No. 16 Baseball Matches Up with No. 19 Coastal Carolina Tuesday

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. The Virginia baseball team takes on No. 19 Coastal Carolina at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the first matchup of ranked teams this season at Davenport Field. Riding a five-game winning streak, the Cavaliers are ranked as high as No. 16 nationally this week.

Virginia (29-9) won all five of its games last week, including a three-game sweep at Maryland over the weekend. Coastal Carolina (28-7) is on a four-game winning streak after winning at NC State last Wednesday and sweeping a road series at Charleston Southern last weekend. The Chanticleers already have played eight games against ACC competition this season and have posted a 7-1 record, including wins at North Carolina, Wake Forest and NC State.

The pitching matchup is Virginia’s Matt Packer (5-1, 1.05 ERA) against Coastal’s Cody Wheeler (3-0, 5.79 ERA).

The Cavaliers’ offense came alive last week, averaging just under eight runs per game. Tyler Cannon (So., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) had a big week, going 10-for-22 (.455) with a home run and five RBI. Greg Miclat (Jr., Concord, N.C.) went 9-for-23 (.391) and scored seven runs.

Two of the nation’s top stolen base threats will be on the field Tuesday. Coastal boasts Scott Woodward, who was tied for No. 1 nationally last week in stolen bases and currently has 26 steals in 29 attempts. Miclat has stolen 23 bases and was ranked No. 9 nationally last week. As a team, the Cavaliers have swiped 87 bases tops in the ACC and No. 4 nationally.

Coastal and Virginia met twice last season with the Chanticleers taking both games 3-2 in Conway, S.C., and 11-7 in Charlottesville. Coastal owns a 3-1 edge in the all-time series.

Virginia continues its six-game homestand at 6 p.m. Friday as it opens a three-game ACC series with Wake Forest.