After stumbling in the final innings of Wednesday's game against No. 19 Coastal Carolina, No. 16 Virginia plans to shuffle its roster in preparation for a home weekend series against Wake Forest.
The Cavaliers (29-10, 11-7 ACC) head into the weekend series against the Demon Deacons (14-22, 6-11 ACC) after winning five of their last six games.
The three weekend games at Davenport Field are scheduled to begin Friday and Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. It is the first home weekend series for the Cavaliers since the Virginia Tech series March 28 to 30.
The Cavaliers have planned a string of lineup adjustments entering the series.
First, senior starting pitcher Pat McAnaney, who has put up very impressive numbers -- 2.04 ERA, 71 strikeouts, .190 opponents' batting average in eight games -- will move into the Friday starting role, a spot generally reserved for the team's top pitcher, from the Saturday starting position. As a result, junior Jacob Thompson, who has been the Friday starter up until this point but has struggled in recent games, will instead start Saturday.
Virginia coach Brian O'Connor announced the decision after Wednesday's game.
The starting rotation change "is what we needed to do," O'Connor said. "It was the best thing for our team, and hopefully it ends up being the best thing" for Thompson.
Another change to the starting lineup will occur because of an injury. Senior Patrick Wingfield pulled his groin during warm-ups before Tuesday's game. The injury to Wingfield, who has played both third base and designated hitter, is the most recent in a string of injuries to starting Cavaliers. Freshman shortstop Phil Gosselin, was injured earlier in the season.
The injury reduces flexibility for the Cavaliers at infield positions. Though junior Greg Miclat played DH in Tuesday's game, he likely will play shortstop during the weekend, as he has most of the season. Tyler Cannon often starts at third and probably will do so against the Deacons. The most uncertain position is DH, where Wingfield has played the most. If Wingfield is not feeling well enough to play, two candidates to start at DH will be freshmen John Barr and Tyler Biddix.
The Cavaliers will have the opportunity to test the solution to their lineup puzzle against one of few ACC teams with a losing record.
Wake Forest, despite holding third place in the six-team ACC Atlantic Division, holds the conference's worst overall winning percentage.
O'Connor stressed, however, that the Demon Deacons are a dangerous team with a deceiving record.
"I'm not trying to play this as ... coach-speak," O'Connor said. "They have the same players as they did last year when they made the NCAA Regional ... and the light can go on for them like that, and we need to be prepared for that on Friday night."
Cannon echoed O'Connor's thoughts about Wake Forest.
"They're a good ballclub," Cannon said. "We're just going to take one game at a time."
The games against Wake Forest will mark the fourth-to-last conference series for the Cavaliers until the ACC Tournament May 21 to 25 in Jacksonville, Fla.
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