FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest head baseball coach Tom Walter has announced the Demon Deacons’ schedule for the upcoming 2012 season, which features a 56-game slate.
The Deacs will enjoy the majority of their games in Winston-Salem at Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park with 32 home games compared to 24 games on the road. That includes a 16-game homestand that begins with High Point on February 22 and ends with NJIT on March 14.
Wake Forest will spend its first weekend of the season on the road when the team travels to play four games at New Mexico State. The Demon Deacons and the Aggies will open the season on Friday, February 17 at 7:05 p.m. ET. The teams will then play a doubleheader on Saturday before wrapping up the series with a game on Sunday.
“New Mexico State will be a great challenge for us opening weekend,” said Walter. “They are extremely well coached and have an explosive offensive and solid pitching. Having been to Las Cruces before, I can tell you it is one of the best home field advantages in the nation.”
Wake Forest will kick off its lengthy homestand when it returns from Las Cruces. During that stretch the Deacs will have midweek contests against High Point, UNC Asheville, Georgia Southern and NJIT.
Wake Forest Baseball Park will also host several teams on consecutive weekend before opening up conference play against Maryland on March 9-11. During the weekend of February 24-26, UMBC, Cincinnati and Georgetown will all be in town, and the weekend after (March 2-4), Eastern Michigan and Marshall are on the schedule.
Other non-conference opponents throughout the year include Winthrop, UNC Greensboro, Charlotte and Elon.
“Our non-conference schedule is very competitive again this year,” said Walter. “In addition to the usual local rivals like Elon, Charlotte, UNC Greensboro, High Point and Winthrop, we feature a good mix of Big East and Conference USA opponents in our home tournaments.”
After the ACC-opening series with Maryland at home, the Deacs will make their first conference road trip to NC State on March 16-18.
Wake Forest will also host Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Clemson and will travel to play North Carolina, Virginia, Boston College and Miami. The only team that the Demon Deacons will not face from the ACC this season is Duke.
“The ACC will once again be a grind week in and week out. The perennial powers appear to be loaded for bear once again, while all the teams competing to break into the top half of the league continue to improve,” said Walter. “Each and every time you take the field in conference play, you are tested in every phase of the game. If we are going to continue to move up in the standings, we need to improve at every position from a year ago.”
In 2011, Wake Forest finished with a 25-31 overall record and a 15-15 record in the ACC. The Deacs’ conference record earned them the number eight seed and a spot in the 2011 ACC Baseball Championship in Durham, N.C.
The 2012 ACC Baseball Championship is slated for May 23-27 at NewBridge Bank Park in Greensboro, N.C.
Full 2012 Wake Forest Schedule (PDF)
