Baseball Deacs take aim at ending 8-year NCAA Tournament drought

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Slip over the the ACC Digital Network’s baseball statistics page, and the Wake Forest logo is featured prominently.

Will Craig, Nate Mondou and Stuart Fairchild led the Deacs offensively last season, and finished among the league leaders in batting average, home runs and RBIs.

Let opposing pitchers beware — they’re all back.

The Deacs return more than 80 percent of the offense that finished the league second in batting average and slugging percentage, and fourth in home runs.

With a power-packed offense, a deeper pitching staff and a deepening investment in the program, the Deacs believe this is the year they can punch their ticket to the elusive NCAA Tournament.

“Anytime you have returning experience with proven success, you feel good about that. The flip side is that we have uncertainly on the mound. We have guys that will be in different roles on the staff,” Wake coach Tom Walter said. “Positionally, when you look around the field, we feel really good about our depth. We’ve got 13 position players that are playing really well. They are pushing each other for playing time, and competition is always good. We haven’t had that kind of depth the last couple of years.”

Anchoring that offense, and contributing on the mound, is reigning ACC Player of Year Will Craig, who finished the 2015 campaign with a league-leading .382 batting average with 13 home runs and 58 RBIs.

“We have a lot of experience coming back, and I’m looking forward to getting this season started,” Craig said. “We’re going to score some runs. Hopefully our pitching can shut down the opponents and we can get some more wins than we did last year.”

Craig, who got off to a hot start in the 2015 campaign, won’t take anybody by surprise this season, but said having a target on his back won’t change his approach.

“Not really much. We have most of our offense coming back from last year, and last year’s offense was really good. If they have a star next to my name, they really should put a star next to everyone in this lineup one thru nine, in my opinion,” Craig said. “Our whole offense is going to produce runs. I’m just going to keep doing what I’ve done in the last couple years, and this offense is going to continue producing runs.”

As Craig alluded, he is far from the only dangerous batter in the Wake lineup. The Deacs return nearly every regular position starter from last season (except Justin Yurchak who transferred) accounting for 82 percent of their RBIs and 85 percent of their home runs from last season.

Second baseman Nate Mondou finished second in the ACC in hits (73) and third in the conference in RBIs (58) last season, usually occupying the third slot in the batting order, right before Craig.

“Everyone is really excited and tired of playing each other,” Mondou said. “This offense is a scary one, and the best offensive team I’ve ever played for. It’s exciting.”

Mondou also believes the Deacs depth and strength in the batting order will prevent opposing pitchers from overly focusing on him and Craig.

“It doesn’t change my approach a whole lot, because we have guys down the order that can protect us and guys in front of us that can get on base,” he said. “If we stay true to our approach and hit the ball hard and to all fields, we’ll be alright.”

Sophomore outfielder Stuart Fairchild finished fourth in the ACC in batting average (.350), with five home runs and 41 RBIs.

With mid-season series wins over Boston College in Clemson, the Deacs found themselves in the middle of the ACC pack, but collapsed down the stretch, losing six of their last seven and 14 of their last 20. Wake finished 27-26, missing both the NCAA and even ACC Tournament, where only the top 10 finishers advance.

“Part of that was our pitching. Our offense probably just felt that every time they scored, our pitching would just give it right back. When you get in our league, you don’t have to win every game 3-2 or 4-3, but you have to win some of them,” Walter said. “We just weren’t doing that because of our pitching. The other thing is strength and conditioning — working harder in the weight room. We’ve done a really good job on that stuff. Our guys are committed and it’s going to be fun to watch.

“We couldn’t get shutdown innings. We’d score two and give up three. We’d score one, then give up two. Our offense just felt enormous pressure to score massive amounts of runs. It’s hard to build big innings against good pitching staffs.”

The key to sustaining momentum this season begins and ends with improving on the mound, and Walter is convinced he had a staff that can help the Deacs compete in the ACC.

Last season, ace Parker Dunshee (5-3, 2.89) worked a swing role for the Deacs, pitching as a starter and reliever while often not knowing what role he serve as the weekend series began. That’s not the case this season.

“We’re going to put Parker Dunshee on Friday’s and just leave him there,” Walter said. “He’s a guy that can match up with anybody in the league stuff wise and from a competitive standpoint.”

Dunshee earned all-star honors in the highly-competitive Cape Cod Summer Baseball League, and is excited about the opportunity to anchor the Deacs pitching rotation.

“There’s the aura of the Friday night starter that everyone talks about. You want your best guy there. I’m ready to step into that role, but last year I felt like whatever I needed to do to help the team I would do,” Dunshee said. “This year, that’s the way I can help the team best, so I’m looking forward to it.

“We’ve got one of the best offenses in the ACC, if not the country. Pitching is coming together, so it’s on us. If we can get things rolling, and get some guys throwing well, I think we can be dangerous, for sure.”

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Dunshee said his summer experiences playing in the Cape Cod league has helped him become a better pitcher.

“Every hitter up there was really good. You had to be fine with your stuff, and if you let off the gas pedal for one second, you were punished for it. They definitely punished mistakes,” he said. “You have to pitch with serious conviction and give your best stuff every pitch. That’s what I learned. Every hitter here is good as well, so that’s the mindset you have to use.”

Craig is slated to take the hill on Saturdays, with Connor Johnstone and Andrew Loepprich rounding out the four man rotation — one finishing out the weekend and one working the mid-week games.

In late game situations, Walter will use relievers John McCarren, Garrett Kelly and Donnie Sellers, with Sellers taking on the closing responsibility.

A trio of freshmen (Griffin Roberts, Rayne Supple and Tyler Witt) will be counted on to deliver when needed in the middle innings, in what Walter characterized as “leverage” situations. Supple was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 2015 draft, and is a talent Walter has mentioned could easily find himself in the rotation down the road.

“Our success this year with depend on staying healthy on the mound, and how quickly those three develop,” Walter said. “If they develop into guys that can contribute — we don’t need them to be Friday or Saturday night (starting) guys or to be the closer — we just need them to be able to get outs in the middle of the games.”

Redshirt senior Aaron Fossas had 10 saves for the Deacs in 2014, but had his junior season reduced to just five games after having to undergo Tommy John surgery in March.

“We’ll have him back facing hitters in the next two weeks, and by the end of March he should be the Aaron Fossas we’re used to seeing. It’ll probably be April 1 before he feel comfortable out there again,” Walter said. “It’s the second half of the season type of thing, which is ok. That’s when we’ll need him to come in and give us a shot in the arm.”

The only everyday starter missing from last year is third basemen Justin Yurchak, who transferred to Binghamton, after hitting .313 last season with five home runs and 33 RBIs. Walter has narrowed down who will get those starts.

“Keegan Maronpot has played really well. Keegan played a lot against left handers last year. He’s swinging the bat really well against both right now,” he said. “We also have a freshman named John Aiello that who’s going to start somewhere in the infield. He’s a switch-hitting shortstop that has a chance to be special.”

The Deacs host three teams for round-robin competition beginning Friday, with the Deacs first game starting at 6 p.m. against Georgetown. They face UMBC at 4 p.m. Saturday and finish up the weekend slate with a scheduled 2 p.m. first pitch against VMI. With sunny skies and temperatures in the 50s and 60s, it’ll be a great time to get out and watch the Deacs begin the season.

“The first weekend, we need to go out and be sharp early against the northern teams. The first weekend is always kind of hit and miss,” Walter said. “You never know until you get out there, but we feel like we’ll play well.”

The competition increases from there as the Deacs host Davidson Tuesday before flying to California for a weekend three-game set against USC, who is in many of the pre-season college baseball polls.

“We need to go to USC and play well. We need to win a few games,” Walter said. “That’s going to be something the tournament selection committee is going to look at. We need to go out and play well on the road in tough environments.”

Although the trip to California is a nice bonus for the team, Dunshee said the main focus will be baseball.

“It’s definitely a business trip. We’re going out there to win some games against a team that’s nationally ranked. It’ll be a good opportunity for us to gauge where we’re at early in the season,” Dunshee said. “That’s like an ACC weekend, so that’s an extra one we get. That’s great for our young guys. We’ll see some good pitching, and it’s a different kind of baseball out there. It’ll be fun to play them for sure.”

With early games against USC and Coastal Carolina, Walter believes the non-conference schedule can help prepare the Deacs for the rigorous ACC slate.

“It’s a very aggressive non-conference schedule. Even our mid-week games are against historically good programs and against teams that are used to having success. These teams get up for games against us. If you’re going to be an NCAA tournament team, you’ve got to bring your A-game 56 times. You can’t afford to take days off.”

This is Walter’s seventh year at the helm for Wake Forest, and the Deacs haven’t reached the NCAA Tournament since 2007. Walter believe all the pieces are there for a run this year, however.

“We’ll be very disappointed if we’re not in a NCAA regional. We’ll be very disappointed if we don’t play well in a NCAA Regional. Whether we can win a NCAA regional or not, I think we have the ability to do that,” he said. “Some of that will depend on how our pitchers come along. If Donnie Sellers can become a lockdown closer and some of those freshman can come along, that will be the determining factor if we can win a regional.

“If our pitching gels the right way, there’s no doubt in our mind that we can win a regional.”