(Photo: Charlotte Knights, Minor League Baseball)
Wake Forest Baseball begins a road trip this week as the Deacs will not return to David F. Couch Ballpark until April 16th, when they take on Coastal Carolina for the third and final time this season. Fresh off of a 3-1 week, the Diamond Deacs are back in action for a 5-game stretch that will feature a double dose of midweek games, including a non-conference midweek bout against the ACC foe Clemson Tigers on Wednesday night at Truist Field in Charlotte, N.C.
Wake Forest will begin the week on Tuesday night when they travel to High Point to take on the Panthers for the second time this season. The first meeting was opening night at David F. Couch Ballpark and the Deacs prevailed 7-6 behind a couple of big-time performances from Andrew Costello and Evan Jones.
High Point (18-9)
High Point enters the week having won eight straight including a weekend sweep of Gardner-Webb, and 9-of-11 ballgames since they took 2-of-3 from the Florida Gators in Gainesville. The Panthers have also won four straight games on their home field including a 12-6 midweek win against another ACC member in Duke.
High Point is led offensively by junior Seojun Oh, who enters the week with a scorching slash line of .361|.467|.680. Up the middle, The Panthers are led by two veterans, junior second baseman, Frank Kelley and graduate Willie Ponce, with Kelly hitting .333 with a .900 OPS, and Ponce coming in slashing .353|.477|.559. Landen Johnson is the other big time power threat in this lineup, coming in with a 1.004 OPS with 8 home runs on the year
Series History: Wake Forest leads the all-time series 39-15 with 11 of those losses coming at High Point.
Clemson (19-10)
Clemson comes into the week after losing 2-of-3 at home to Miami and overall have struggled in ACC play to begin the season, sitting at just 2-7 in conference so far, including a weekend sweep to Notre Dame.
Despite the early season struggles, the Tigers are led offensively by two catchers in particular, Jacob Jarrell and Nate Savoie. Both Jarrell and Savoie lead the Tigers in OPS, with Savoie boasting a 1.124 OPS and 10 home runs. Jarrell holds a 1.058 OPS but leads the team with 12 home runs. The production behind those two falls off a cliff for this Clemson offense, with the exception of Tryston McCladdie, who comes into the week with a .351 average and a slugging percentage at .604.
Series History: Clemson leads the all-time series 50-27.
It will be interesting to see how Head Coach Tom Walter will deploy his pitching staff, with an 'all hands on deck' approach to the double midweek and a 5-game week.