 innings to Gardner-Webb and losing two of three games to NC State over the weekend. Wake lost 3-2 to Gardner-Webb on Wednesday night and fell in the first two games of the series against NC State, 17-6 on Friday and 5-3 on Saturday. The Deacs won their first conference game of 2010 on Sunday, defeating the Wolfpack 4-3 in 10 innings.
Wake Forest is now 7-14 on the season and 1-5 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
As a team, Wake Forest hit .221 during the past week. Freshman Pat Blair led Wake Forest with a .500 batting average (8-for-16) with two home runs, two RBIs and four stolen bases. Blair hit both home runs in the series against NC State and finished the series against the Wolfpack with a .455 batting average. Junior Steven Brooks hit .333 (5-for-15) last week with a home run, two RBIs, five runs scored and three steals.
Brooks leads the Deacs on the season with a .355 batting average. Brooks is tied for the team lead in home runs (3) and is tied for second on the squad with 11 RBIs. The junior outfielder has also stolen 10 bases, which leads the team. Senior Mike Murray is hitting .338 on the season with a team-high tying three home runs and a team-best 20 RBIs. Redshirt junior Ryan Semeniuk is batting .310 with three round-trippers and 11 RBIs. Blair, who is currently riding a seven-game hitting streak, is hitting .286 with three homers, eight RBIs and is a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen base attempts. Freshman Matt Conway is also hitting over .300 on the season, batting .324 with four RBIs.
On the mound, Wake Forest compiled a 5.31 earned run average over the past week. Freshman Justin Van Grouw turned in a solid start against Gardner-Webb on Wednesday. Van Grouw pitched four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit with five strikeouts and a walk. On Sunday, sophomore Austin Stadler twirled one of the best starts of his collegiate career. The southpaw pitched a career-high 8.2 innings, giving up three runs on five hits, while fanning six batters.
Out of the bullpen, junior Ryan McGrath appeared in three games last week, including earning his first win of the season on Sunday against NC State. McGrath did not allow a hit in 1.2 innings and struck out three batters. Redshirt senior Joel Ernst had two scoreless relief outings during the week, while junior Eli Robins, freshman Niko Spezial and senior Alex Wiesner each turned in a scoreless appearance out of the bullpen.
Wiesner has yet to allow a hit in 3.0 innings of work on the season with two strikeouts and four walks. Freshman Tim Cooney has the lowest ERA among Wake's starting pitchers with a 3.73 ERA and a 2-1 record. Cooney has pitched 31.1 innings on the season, giving up 18 runs, 13 of them earned, on 34 hits, while striking out 22 and walking six batters.
Wake Forest is on the road next week for four games. The Demon Deacons travel to High Point on Wednesday night for a 6 p.m. (ET) game against the Panthers. Wake Forest continues conference play next weekend with three games at Virginia Tech. Game times are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. (ET) on Friday, 2 p.m. (ET) on Saturday and 1 p.m. (ET) on Sunday.
For all of the latest information on Wake Forest baseball, please log on to www.WakeForestSports.com or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow the team's Twitter account @WFUBaseball or www.twitter.com/WFUBaseball.
