Virginia Hosts N.C. State In Pivotal ACC Series On April 8-10

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April 7, 2005

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`HOOS UP NEXT?: The Virginia Cavaliers (20-9, 4-6 ACC) will face the N.C. State Wolfpack (22-9, 5-7 ACC) in a pivotal three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series on April 8-10 at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium. N.C. State is ranked #33 in the country in the NCBWA Top-35 poll this week. The Cavaliers and Wolfpack are scheduled to meet on Friday, April 8th at 7:00 PM; Saturday, April 9th at 1:06 PM and Sunday, April 10th at 1:00 PM. All three games will be played at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!: Saturday’s contest between Virginia and N.C. State will be televised and is scheduled to be shown live on Fox Sports Net (FSN) South. The Friday and Sunday games will be aired on WINA AM 1070. This will be UVa’s second televised game this season as Virginia appeared on FSN last week against North Carolina on April 2nd.

VIRGINIA’S CURRENT RECORD & RANKINGS: Virginia stands 20-9 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 UVA/NCSU ALL-TIME SERIES: Virginia trails the all-time series with N.C. State, 53-96-1. In fact, the Cavaliers have lost their last three consecutive meetings and 12 of the last 14 games played against the Wolfpack. NCSU holds a 14-6 advantage over UVa in the 20 games played in the all-time series since the 2000 season. Here is a look at the UVa/NCSU series since the 2000 season:

Year	Opponents		Score	Location2004	N.C. State def. Virginia	6-5	Salem, Va.2004	N.C. State def. Virginia	8-7	Raleigh, N.C.2004	N.C. State def. Virginia	12-1	Raleigh, N.C.2004	Virginia def. N.C. State	9-2	Raleigh, N.C.2003	N.C. State def. Virginia	10-6	Salem, Va.2003	Virginia def. N.C. State	8-3	Charlottesville, Va.2003	N.C. State def. Virginia	3-2	Charlottesville, Va.2003	N.C. State def. Virginia	7-1	Charlottesville, Va.2002	N.C. State def. Virginia 	6-5	St. Petersburg, Fla.2002	N.C. State def. Virginia	10-8	Raleigh, N.C.2002	N.C. State def. Virginia	12-7	Raleigh, N.C.2002	N.C. State def. Virginia	10-2	Raleigh, N.C.2001	N.C. State def. Virginia	6-2	Fort Mill, S.C.2001	N.C. State def. Virginia	10-3	Charlottesville, Va.2001	Virginia def. N.C. State	10-2	Charlottesville, Va.2001	Virginia def. N.C. State	8-7	Charlottesville, Va.2000	Virginia def. N.C. State	9-5	Fort Mill, S.C.2000	Virginia def. N.C. State	3-1	Raleigh, N.C.2000	N.C. State def. Virginia	4-2	Raleigh, N.C.2000	N.C. State def. Virginia	16-13	Raleigh, N.C.

LAST TIME THEY MET: N.C. State defeated Virginia 6-5 on May 27, 2004 in the 2004 ACC Tournament in Salem, Va. the last time the Cavaliers and Wolfpack met. NCSU won the regular season ACC series last season over UVa two games to one in a three-game series that was played in Raleigh, N.C. on March 26-28. Virginia won the first contest of the series 9-2 before N.C. State claimed the final two games 12-1 and 8-7.

PROBABLE PITCHING FOR CAVALIERS FOR N.C. STATE SERIES: Virginia is expected to use the trio of Matt Avery (RHP), Mike Ballard (LHP) and Jeff Kamrath (RHP) on the mound against the Wolfpack. The Cavaliers will likely go with Avery (3-2, 4.62 ERA, 37.0 IP, 34 K) on Friday, Ballard (5-2, 3.60 ERA, 50.0 IP, 30 K) on Saturday and Kamrath (5-2, 2.65 ERA, 51.0 IP, 39 K) on Sunday. N.C. State is expected to counter with the trio of Jeff Stallings (RHP), Branden Knapp (LHP) and Gob Hobson (RHP). The Wolfpack will likely go with Stallings (4-2, 4.01 ERA, 42.2 IP, 29 K) on Friday; Knapp (1-1, 4.33 ERA, 27.0 IP, 20 K) on Saturday and Hobson (4-1, 4.95 ERA, 43.2 IP, 30 K) on Sunday.

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.

VIRGINIA JUST TWO GAMES OFF RECORD PACE FROM 2004 SEASON: Virginia’s record of 20-9 overall through 29 games this season is just two games behind the Cavaliers’ mark of 22-7 through their first 29 games last year during UVa’s record-tying season for most wins (44).

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 64-24 overall, 22-12 in the ACC. Last season (2004), O’Connor was named just the second Virginia baseball coach ever to be named the ACC Coach of the Year.

RBI = RYAN BATS-`EM IN: Virginia’s Ryan Zimmerman has been an RBI machine so far this season. Zimmerman has driven in a team-high 37 RBI and is on pace to break the UVa school record for most RBI in a single season (67).

`HOOS BY THE MONTH: Virginia won eight of its 11 games in the month of February (8-3) and won 11 of 14 games in March (11-3). The Cavaliers lost their first three games in the month of April before winning their first game of the month against Liberty. Here is a look at UVa’s record broken down by the month:

Month		Virginia's RecordFebruary	8-3, 0-0 ACCMarch		11-3, 4-3 ACCApril 		1-3, 0-3 ACC

VIRGINIA IN WEEKEND SERIES ACTION: Virginia has played in eight weekend series matchups in 2005 and is 6-2 in weekend series outcomes. All of UVa’s weekend series went three-games except Virginia’s series with Virginia Tech on March 25-27. The series was shortened to just one game on March 27th at Radford University after playing conditions at VT’s English Field forced the cancelations of two games of the series and moved the series to a neutral site location. Virginia stands 14-8 overall in weekend series contests this season. Here is a look at the Cavaliers’ results for weekend series games:

Date	Virginia's Opponent	Results2/11	@ UNC Wilmington	L, 5-22/12	@ UNC Wilmington	W, 2-02/13	@ UNC Wilmington	W, 7-42/18	Bucknell			W, 7-22/19	Bucknell (DH 1)		W, 2-02/19	Bucknell (DH 2)		W, 13-32/26	Fordham (DH 1)		W, 5-02/26	Fordham (DH 2)		W, 13-32/27	Fordham 		L, 3-23/4	@ Wake Forest 		L, 11-83/5	@ Wake Forest 		L, 15-83/6	@ Wake Forest		L, 7-63/11	Marist			W, 3-03/12	Marist			W, 10-53/13	Marist			W, 6-03/18	Maryland		W, 4-13/19	Maryland		W, 6-53/20	Maryland		W, 5-23/27	vs. Virginia Tech		W, 8-54/1	@ #11 North Carolina	L , 8-7 (14)4/2	@ #11 North Carolina	L, 10-54/3	@ #11 North Carolina	L, 3-2 (11)

CAVALIERS NOT BEATING THEMSELVES WITH ERRORS: Last season, much of the success Virginia enjoyed was due to not beating itself with costly errors. In 2004, UVa established a new single-season school record fielding percentage mark of .973 while committing just 62 errors to their opponents 105. Heading into its three-game series against N.C. State, Virginia’s opponents have committed 66 errors to just 28 for UVa.