Baseball Gameday: Wake Forest vs. Virginia
5/16/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
| Gameday Central | Wake Forest vs. Virginia | |
| Game 53 | Thursday, May 17, 3:00 p.m. |
| Coverage |  | ACCN Extra |
| Game 54 | Friday, May 18, 6:00 p.m. |
| Coverage |  | ACCN Extra |
| Game 55 | Saturday, May 19, 1:00 p.m. |
| Coverage | | ACCN Extra |
| Location | Winston-Salem, N.C. (David F. Couch Ballpark) - Facility Info | Tickets | Weather |
| Information | Wake Forest Notes  | @WakeBaseball  |
The Matchup
• Wake Forest closes out the regular season with a three-game series against Virginia from Thursday-Saturday.
Promotions
• Thursday: Bark in the Park - Bring your dogs out to the park for a day of baseball.
• Friday: Trading Card Giveaway.
• Saturday: Senior day - Wake Forest will honor its four graduating seniors - Keegan Maronpot, Bruce Steel, bullpen catcher Chris Schafer and student manager Frankie Scimeca. There will also be another trading card giveaway.
Last Time Out
• The Demon Deacons wrapped up the non-conference slate with a 9-8 win over High Point on Tuesday. Wake Forest jumped out to a 7-0 lead but the Panthers scored the next eight runs and took an 8-7 lead in the ninth, but Bobby Seymour hit a walk-off single to seal the win in the bottom of the ninth.
• Johnny Aiello, Chris Lanzilli and DJ Poteet each homered to push the Deacs in front in the early innings.
Wake Forest Storylines
• The Demon Deacons are a youthful squad in 2018, having started six different freshmen position players, while five rookies have seen time on the mound. Out of the position players, 222 starts have been made by freshmen (47.4 percent), compared to 91 for sophomores (19.5 percent), 155 for juniors (33.1 percent) and none by seniors.
• Wake Forest's 222 starts by true freshmen are the second-most in the country, behind only Arizona State (236). Mississippi State is next-closest with 184. Wake Forest is the only program to have five freshmen with 30+ starts each. By comparison, the Deacs totaled only 25 starts from true freshmen all season in 2017.
• The Deacs started six true freshmen on May 13 at NC State, becoming only the second team to do so this year (Vanderbilt).
• On the mound, approximately two-thirds of innings pitched have been by underclassmen. 3.1 have been thrown by seniors (0.7 percent), 170.2 by juniors (36.5 percent), 199.1 innings by sophomores (42.7 percent) and 94.0 frames from the freshmen (20.1 percent).
Opponent And Series History
• Wake Forest leads the all-time series against Virginia, 88-80. The teams haven't met since 2016, when UVA won 2-of-3 meetings in Charlottesville and Wake Forest won a game at the ACC Championship. The last series in Winston-Salem was in 2014, when the Deacs knocked off then-No. 1 Virginia in a three-game series.
• Virginia, ranked as high as No. 14 this year, enters with a 27-22 overall record. Preseason All-American Jake McCarthy returned from a lengthy injury on Monday, and is hitting .316 in 15 games played.
On Deck
• Wake Forest heads into the ACC Championship from May 22-27. Seeding will be announced by the league on Saturday night and the full schedule will be released Sunday morning.
