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Cavaliers Play Host to JMU, Radford in Midweek Clashes
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia baseball team returns to Davenport Field this week for contests against James Madison and Radford. UVa will play JMU at 6 p.m. Tuesday and Radford at 6 p.m. Wednesday. An audio broadcast for both games will be available at VirginiaSports.com with a V Pass subscription.
The Cavaliers will play 10 of their next 11 games at home. The James Madison game is a makeup game from the originally scheduled date of March 2. That game was postponed because of inclement weather.
Virginia (24-6) lost two of three games at NC State last weekend in dropping their first weekend series of the season. The Cavaliers had late leads in each of their losses, only to see the Wolfpack rally with key home runs.
With the series loss, Virginia dropped from its perch atop the college baseball rankings. UVa was No. 1 nationally in the Baseball America and Rivals.com polls for six weeks. The Cavaliers slipped to No. 3 in the Rivals.com rankings, No. 4 in the Baseball America poll and No. 5 in the Collegiate Baseball, ESPN/USA Today Coaches and NCBWA polls.
Phil Gosselin (Jr., West Chester, Pa.) ranks fourth in the ACC in batting with a .407 batting average. He comes into the games this week with a career-best 12-game hitting streak. Tyler Cannon (Sr., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) ranks 10th in the ACC with a .376 batting average.
James Madison (15-12) comes to Charlottesville after taking two of three games at Old Dominion over the weekend. Matt Browning leads the team with a .443 batting average, which is fourth in the Colonial Athletic Association. JMU boasts a team batting average of .318 and a team ERA of 7.25. Virginia defeated the Dukes, 6-3, March 17 in Harrisonburg. UVa owns a 31-25 series edge against JMU.
Radford (13-12) dropped two of three games at home against Charleston Southern last weekend. Reggie Keen leads Radford with a .344 batting average, 18 RBI and 16 stolen bases. The Highlanders have a .270 team batting average and a 5.59 team ERA. Radford also ranks among the top 10 nationally with 63 stolen bases. UVa defeated Radford 12-2 last season in Salem, Va. The teams also were scheduled to play in Charlottesville, but the game was cancelled because of rain. UVa holds a 14-3-1 edge in the all-time series and has won five in a row against the Highlanders.
Virginia continues its homestand this weekend with a three-game series against No. 2 Georgia Tech. The series consists of games at 7 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday.