No. 11 Cavaliers Travel to No. 8 Georgia Tech This Weekend
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. The No. 11 Virginia baseball team visits No. 8 Georgia Tech this weekend for a three-game ACC series at Russ Chandler Stadium. Game one is at 7 p.m. Friday, with 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday games set to follow. The first game will be webcast by ACC Select.
The series is a key one in the ACC Coastal Division race, with the top four teams all within one game of each other. Georgia Tech leads at 9-4, with Miami (10-5), North Carolina (9-5) and Virginia (8-5) all nipping at the Yellow Jackets’ heels.
Here are the pitching matchups for the weekend (UVa starters listed first):
Friday: LHP Danny Hultzen (5-0, 2.17) vs. RHP Deck McGuire (5-0, 2.36)
Saturday: RHP Andrew Carraway (4-0, 2.14 ERA) vs. RHP Zach Von Tersch (5-1, 5.45)
Sunday: TBA vs. RHP Brandon Cumpton (1-0, 5.85)
Virginia (27-6, 8-5 ACC) is playing a ranked foe for the fourth time in the last five ACC weekends. The Cavaliers are 3-4 against ranked teams, going 1-0 against then-No. 14 Florida State in a rain-shortened series, 1-2 vs. then-No. 4 Miami and 1-2 vs. then-No. 5 North Carolina. Three of the four losses were by one run (the other loss was by two runs).
Jarrett Parker (So., Stafford, Va.) leads the Cavaliers in batting at .419, which ranks second in the ACC. Dan Grovatt (So., Tabernacle, N.J.) is eighth in the league in hitting at .389, while Steven Proscia (Fr., Suffern, N.Y.) ranks ninth at .387. As a team, UVa leads the conference in batting at .358 and earned run average at 2.75.
The Cavaliers have been especially strong in conference games. Virginia leads the conference in batting (.361) in ACC games only. The Cavaliers also are tops in ERA in ACC games only with a 4.25 ERA.
Virginia ranks sixth nationally in team batting average (.363 entering the week). New Mexico leads at .393. The Cavaliers also are sixth in hits (406), runs (297) and doubles (82).
Georgia Tech (20-7, 9-4) has a powerful offense, highlighted by an ACC-high 50 home runs. The Yellow Jackets are sixth in the conference with a .313 batting average, led by Luke Murton, who is hitting .370 this year. On the mound, Georgia Tech ranks sixth in the ACC with a 4.80 ERA.
Georgia Tech leads the all-time series, 61-37-1. The Yellow Jackets won two of three last year at UVa. The Cavaliers last played in Atlanta in 2006, with Georgia Tech winning two of three, but Virginia has won 10 of the last 16 meetings since 2004.