diff --git a/client/java/solrj/CHANGES.txt b/client/java/solrj/CHANGES.txt
index ddcfb64166d..5c8213fb169 100644
--- a/client/java/solrj/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/client/java/solrj/CHANGES.txt
@@ -18,8 +18,6 @@ Detailed Change List
 New Features
 ----------------------
 
- 1. SOLR-794: added escape() method to ClientUtils. (koji) 
-
 Optimizations
 ----------------------
 
@@ -34,6 +32,9 @@ Bug Fixes
     SolrQuery#getHighlightRequireFieldMatch()
     (Kohei Taketa, Lars Kotthoff via koji)
 
+ 3. SOLR-794: ClientUtils.escapeQueryChars escapes chars a bit aggressive
+    (ryan, koji)
+
 Documentation
 ----------------------
 
diff --git a/client/java/solrj/src/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/util/ClientUtils.java b/client/java/solrj/src/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/util/ClientUtils.java
index 187ead85664..8087c115ecd 100644
--- a/client/java/solrj/src/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/util/ClientUtils.java
+++ b/client/java/solrj/src/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/util/ClientUtils.java
@@ -187,29 +187,19 @@ public class ClientUtils
       return (DateFormat) proto.clone();
     }
   }
-  
-  private static final Pattern escapePattern = Pattern.compile( "(\\W)" );
-  
-  /**
-   * Non-word characters are escaped by a preceding <code>\</code>.
-   */
-  public static String escapeQueryChars( String input ) 
-  {
-    Matcher matcher = escapePattern.matcher( input );
-    return matcher.replaceAll( "\\\\$1" );
-  }
 
   /**
    * See: http://lucene.apache.org/java/docs/queryparsersyntax.html#Escaping Special Characters
    */
-  public static String escape(String s) {
+  public static String escapeQueryChars(String s) {
     StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
     for (int i = 0; i < s.length(); i++) {
       char c = s.charAt(i);
       // These characters are part of the query syntax and must be escaped
       if (c == '\\' || c == '+' || c == '-' || c == '!' || c == '(' || c == ')' || c == ':'
         || c == '^' || c == '[' || c == ']' || c == '\"' || c == '{' || c == '}' || c == '~'
-        || c == '*' || c == '?' || c == '|' || c == '&') {
+        || c == '*' || c == '?' || c == '|' || c == '&'
+        || Character.isWhitespace(c)) {
         sb.append('\\');
       }
       sb.append(c);