Terps Set To Battle No. 24 Wake Forest In Three-Game ACC Set

April 20, 2006

Terps Head To Wake For ACC Atlantic Division Showdown
Approaching the home stretch of their Atlantic Coast Conference season, the Maryland Terrapins (17-23, 6-15 ACC) will be hungry for league victories when they take on No. 24 Wake Forest in a three-game set in Winston-Salem, N.C. from April 21-23. Still fighting to secure a berth in the eight-team conference tournament, this weekend's series against Atlantic Division rival Wake will be critical in determining the Terps' postseason fate. As of April 20, the Terps sit in fifth place in the Atlantic, directly behind the Demon Deacons in fourth.

Following a three-game weekend set against then-No. 12 NC State, the Terps rank as having played the third most difficult schedule in all of college baseball. They also hold an RPI rating of 42 (0.5647). Maryland owns eight wins over top-50 RPI teams and is 2-0 against squads ranked 51-100. So far this season, the Terps have knocked off a ranked team six times, including No. 3 North Carolina and No. 25 James Madison on the road and No. 14 Miami, No. 3 Georgia Tech (twice) No. 15 Old Dominion at Shipley.

The Terps trail the all-time series with the Demon Deacons, 50-84-1. Wake has won the last three meetings after Maryland took three straight from 2004-05. Last year, the Deacons won the regular season series, two games to one, before bouncing the Terps from the ACC Tournament on May 24. Lefttfielder Will Frazier drove in five runs and broke Maryland's career doubles record with his 60th during a four-run Maryland fourth inning, but it would not be enough as the Terps fell, 20-13, in a slugfest at the Baseball Grounds at Jacksonville. Right-hander Ben Pfinsgraff was the first of seven Terp hurlers to appear on the day, surrendering five runs (four earned) on five hits in 1.1 innings. Mike Sufczynski was charged with the loss after yielding four runs on six hits in 2.1 innings of work.

Before dropping a mid-week contest to Davidson, Wake (28-13, 12-6 ACC) swept its last ACC series, at Duke from April 14-16. The Deacons enter the weekend with a team batting average of .291 to go along with 48 home runs and 48 stolen bases. Freshman first baseman Allan Dykstra leads Wake in hitting (.365), doubles (15), homers (14) and RBI (51). At the top of the order, second baseman Matt Antonelli is batting at a .346 clip with 14 doubles, 11 home runs and 13 steals. The Wake pitching staff (4.09 team ERA) features three four-game winners in its starting rotation as well as the ACC save leader in righty Ben Hunter.

All three games this weekend will be broadcast online by WMUC Sports at www.wmucports.com with Mark "Swan" Butman on the call. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Probable pitching matchups for the weekend are as follows:
Friday, April 21: LHP Casey Baron (1-4, 4.81 ERA) vs. RHP Brad Kledzik (4-2, 3.66)
Saturday, April 22: RHP Ben Pfinsgraff (2-4, 6.44) vs. LHP Eric Niesen (3-0, 2.97)
Sunday, April 23: Maryland TBD vs. RHP Justin Keadle (4-2, 4.80)

Terps Set To Battle No. 24 Wake Forest In Three-Game ACC Set

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