/
.
Virginia, Clemson Square Off This Weekend in Battle of Division Leaders
Story Links
VIRGINIA CAVALIERS (18-3, 5-1 ACC)
Probable Starting Rotation
Fri. – LHP Danny Hultzen (4-1, 1.06 ERA)
Sat. – RHP Robert Morey (3-1, 3.07 ERA)
Sun. – RHP Cody Winiarski (2-0, 5.70 ERA)
CLEMSON TIGERS (17-4, 6-0 ACC)
Probable Starting Rotation
Fri. – LHP Casey Harman (4-0, 1.86 ERA)
Sat. – LHP Will Lamb (2-0, 2.08 ERA)
Sun. – RHP Scott Weismann (3-0, 2.96 ERA)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The top-ranked Virginia baseball team returns to ACC play this weekend as it entertains Clemson at Davenport Field. The teams will play at 6 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. All three games will be broadcast on 1070 WINA-AM as well as VirginiaSports.com (with V Pass subscription). Live statistics also will be available at VirginiaSports.com.
The Tigers, ranked as high as No. 5 nationally this week, will be playing in Charlottesville for the first time since the 2006 season.
Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance for all athletic events to avoid lines at the facilities’ ticket windows. Tickets can be ordered in person at the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office in Bryant Hall at Scott Stadium, by phone at (800) 542-8821 and online at VirginiaSports.com. Advance ticket sales online end four hours prior to each game.
General Admission seating is available in the grandstand and left-field bleachers as well as the grass hillside and the new bleachers located along the right-field line. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for youth (18 and under), seniors (60 and older) and faculty/staff (limit two per faculty/staff). Advance ticket sales online end four hours prior to the game.
Reserved tickets, if available, are $9 for adults and $5 for UVa faculty/staff, and will be sold beginning two hours prior to the game at the Davenport Field ticket windows. General Admission ticket holders may also upgrade to Reserved seating for $4 per ticket, subject to availability.
Because of an event taking place at John Paul Jones Arena Friday and Saturday that will limit parking spaces in the area, fans are advised to arrive early for the Cavaliers’ home baseball and men’s lacrosse contests on those dates. The surface lot and parking garage at JPJA will not be available for public parking Friday and Saturday for UVa athletics events. Free parking will be available Friday and Saturday in the University Hall lots as well as the Emmet-Ivy Garage, Culbreth Garage and at The Park. The JPJA surface lot and parking garage will be available for Sunday’s baseball game.
Friday, the first 750 fans will receive the second set of Virginia baseball cards. Saturday, the Washington Nationals Racing Presidents will perform at Davenport Field. Sunday is Family Day — purchase four tickets, four hot dogs and four sodas for $32. Sunday also is Little League Day, as UVa will honor the Central, Lane and Sharks leagues.
Virginia (18-3, 5-1 ACC) enters the weekend as winners of 12 of its last 13 games, including six straight, and is tied atop the ACC Coastal Division with Georgia Tech and Miami. Clemson (17-4, 6-0) holds a three-game lead over Florida State for the ACC Atlantic Division lead.
The Cavaliers and Tigers are meeting in regular-season play for the first time since the 2007 season, when UVa won two of three games at Clemson. Clemson has not played at Davenport Field since March 17-19, 2006, when Virginia picked up a three-game series sweep over the Tigers. UVa has swept the last two home series with Clemson and has not lost at home to the Tigers since May 13, 2002.
The teams’ last meeting was at the 2009 ACC Baseball Championship, where UVa won, 6-5, to start its postseason run of success. The Cavaliers rallied from an early 4-0 deficit, using a four-run fifth inning to take the lead, and UVa then received 5.1 innings of near-flawless relief work from Andrew Carraway and Kevin Arico to seal the victory.
Both teams boast plenty of offensive firepower as well as strong pitching staffs. Virginia has a .353 team batting average, while Clemson sports a .311 team batting average and ranks third in the ACC with 35 home runs, including 10 from ACC leader Kyle Parker. On the mound, Virginia has lowered its team ERA to 3.42, while Clemson is not far behind at 3.69.
The Friday night pitching matchup features two of the ACC’s premier pitchers in Virginia’s Danny Hultzen (So., Bethesda, Md.) and Clemson’s Casey Harman. Hultzen is 4-1 this year with an ACC-low 1.06 earned run average, while Harman is 4-0 with a 1.86 ERA. Opponents are batting .138 this year against Hultzen and .188 versus Harman.
Virginia shortstop Tyler Cannon (Sr., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) is the only current UVa player to see regular-season action against Clemson. Cannon has been one of the Cavaliers’ top hitters of late and currently is on a career-high 13-game hitting streak. That streak is the eighth-longest active streak in the nation.
Virginia concludes its nine-game homestand next Tuesday and Wednesday as it plays host to Towson for 5 p.m. games both days.