1955 Wake Forest baseball team
Deacons Prepare to Meet West Virginia in NCAA District 3 Playoff
5/27/2020 3:39:00 PM | Baseball
Follow along as Wake Forest's 1955 NCAA Championship run is chronicled day by day
May 27, 1955
This year marks the 65th anniversary of Wake Forest's 1955 College World Series Championship. GoDeacs.com will re-live that journey to the national championship by re-telling the story of each game on the corresponding date. The Deacons started on the road to Omaha with their first game at West Virginia on May 28, 1955.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia University and Wake Forest College will meet on Saturday, May 28 at West Virginia's Hawley Field in the first round of the National Collegiate baseball championships. Both teams won their respective conference championships. Wake Forest went 20-5 to win the Atlantic Coast championship while West Virginia went 19-4 and finish on top of the Southern Conference. The two teams are the best college baseball teams in the five-state area that makes up District 3.
Wake Forest's 20 player team arrived in Morgantown on May 27 in a caravan of autos, accompanied by Coach Taylor Sanford.
Both teams have four regulars hitting above .300 on the season. WVU's Jim Heise is the top Mountaineer pitcher with a 10-2 record and teammate lefty Don O'Haver went 7-1 during the season. Heise is the national collegiate strikeout king after recording 104 strikeouts in 89 2/3 innings. Wake Forest has Lowell "Lefty" Davis who is a perfect 8-0. Righthander Buck Fichter posted a 5-1 record during the season.
The second game of the series is slated for May 30, Memorial Day. A third game, if necessary, will be played on Tuesday, May 31. The winner of the series will earn the right to meet the winner of the other District 3 semifinal between Rollins College and Alabama. Game two's likely starters are Lefty Davis for Wake Forest and southpaw Don O'Haver for West Virginia.
Both Sanford and West Virginia head coach Steve Harrick were able to get in a couple of practices last week while working around final exams.
"The book of coaching etiquette says that a team should lead with its best pitcher," said the Richmond Times Dispatch. "West Virginia's Steve Harrick, a firm believer, is ready to send the SC's top hurler, Jim Heise (10-2) against the Deacons. Harrick's coaching visavis, the Deac's Taylor Sanford, however has said he will bypass his ace, undefeated Lefty Davis (8-0), in favor of unheralded Jack McGinley (3-2).
"It could be that Sanford is setting the stage for a ruse, or it could be that he feels the second game of the best two-of-three game series is the most important. Sanford has Davis tabbed for that one. No matter what his reasoning, Sanford's announcement has stirred up the sideline deep thinkers."
Wake Forest won the ACC title by defeating Virginia 4-2 on the final day of the regular season. Fichter gave up only four hits in chalking his fifth win of the season against one loss. He walked six and was in trouble frequently, but two double plays and nine strikeouts pulled him through. Luther McKeel had two of Wake Forest's five hits against the Cavaliers, driving in two runs with a single and a home run.
West Virginia rode the strong right arm of Heise who enters the postseason with a 2.10 earned run average. He was the captain of the All-Southern Conference baseball team. Outfielders Vic Rabbits (.382) and Charley McKown are among the Mountaineers' top hitters.
The Deacon offense is averaging eight runs per game and is led by catcher Linwood Holt (.386), right fielder Tommy Cole (.353), third baseman Bill Barnes (.316), left fielder Frank McRae (.301) and center fielder McKeel (.295). Davis, Holt, Cole and McKeel were each selected to the All-ACC first team. Bill Barnes and Harold Moore were named to the second team. The Deacons also won the first annual Dixie Baseball Classic in Durham by defeating Yale, Rollins and NC State. Wake Forest's conference championship was its first since 1950.
This year marks the 65th anniversary of Wake Forest's 1955 College World Series Championship. GoDeacs.com will re-live that journey to the national championship by re-telling the story of each game on the corresponding date. The Deacons started on the road to Omaha with their first game at West Virginia on May 28, 1955.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia University and Wake Forest College will meet on Saturday, May 28 at West Virginia's Hawley Field in the first round of the National Collegiate baseball championships. Both teams won their respective conference championships. Wake Forest went 20-5 to win the Atlantic Coast championship while West Virginia went 19-4 and finish on top of the Southern Conference. The two teams are the best college baseball teams in the five-state area that makes up District 3.
Wake Forest's 20 player team arrived in Morgantown on May 27 in a caravan of autos, accompanied by Coach Taylor Sanford.
Both teams have four regulars hitting above .300 on the season. WVU's Jim Heise is the top Mountaineer pitcher with a 10-2 record and teammate lefty Don O'Haver went 7-1 during the season. Heise is the national collegiate strikeout king after recording 104 strikeouts in 89 2/3 innings. Wake Forest has Lowell "Lefty" Davis who is a perfect 8-0. Righthander Buck Fichter posted a 5-1 record during the season.
The second game of the series is slated for May 30, Memorial Day. A third game, if necessary, will be played on Tuesday, May 31. The winner of the series will earn the right to meet the winner of the other District 3 semifinal between Rollins College and Alabama. Game two's likely starters are Lefty Davis for Wake Forest and southpaw Don O'Haver for West Virginia.
Both Sanford and West Virginia head coach Steve Harrick were able to get in a couple of practices last week while working around final exams.
"The book of coaching etiquette says that a team should lead with its best pitcher," said the Richmond Times Dispatch. "West Virginia's Steve Harrick, a firm believer, is ready to send the SC's top hurler, Jim Heise (10-2) against the Deacons. Harrick's coaching visavis, the Deac's Taylor Sanford, however has said he will bypass his ace, undefeated Lefty Davis (8-0), in favor of unheralded Jack McGinley (3-2).
"It could be that Sanford is setting the stage for a ruse, or it could be that he feels the second game of the best two-of-three game series is the most important. Sanford has Davis tabbed for that one. No matter what his reasoning, Sanford's announcement has stirred up the sideline deep thinkers."
Wake Forest won the ACC title by defeating Virginia 4-2 on the final day of the regular season. Fichter gave up only four hits in chalking his fifth win of the season against one loss. He walked six and was in trouble frequently, but two double plays and nine strikeouts pulled him through. Luther McKeel had two of Wake Forest's five hits against the Cavaliers, driving in two runs with a single and a home run.
West Virginia rode the strong right arm of Heise who enters the postseason with a 2.10 earned run average. He was the captain of the All-Southern Conference baseball team. Outfielders Vic Rabbits (.382) and Charley McKown are among the Mountaineers' top hitters.
The Deacon offense is averaging eight runs per game and is led by catcher Linwood Holt (.386), right fielder Tommy Cole (.353), third baseman Bill Barnes (.316), left fielder Frank McRae (.301) and center fielder McKeel (.295). Davis, Holt, Cole and McKeel were each selected to the All-ACC first team. Bill Barnes and Harold Moore were named to the second team. The Deacons also won the first annual Dixie Baseball Classic in Durham by defeating Yale, Rollins and NC State. Wake Forest's conference championship was its first since 1950.
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