Virginia Faces Liberty Tuesday In UVa's Next To Last Non-Conference Road Game

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April 4, 2005

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`HOOS UP NEXT?: The Virginia Cavaliers (19-9, 4-6 ACC) will face the Liberty Flames (18-8, 4-5 Big South) in a non-conference game on Tuesday, April 5th at 3:00 PM at Liberty’s Worthington Stadium in Lynchburg, Va. The Cavaliers’ game with the Flames is UVa’s next to last non-conference road game of the 2005 season. Virginia has just one non-conference road game remaining this season – May 17 at James Madison.

VIRGINIA’S CURRENT RECORD & RANKINGS: Virginia stands 19-9 overall, 4-6 in the ACC. UVa is not ranked in this week’s college baseball polls (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, Sports Weekly/ESPN, NCBWA) but is receiving votes in the Sports Weekly/ESPN Top-25 and the NCBWA Top-35.

THE ALL-TIME SERIES: Virginia leads the all-time series with Liberty in baseball, 25-21. The Cavaliers have won the last five meetings against the Flames and UVa has not lost to Liberty since the 2002 season.

LAST TIME THEY MET: Virginia defeated Liberty in a home-and-home match-up last year (2004) on May 18th and 19th. UVa defeated Liberty 6-4 on May 18th in Lynchburg before posting a 5-4 victory over the Flames one day later in Charlottesville.

ZIMMERMAN BATTERS TAR HEEL PITCHERS DURING RED-HOT WEEKEND: Virginia’s Ryan Zimmerman turned in an amazing weekend against the #11 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels on April 1-3 in Chapel Hill, N.C., and looked every bit the All-American that he is. Against North Carolina, Zimmerman batted .667 and was 10-for-15 at the plate and posted six runs, four RBI and hit a home run, a triple, a double and five singles for the series. He also stole four stolen bases (4-for-4 on attempts) and drew two walks.

Zimmerman jumped all over UNC’s starting pitching duo of Andrew Miller and Daniel Bard – two of the top collegiate pitchers in the country. Against Miller, Zimmerman was 3-for-3 (three singles), scored three runs, one RBI and walked once. Against Bard, Zimmerman was 3-for-4 with three RBI, two runs and just missed hitting for the cycle after hitting a home run, a triple and a single. His lone plate appearance without a hit against Miller and Bard – he reached base on an error. Zimmerman went 6-for-7 with five runs and four RBI against the duo of Miller and Bard.

In game one against North Carolina, Zimmerman was 5-for-6 with three runs, one RBI, one double and two stolen bases. In game two he was 3-for-4 with three RBI, one run, one home run and one triple. In game three he was 2-for-5 with one run and two stolen bases.

BLACK & BLUE FOR THE ORANGE & BLUE: In Virginia’s three-game ACC series against North Carolina on April 1-3, the Cavalier were hit by a pitch 12 times in three games, including nine times (seven by one pitcher) in a single contest.

CAVALIERS LAST AN EXTRA, EXTRA, EXTRA LONG TIME: Virginia’s ACC weekend series keep getting more interesting as the season goes on. After a near washout against Virginia Tech where the Cavaliers were only able to play one game of a scheduled three-game series with the Hokies (March 25-27), Virginia was able to play three very long, long games against North Carolina on April 1-3. Game one of the series lasted 14 inning and was a four hour and 40 minute marathon, game two stretched over a five hour span thanks to two rain delays which totaled two and a half hours (one delay was an hour and 35 minutes, the other was 52 minutes), and lastly, game three went into extra innings – this time through 11 innings. In all, the Cavaliers played 34 innings which took nearly 13 actual hours to complete.

VIRGINIA JUST TWO GAMES OFF RECORD PACE FROM 2004 SEASON: Virginia’s record of 19-9 overall through 28 games this season is just two games behind the Cavaliers’ mark of 21-7 through their first 28 games last year during UVa’s record-tying season for most wins (44).

ZIMMERMAN FALLS ONE HIT SHORT OF THE CYCLE FOR THE THIRD TIME: In Virginia’s 10-5 victory over Marist on March 12th, Ryan Zimmerman was a double away from hitting for “The Cycle” in the Cavaliers’ victory. Zimmerman hit a home run in his first at-bat, tripled in his second at-bat and singled in his third at-bat. He finished 3-for-5 at the plate with three RBI and scored a run. Two games later, Zimmerman went 4-for-5 at the plate with three RBI and scored two runs in Virginia’s 15-1 victory over Coppin State on March 16th and missed the cycle, this time by a triple. After Zimmerman singled in his first at-bat, he doubled in his second at-bat and hit a home run in his third at-bat. He then singled in his fourth at-bat and was unable to get the elusive triple. On April 2nd against #11 ranked North Carolina, the cycle eluded Zimmerman for the third time in a month when he went 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI and two runs after hitting a home run, a triple and a single.

VIRGINIA RIDING 10-GAME HOME WINNING STREAK: Virginia’s 2-1 victory over VMI on March 30th was the Cavaliers’ tenth consecutive home victory this season. UVa’s ten consecutive home wins this year matches the most consecutive home victories for Virginia since the Cavaliers won 10 consecutive home games from March 4-22 in 2003.

CAVALIERS SEASON-HIGH 11-GAME WINNING STREAK COMES TO AN END AT UNC: Virginia’s 11-game win streak from March 8-30 came to end when UVa lost a three-game ACC series to the #11 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels on April 1-3 in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Cavaliers’ 11-game win streak was its longest since Virginia won a school-record 14 consecutive games from March 30 – April 21 last season (2004).

O’CONNOR-METER: Virginia head baseball coach Brian O’Connor is in his second year as UVa’s head coach. His career coaching record at UVa stands at 63-24 overall, 22-12 in the ACC.