Virginia Baseball Moves into National Rankings

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. The Virginia baseball team has ascended into the national polls this week after finishing off a three-game ACC series sweep of Wake Forest over the weekend and improving to 12-0 on the young season.

Virginia is ranked 18th this week by Collegiate Baseball. The ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll has the Cavaliers at No. 23 this week, while the National Collegiate Baseball Writers’ Association (NCBWA) has Virginia tabbed at No. 26.

The Cavaliers’ 12-0 mark is the best 12-game start in school history. The 12-game winning streak is tied for the longest active streak in the nation with Georgia. The Cavaliers and Bulldogs join San Jose State as the only remaining undefeated teams in the country.

Virginia’s road sweep of Wake Forest was the Cavaliers’ first sweep of an ACC-opening series since 2004 at Georgia Tech. UVa won the opener, 18-2, then took the second game, 8-6. In the finale, the Cavaliers scored in all but two innings in a 21-5 victory. The Cavaliers also had a 17-4 home win over George Washington last week.

Virginia put up some astronomical numbers last weekend. UVa racked up 47 runs in the three games, the Cavaliers’ most in an ACC series since the Cavaliers piled up 50 at Maryland in 1990. For the third straight game, every Virginia starter had at least one base hit, and the Cavaliers finished the series with 61 hits, including a season-high 25 Sunday.

Virginia returns home to start a 12-game homestand at 4 p.m. Tuesday when it takes on Navy. UVa also will play VMI at 4 p.m. Wednesday in a game rescheduled from last week before Florida State, ranked as high as 14th nationally, comes to Davenport Field for the first time in five years over the weekend.