Wake Forest Athletics
GOLD RUSH: Lessons Learned
2/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
This article was originally published in the February edition of Gold Rush.
By Jay Reddick
Going to college is all about getting an education – whether that education comes in the classroom or the locker room. Parker Dunshee has done a great job of getting both.
As a student, Dunshee is a junior pursuing a finance major and Spanish minor. As a pitcher for the Wake Forest baseball team, he has learned countless lessons about preparation, performance under pressure and above all, leadership.
The Zionsville, Ind., righthander is ready to put all of those lessons to work as a valuable member of the starting rotation in 2016.
Dunshee lettered in three sports at Zionsville Community High, and though he obviously did it for the love of the game, Dunshee was an active participant with an eye toward his future, in college and beyond.
"Each sport had a different bunch of guys -- that let me get to know a lot of different people in high school," Dunshee said. "It let me learn to be a good leader for different groups. There were aspects of it that really help me at this level, dealing with guys of different backgrounds, dealing with success and failure on different teams. It's all been beneficial in making me into a good athlete overall, not just a good baseball player."
Dunshee that said striving for success as a leader comes from the way he was raised, as the middle child in an athletic family – brothers Blake and Carter also played baseball at the high-school level. "I've always kind of had the personality and the ability to interact with people," Dunshee said. "Being a good player is important, but the way I can interact with guys has been big for me."
Dunshee's maturity was a boon for the Deacons last season, when he led the staff with a 2.89 earned-run average while compiling a 5-3 record with four saves. He gained even more experience last summer in the Cape Cod League, leading the Chatham Anglers' starting rotation with a 2.16 ERA.
Now an upperclassman, he's expected to be a stalwart in Wake Forest's weekend starting rotation in 2016, a change from his usual focus on high-level versatility. He was an all-conference quarterback who got some recruiting attention, but loved basketball even more – an expected reaction from an Indiana kid.
"I still love playing basketball," Dunshee said. "I love the constant flow of the game, the high pace. I didn't start football until seventh grade, but I had a lot of fun playing quarterback."
Even after he came to Wake Forest, he filled many different roles – he was uncertain if he would pitch or play the field as a freshman for the Deacs until a preseason conversation with coach Tom Walter.
"I hadn't had the best fall," Dunshee said. "I wasn't sure I'd be on the roster as a freshman, then coach Walter sat me down and said, ‘If you want to be a part of this team with a chance to help us, do you think pitching full-time is an option?' I focused on it through January and February, then a spot opened up, I had some good success and it's taken off from there."
For all the talk of his leadership ability, let's not forget – Dunshee also has tons of natural ability, as Walter points out.
"90-94 [mph] with sink, a put-away slider and solid change-up put Parker at the front of our staff," Walter said. "We need the ball in his hands with the game on the line as much as possible."
This season, Dunshee is hoping to put it all together, the on-field talent and the off-field mentorship, toward the ultimate goal of team success and an NCAA tournament berth.
"It starts from our mindset," Dunshee said. "Our attitude is way better than it was last year. There was no offensive team that was better last year in the ACC or in the country, in my opinion, and we didn't really lose any offense. That's a great building block.
"Of course, pitching is the determining factor on any team," he continued. "I like our group. My class has pitched a lot since we got here, gotten good experience, and now it's time to let that show."
Dunshee said that the Deacons are looking to avoid a repeat of last season, when they squandered an 8-6 start in the ACC on the way to a 12-18 final conference record.
"We have to attack the season and be ready for the long haul," Dunshee said. "As juniors and seniors, we have to be ready to lead and turn things around when we see something like that happen."
