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WFU facing long odds in tourney
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Published: May 21, 2008
Wake Forest will try to save its season in the ACC baseball tournament for the second year in a row starting with today's first-round game against third-ranked Florida State at 5 p.m. at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.
The difference is that this season the daredevil Deacons have raised the degree of difficulty a notch or two.
To even make the tournament as a seventh seed, the Deacons had to win six of their final seven ACC games. But their unsightly overall record of 24-29 leaves them with a lot of work to do to have any chance at an invitation to the NCAA Tournament.
Coach Rick Rembielak said that the Deacons will have to make it to Sunday's championship game -- at the very least.
North Carolina won last year's tournament but shared the spotlight with a Wake Forest team that barged into the championship game as an eighth seed. The performance was impressive enough to land the Deacons in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002.
But last year, the Deacons entered the ACC Tournament with a 31-25 record, not five games under .500.
"I'm not so sure even making it to that final day will do it," Rembielak said. "That will put us -- depending on whether we have three or four wins -- at 27 or 28 wins. That would be kind of tough.
"But the RPI is going to be good, and the strength of schedule is outstanding. The win total might be the only detriment."
The ACC once again dominated college baseball's regular season, and once again will be chasing its first NCAA title since Wake Forest won it all in 1955. The USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll has North Carolina ranked No. 1, Miami No. 2, Florida State No. 3, N.C. State No. 22 and Georgia Tech No. 24. The College Baseball Ratings Percentage Index as compiled at WarrenNolan.com ranks North Carolina No. 1, Miami No. 2, Florida State No. 3, Georgia Tech No. 5, N.C. State No. 8, Virginia No. 21 and Clemson No. 24.
The Deacons are unranked in the poll and No. 57 in the RPI. But their strength of schedule ranks fourth, and may climb past No. 3 Florida State this week.
The Deacons will have Thursday off and will play North Carolina on Friday and Virginia on Saturday in a pool-play, round-robin format used for the first time last season. The winners of each pool will play for the championship at 1 p.m. Sunday.
The tiebreaker between two teams is head-to-head result in the ACC Tournament. The principle tiebreaker among three teams is conference record during the regular season.
The format helps a team with limited pitching, which certainly describes a Wake Forest team ranked last in the ACC with an earned-run average of 7.68.
Garrett Bullock, a junior left-hander who was 3-5 with a 6.31 ERA in 10 starts, will not pitch again this season because of a sore shoulder. Rembielak said he will start Ben Hunter (4-5, 4.93) against Florida State and Charlie Mellies (4-5, 4.96) against North Carolina. He said he will probably start Ben Kledzik (2-5, 7.93) against Virginia but will leave his options open.
Few pitchers in the ACC have been stronger down the stretch than Mellies, a senior right-hander who allowed only one run on 12 hits in back-to-back complete-game victories against Duke and Boston College. Hunter has also pitched well recently, limiting Duke and BC to four earned runs on nine hits in 141/3 innings.
"They were ideal, the way they pitched the last two weekends," Rembielak said. "They were hitting their spots. They were working ahead of hitters. They had great command of all their pitches.
"They didn't give the hitters good looks. They were not getting good swings. You just hope it goes into three-straight starts. I think it boosts everybody up. From a morale standpoint it helps the hitters because they know their starters are going to end up keeping it close."
Brett Linnenkohl, a senior outfielder who is hitting .333, will be limited to pinch-hitting duty because of a pulled quadriceps. But Evan Ocheltree, a junior outfielder who missed the series against Boston College after being hit by a pitch in the face against Duke, has been cleared to play in the ACC Tournament. Ocheltree is hitting .283 with five homers.
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