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Virginia Entertains Wake Forest Saturday through Monday
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VIRGINIA CAVALIERS (19-10-1, 6-6)
Probable Starting Rotation
Sat. – RHP Branden Kline (4-2, 3.09 ERA)
Sun. – LHP Scott Silverstein (2-3, 2.68 ERA)
Mon. – RHP Artie Lewicki (1-1, 4.31 ERA)
WAKE FOREST DEMON DEACONS (19-11, 5-7)
Probable Starting Rotation
Sat. – LHP Tim Cooney (3-2, 4.06 ERA)
Sun. – RHP Justin Van Grouw (1-3, 5.35 ERA)
Mon. – LHP Brian Holmes (5-0, 1.87 ERA)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia baseball team continues its nine-game homestand Saturday through Monday when Wake Forest visits Davenport Field for the first time since 2008. The three-game ACC series begins at 4 p.m. Saturday. Game 2 is set for 1 p.m. Sunday, and the series culminates with a 7 p.m. Monday game that will be televised nationally on ESPNU as part of the network’s ACC Monday package.
WINA 1070-AM will carry the local radio broadcast of all three games. The Saturday contest also will air across the Virginia Sports Radio Network airwaves (check local listings).
Live video for the Saturday and Sunday games will be available at VirginiaSports.com (subscription required). Live audio (subscription required) and GameTracker links for all three games also can be found at VirginiaSports.com.
Following the Sunday game there will be an Easter candy dash in the outfield, as well as player autographs and running of the bases. On Monday the first 100 students will receive a free t-shirt as well as a hot dog/Pepsi concessions voucher. The latest set of trading cards also will be handed out to the first 500 fans in attendance.
UVa basketball All-American Mike Scott will throw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the Monday evening game.
Because of an event at John Paul Jones Arena Saturday through Monday, there will be no parking available in the JPJA lots for baseball. Parking will be available in the University Hall, Cage and McCue lots.
Virginia (19-10-1, 6-6 ACC) enters the series on a high note following a 15-5 victory over James Madison Wednesday evening at Davenport Field. UVa scored nine runs in the fourth inning in the big win.
The Cavaliers are 5-1 at home in ACC play this season and have won 11-consecutive home games. Virginia is 114-22 at home since 2009, including a 16-4 mark in 2012.
Keith Werman (Sr., Vienna, Va.) extended his hit streak to a career-best 14 games with a fifth-inning single on Wednesday. He is batting .477 (21-for-44) during his torrid stretch at the plate and has raised his average to .338, second on the team. Jared King (Sr., Radford, Va.) ranks ninth in the ACC in batting .369, which tops the Cavaliers this season.
Virginia continues to lead the ACC in batting (.317) and fielding (.975). On the mound the Cavaliers rank sixth in the conference with a 3.35 earned run average.
Wake Forest (19-11) had its Tuesday game with UNC Greensboro called off because of inclement weather. The Demon Deacons dropped two of three games at then-No. 5 North Carolina last weekend in Chapel Hill. Wake won the opener, 7-6 in 12 innings, before falling 7-3 and 4-3 to conclude the series.
Conor Keniry leads the team with a .344 batting average, while Carlos Lopez is second on the team in batting average (.336) and home runs (eight) while leading the team with 35 RBI. Mac Williamson is tied for the ACC lead with nine home runs. Wake ranks eighth in the ACC in batting at .278, 10th in earned run average at 4.07 and fifth in fielding at .970.
Wake Forest owns an 84-71 record in the series with Virginia. The teams have not played in the regular season since March 6-8, 2009, when Virginia swept the Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem. The teams met last year in the ACC tournament, with Virginia scoring a 13-1 win that was called after seven innings because of the 10-run rule.
Wake’s last trip to Charlottesville was April 18-20, 2008, when UVa took two of three from the Demon Deacons; Wake’s last series win in Charlottesville came in 2002 when the Deacs swept UVa. Only seven current Cavaliers have previously played against Wake Forest.
Virginia steps out of conference at 6 p.m. Wednesday when it plays host to George Washington.