July 15, 2003
As many leagues around the country have arrived or are approaching their All-Star breaks, here is an All-Star edition of the Wake Forest baseball summer notebook.
Mike MacDougal (1997-99) will represent Kansas City and Wake Forest in tonight's All-Star game. MacDougal is Wake Forest's fifth major league All-Star. The most recent Deacon All-Star was Erik Hanson. He made an appearance in 1995 while pitching for the Boston Red Sox. Prior to Hanson, one would have to go back 45 years to find the last Wake Forest All-Star. But in 1950, the Deacons had two players in the Mid-Summer Classic -- Tommy Byrne (New York Yankees) and Ray Scarborough (Chicago White Sox). That game was played at Chicago's Old Comiskey Park. Byrne was a Yankee teammate that season with Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, and a young Whitey Ford.
MacDougal is the second player out of Wake Forest to make an All-Star team during his rookie campaign. Willard Marshall first accomplished the feat in 1942 as a member of the New York Giants. It was the first of three All-Star appearances for Marshall. The 1942 game was played at the Polo Grounds, the 1947 game at Wrigley Field and the 1949 contest was played at Ebbetts Field.
MacDougal isn't the only Wake Forest All-Star this summer. Grant Achilles was named to the Atlantic Coast Baseball League All-Star Team. Achilles, playing second base for the New Jersey Colts, is second in the league with 19 RBI and ranks fourth with 15 steals in 16 attempts.
The 2003 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award show will air Tuesday on five regional cable sports networks, prior to the MLB All-Star game on FOX. The show will reveal the winner of the 26th Annual Golden Spikes Award - given to the nation's most outstanding amateur baseball player. Kyle Sleeth is among the five finalists for the award. A profile of Sleeth will be included as a portion of the show. Sleeth was the third overall pick to Detroit in the June draft. All five finalists were first round draft picks but only Rickie Weeks (Southern) was selected before Sleeth. He was taken second by Milwaukee.
The show will air on: Fox Sports Net South - 2:30 pm EST, Cox Sports New Orleans - 6:30 pm EST, Comcast Mid Atlantic - 7:00 pm EST, Comcast Southeast - 11:00 pm EST, Fox Sports Net Bay Area - 3:30 pm PST. The show will also air on College Sports TV on July 22 at 9:00 pm EST.
Brian Bach recently got some face time when the HBO program "On the Record with Bob Costas" featured Bach's Mat-Su Miners of the Alaska League. Bach is 1-3 with a 3.82 ERA in six starts. In 34 1/3 innings, Bach has fanned 18 hitters with only eight walks.
In the Cape League, rising junior Ben Ingold continues to have a productive summer. The shortstop has 19 RBI for Chatham to lead all Cape League hitters. Rising junior right-handed pitcher Justin Keadle has 40 strikeouts for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, enough to rank third on the Cape.
Elsewhere on the Cape, Chris Getz and Daniel Davidson are with Chatham. Getz is hitting .171 while Davidson has an 0-1 record with a 3.86 ERA. Tim Morley is 1-1 for Hyannis with a 3.18 ERA in five games. He has 12 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings. Steve LeFaivre has caught on with the Falmouth and is starting in the outfield for the Commodores.
In the Coastal Plain League, Kirby Wedekind is pitching for Wilmington (N.C.). He owns a 1-2 mark with a 2.19 ERA through six relief appearances.
A fifth member of the the 2003 Deacons has signed a professional contract. Seth Hill, left handed pitcher, inked a free agent contract with the Texas Rangers. Meanwhile, Deacon signee Brandon Yarborough, a catcher from Ellerbe, N.C., has signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was a fifth-round pick of the Cardinals in last month's draft.
Portions of the 2004 schedule have been finalized including the ACC schedule. Wake Forest will host Georgia Tech (March 19-21), North Carolina (April 2-4), Maryland (April 23-25) and Florida State (May 20-22). The Deacons will travel to Clemson (March 26-28), Duke (April 9-11), NC State (April 16-18) and Virginia (May 13-15). The ACC Tournament will return to Salem, Va., from May 25-30.
A look at the non-conference slate shows that Wake Forest will travel to Rice for a three-day round-robin tournament. The Deacons will play the defending national champion Owls, Southwest Texas and third team to be determined. That event will be held at Rice's Reckling Park on Feb. 20-22. Wake Forest will also play at a tournament hosted by the University of Memphis from March 11-14. The Deacons will be joined by Maine, Memphis, Missouri, Indiana State and Kent.
