GREENSBORO, N.C. – Spartan baseball heads to Winston-Salem for a matchup with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons Wednesday evening at 4 at David F. Couch Ballpark. UNCG is coming off of a weekend series against the Tennessee Volunteers and have an overall record of 4-3. Wake Forest finished up a three-game series in California as they played three games against Santa Clara.
This will be the 56th meeting all-time between the two schools. Wake Forest holds a 41-14 advantage in the all-time series, but in the Link Jarrett era, the Spartans have notched four wins in nine contests. Last season the teams met just one time, with Wake Forest earning a 15-8 victory. 2016 saw the teams split the two matchups during the season. UNCG last won in Winston-Salem in 2014, defeating Wake Forest, 4-2.
Live stats and video will be available for Wednesday's contest. Stats are available via wakeforestsports.com and the video stream will be live on the ACC Network Extra and the WatchESPN app. Links for each of these services are located on the UNCG baseball schedule page.
Winston-Salem-native Jake Mayhew (Winston-Salem, N.C./West Forsyth) will get his second midweek start of the season. Last time out, the redshirt sophomore tossed 5.0 innings, striking out four hitters as he earned his first collegiate victory.
Jared Shuster will oppose Mayhew on the mound. Shuster has appeared in two games in his freshman season, logging 4.0 innings and striking out five hitters.
UNCG's bullpen has utilized eight pitchers during the early goings of the season. Senior captain Andrew Wantz (Holly Springs, N.C./Holly Springs), Easton Welch (Randleman, N.C./Gardner-Webb) and Jake Lewis (Wendell, N.C./Corinth Holders) each have four appearances out of the bullpen. Wantz has earned a 2-0 record with a save in 9.0 relief innings and leads the team with 14 strikeouts.
Welch has worked in 6.0 innings with a pair of strikeouts and induced a pair of doubles plays. Lewis has worked in 4.2 innings and has struck out nine hitters on the season, good for a 18.7 strikeouts per nine innings pitched ratio.
The Spartan offense has six players hitting .355 or better on the season as the team hits at a .327 average. Josh Madole (Hampstead, N.C./Topsail) leads the team with a .500 batting average (11-of-22) with two doubles and three RBI. Cesar Trejo (Greensboro, N.C./Ragsdale) leads the team with 10 RBI, hitting two doubles, a triple and two homers. Trejo hits at a .417 average and his leads the team with three stolen bases.
Dillon Stewart (Coats, N.C./Brunswick CC) is second on the team with eight RBI, having driven three balls out of the park to go with four doubles. He's hitting at a .370 average and leads the team with a .852 slugging percentage.
Wake Forest hits at a .234 team batting average, led by Shane Muntz. The freshman hits at a .333 average, going for extra bases three times and driving in three runs. Patrick Frick leads the team with eight RBI, hitting at a .250 average. Frick leads the Demon Deacons with a pair of homers as the team has hit six on the year.
Johnny Aiello has started all eight games at third base and was a first team preseason All-American by d1baseball.com. Last season he hit at a .328 average with 20 home runs, 18 doubles, 53 RBI and scored 57 runs.
The Demon Deacons have used six players exclusively out of the bullpen. Redshirt sophomore Bobby Hearn leads the team with a 1.12 ERA, allowing one earned run in 8.0 innings of relief work. He holds opponents to a .172 average against and struck out six hitters. Rayne Supple has made four appearances out of the bullpen, earning two saves. In his 7.1 innings of work, he's struck out 16 hitters and held opponents to a .154 average. Wake Forest pitchers have held opponents to a .190 average against and hold a 2.91 team ERA.
-UNCG-
