No. 4 Baseball Travels to Wake Forest for Three-Game Series

Story Links

April 5, 2013

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Ranked as high as fourth nationally, the Virginia baseball team (27-3, 9-3 ACC) heads to Winston-Salem, N.C., this weekend for a three-game ACC series with Wake Forest (17-14, 4-8 ACC) at Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Stadium. The teams start the series at 4 p.m. Saturday and play game two at 1 p.m. Sunday. The finale will be at 7 p.m. Monday and televised by ESPNU.

Broadcast Information
In addition to the ESPNU national broadcast Monday, live video broadcasts will be available for the first two games. A link to webcasts provided by Wake Forest will be available for the Saturday and Sunday games on VirginiaSports.com. There is a nominal fee associated with the web broadcasts.

The live radio broadcast for all three games can be found via a Cavaliers Live subscription on VirginiaSports.com. WINA 1070-AM will have the local radio broadcast on Sunday and Monday.

Starting this weekend, select stations across the Virginia Sports Radio Network will begin airing the UVa Baseball “Game of the Week” each Saturday. The following stations will carry UVA baseball this spring:

Charlottesville: WINA 1070 AM (not airing Saturday UVa-Wake game)
Richmond: WRNL 910 AM
Lynchburg: WZZI 97.9 FM
Mt Jackson: WSVG 790 AM
Martinsville: WHEE 1370 AM
Petersburg: WHAP 1340 AM
Winchester: WXVA 610 AM

Live statistics (GameTracker) also will be available for all three games at VirginiaSports.com.

Virginia Cavaliers (27-3, 9-3 ACC)
Probable Starting Rotation
Sat. – Fr. LHP Brandon Waddell (2-0, 3.11 ERA)
Sun. – R-Sr., LHP Scott Silverstein (5-0, 3.20 ERA)
Mon. – So. RHP Nick Howard (3-2, 2.43 ERA)

Wake Forest Demon Deacons (17-14, 4-8 ACC)
Probable Starting Rotation
Sat. – So. RHP Matt Pirro (3-4, 6.54 ERA)
Sun. – Sr. RHP Justin Van Grouw (3-4, 4.21 ERA)
Mon. – R-Sr. LHP Austin Stadler (5-2, 2.25 ERA)

Virginia in the Latest National Rankings
Collegiate Baseball – 4
Baseball America, Perfect Game – 5
NCBWA – 6
USA Today Coaches – 8

Noting the Virginia-Wake Forest Series
Wake Forest holds an 84-74 edge in the series with Virginia. UVa has not played in Winston-Salem since March 6-8, 2009, when the Cavaliers swept the Demon Deacons.

After sweeping Wake Forest last year in Charlottesville, the Cavaliers have won seven straight contests against the Demon Deacons; UVa’s last loss to Wake came on May 24, 2008, in the ACC tournament.

Road Warriors
After playing 23 of its first 28 games at Davenport Field, Virginia will play 11 of its 19 games in the month of April on the road. UVa will play three of its four April ACC series on the road against Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.

UVa’s lone home ACC series in the month is April 19-21 against Florida State. The Cavaliers are 5-1 on the road in 2013, including a conference series win at Clemson.

Bullpen Slams the Door
Virginia’s bullpen has been outstanding of late, allowing just two earned runs, 19 hits and four walks in the last 44 innings of work over 10 games (0.41 ERA, .130 BAA). UVa’s pen did not allow a run in 13 innings in the Miami series. The Cavaliers’ relief corps has a 1.78 ERA this year while limiting opponents to a .198 batting average.

Offense Puts up Big Innings Regularly
Virginia has scored three or more runs in an inning 40 times this year. The Cavaliers have had just seven games where they have not recorded at least three runs in one inning. UVa has scored three runs in an inning on 22 occasions this year.

The Cavaliers’ most dominant innings: the fifth (outscored opponents 32-6), seventh (30-7) and eighth (50-6). UVa averages 8.2 runs per game, outscoring its opponents 245-85.

Crockett Settles into Closer Role
Virginia junior lefty Kyle Crockett has closed out games of late, pitching in five straight games while finishing the last four, with three saves. Crockett has made 13 appearances this year, allowing just two earned runs while opponents have hit .187 against him.

He has made 72 career appearances – most on the staff and tied for eighth in program history (needs one appareance for seventh, two for sixth).

McCarthy Lone ACC Player to Reach base in Every Game This Year
Virginia freshman Joe McCarthy is the lone ACC player to reach base safely in every game this year. The rookie has reached base safely in all 30 games this year. Chris Taylor also made his way on base safely in 30 straight contests last season.

The streak is the longest by a UVa player since Dan Grovatt reached base in 43 straight games in 2009.

Current ACC Reached Base Safely Streaks:
1. Joe McCarthy, UVa, 30
2. Colin Moran, UNC, 27
3. Kyle Convissar, Maryland, 25

Up Next
Virginia comes home at 6 p.m. Wednesday to battle Radford, then heads back out on the road next weekend (April 12-14) for a three-game ACC series at No. 12 Georgia Tech.