Sports > March 27, 2008

By Martin Rickman | Staff writer

The Diamond Deacons have been uncharacteristically plagued by walks and rain all year and that came to a tipping point on a weekend trip to Coral Gables, Fla., over the weekend as the team dropped two games to the fifth-ranked Miami Hurricanes.

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Junior second baseman Dustin Hood throws over to junior first baseman Allan Dykstra during the Deacs’ 12-6 loss against UNC-Asheville March 25. (Jeff Merski/Old Gold & Black)

Wake’s pitchers were never able to establish any kind of rhythm during the trip, giving up six home runs to the Hurricanes in game one and walking a mind-boggling 15 batters in the first game of what was supposed to be a doubleheader on March 23. The March 22 game was cancelled, as was the second game of the doubleheader on March 23 due to rain. This was the sixth game this season that has been cancelled or postponed due to inclement weather.

The Deacs (11-10, 4-4) lost the two games by a combined score of 40-6 to the extremely strong Hurricane team and head coach Rick Rembielak believes that the team just needs to make adjustments to get the team back on track.

“We played well out of the gate the first few weekends, but you get into a little rut and it might spread a little bit,” Rembielak said. “During that time some of the confidence gets lost. These are the same guys that did well before, so it’s a matter of getting a little spark back. We’re fighting through it.”

Behind a very experienced group of guys, the Deacs, who were a regional team last year, had high hopes at the beginning of this season. The problem since the beginning of the year has been the pitching. Behind a staggering team ERA of 8.26, Wake has used 16 pitchers already this season and no Deacon hurler who has thrown more than three innings this season has an ERA under 4.5.

“We talk about it all the time, how important it is to get ahead of hitters,” Rembielak said.

“I don’t know if it is any more than a pitcher trusting his stuff. When you start working behind hitters, that’s when you get in trouble. It makes the hitters better, you groove your pitches to get it over and they are trying to nitpick too much.”

The hitting has been a strong point for the Deacs, but it is terribly difficult to outscore teams that are scoring 10 or more runs, which Wake has given up nine times in their 21 games this year.

The team has posted a .297 batting average and a .403 on-base percentage and has been led by players like Andy Goff, Allan Dykstra, Dustin Hood, Evan Ocheltree, Willy Fox and Ben Terry, who have combined for 97 RBIs already this season.

There was very little time to bounce back though, as college baseball leaves little time to reflect and practice once the season gets underway. Once returning to Winston-Salem, the Deacs took on UNC-Asheville on March 25 and continued their struggles in midweek games.

The team lost 12-6, leaving 11 men on base offensively, while the Deacon pitchers walked 10 batters. This dropped Wake’s record in weekday games to 3-3 on the year.

Rembielak explained the difficulty of adjusting during a season where the team plays five times a week, as compared to once or twice a week like football or basketball.

“Pitchers have a side day, but you can also do some things without throwing a baseball – mechanical things, on flat ground,” Rembielak said. “Obviously it’s not the same thing as facing a hitter, but if there’s a mechanical flaw, the pitching coach can try to see what is going on and possibly the pitcher can feel it as well.

“It’s so difficult over the long haul as a player to maintain consistency and there’s always some sort of refinement going on. There’s hardly anybody out there playing the game that is not doing something wrong.”

The Deacs turned right around and traveled to Charlotte March 26, falling 12-8 to the 49ers. The Deacons jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, with senior Ben Terry working a leadoff walk, stealing second base and being brought home by junior Dustin Hood, who was brought home by junior Allan Dykstra. The 49ers tied up the game in the second inning before the Deacons retook the lead in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by senior Weldon Woodall.

However, the Deacons gave up five runs in the fourth inning to stake the 49ers to the lead for good. The Deacs responded in the following inning on a pair of RBI singles from Goff and Ocheltree.

Charlotte responded in the sixth inning with an additional three runs and despite the Deacs plating runs in the seventh and eighth innings, it was too little too late.

Rembielak said that he thought that the team just needed a little confidence boost to bring them success the rest of the way.

Wake has a very big weekend series to try and get back on track at home at Hooks Stadium against Florida State.

The first game of the series is scheduled for 3 p.m. March 28.