Wake Forest Baseball to Open Fall Practice Friday
9/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The 2011 Wake Forest baseball team will take the field for the first time this Friday at 3 p.m. as the Deacs open up their fall practice schedule at Wake Forest Baseball Park.
A total of 32 practice opportunities are scheduled for the six-week fall session, which runs until November 14. Also included in the fall season is a game against UNC Greensboro on Thursday, October 14, at 6 p.m. at Wake Forest Baseball Park. The game against the Spartans will not count in the record books, but will count against the 56 games the team can play during the 2011 spring season.
"Our main goal is to see what we have," head coach Tom Walter said. "We have 15 freshmen and three junior college transfers on campus. Eighteen of the 39 guys that will be practicing are new to the program. We have to get them acclimated to our system and the way we do things. We also need to see how they play at the college level. Certainly, we liked what we saw at the high school level, but it's an entirely different proposition how they'll react once they're playing against older players."
The annual Wake Forest Black and Gold World Series begins on Saturday, November 6, with a game time still to be determined. Game two of the series will take place on Sunday, November 7, at 12 p.m. The series resumes on Wednesday, November 10, at 4 p.m., before wrapping up with game four on Saturday, November 13, at 6 p.m. and game five on Sunday, November 14, at 6 p.m.
The Demon Deacons will also use the fall practice period to get used to a new playing field at Wake Forest Baseball Park. A major renovation was done to the ballpark following the 2010 season. One of the main differences is a change from a natural grass playing surface to a synthetic playing field.
"We're really excited about the new playing surface," Walter said. "It's going to make a huge difference in our program from a work standpoint. We're going to be able to work more days. We're going to spend less time on maintenance so we're going to have more practice opportunities than we've ever had.
"The field is going to play different now than it will two months from now. Historically, these surfaces take a little while to break in. In the beginning, it will play a little slower than it will at the end of the fall. Just getting out there and getting on the field will be the goal early in the fall."
Another major change for Wake Forest and all of college baseball is the new bat standards implemented by the NCAA. The new testing method by the NCAA will make the metal bats perform more like wood bats than they did under the previous testing method.
"Everything that I've heard is the bats are more like wood than they've ever been," Walter continued. "We won't see the home run totals we've been seeing, which will help our club more than anything. We weren't a big homerun hitting team last year. We did bring in some power in this freshman class and I still think power guys will hit home runs. For us, it won't change anything in the fall because we use wooden bats in the fall and winter anyway. We don't switch to aluminum until February 1. Certainly, we're going to have to spend a lot more time working on small ball and defending the bunt and the stolen base."
Wake Forest returns 18 letterwinners from the 2010 team that finished the season with an 18-37 record. The Demon Deacons also boast 18 newcomers to the 2011 team, which includes 15 true freshmen and three junior college transfers.
Senior Steven Brooks returns to lead the Demon Deacon outfielders. Brooks was drafted in the 17th round of the 2010 MLB Draft, but opted to return to school for his senior season. He finished last season second on the team with a .349 batting average to go along with six homers, 39 RBIs and a team-leading 23 stolen bases. Other returners in the Wake Forest outfield include Mac Williams (.279, 7 HR, 37 RBIs), Carlos Lopez (.229, 7 HR, 22 RBIs) and Ryan Lloyd (.131, 1 HR, 6 RBIs).
Wake Forest returns three of its everyday starters in the infield. 2010 Freshman All-American Matt Conway returns at first base. Conway led the Deacs and finished third in the ACC with a .382 batting average in 2010 and hit six homers and 32 RBIs. Conway closed the 2010 season on an 18-game hitting streak. Starting second baseman Mark Rhine (.279, 1 HR, 25 RBIs), starting shortstop Pat Blair (.270, 7 HR, 25 RBIs) and catchers Mike Lubanski (.175, 1 HR, 7 RBI) and Trenton Langston (.308, 0 HR, 4 RBIs) all return on the infield.
The Demon Deacons return all three weekend starters from the 2010 season. Junior Austin Stadler (3-4, 5.26 ERA, 70 K), sophomore Tim Cooney (4-6, 5.49 ERA, 54 K) and junior Michael Dimock (3-9, 6.32 ERA, 63 K) all started on the weekend for Wake Forest last season. Sophomore Justin Van Grouw (1-4, 5.18 ERA, 31 K), a midweek starter in 2010, also returns for the Deacs.
In the bullpen, junior Zach White (2-1, 6.35 ERA, 25 K), who appeared in 24 games in 2010, is back. Also returning from the Demon Deacon relief corps are sophomore Niko Spezial (1-4, 4.43 ERA, 15 K), senior Mark Adzick (0-0, 6.35 ERA, 10 K), Conway (1-0, 6.57 ERA, 9 K), senior Eli Robins (0-0, 10.38 ERA, 22 K) and junior Gabe Feldman (0-0, 17.05, 3 K).
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.
