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No. 1 Wahoos Take On No. 10 Coastal Carolina, Georgetown This Week
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia baseball team, ranked No. 1 nationally this week by Baseball America, plays host to No. 10 Coastal Carolina and Georgetown in midweek games Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. The Cavaliers and Chanticleers will battle at 5 p.m. Tuesday, while the Hoyas visit Davenport Field at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Both games will air live on WINA 1070-AM and through a V Pass subscription at VirginiaSports.com. Live statistics also will be available at VirginiaSports.com.
Parking will not be available in the John Paul Jones Arena lots for either game because of events at the arena. Parking will be available in the University Hall and Cage lots as well as the Emmet-Ivy Garage. Tuesday also is a $2 Tuesday at the stadium — purchase $2 hot dogs and $2 sodas all game long.
The Tuesday game will mark the first-ever midweek contest between Top-10 teams at Davenport Field. Virginia (34-9, 15-6 ACC) is ranked as high as No. 1 nationally by Baseball America and also stands No. 2 in the Rivals.com and NCBWA polls, No. 3 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll and No. 5 in the Collegiate Baseball poll. Coastal Carolina (36-5, 14-0 Big South) is No. 10 in the Baseball America poll; they are ranked as high as No. 4 in the Collegiate Baseball poll and also are No. 6 in the ESPN/USA Today poll and No. 13 in the Rivals.com rankings.
Both teams also enter the week on winning streaks – UVa has won five in a row, while Coastal Carolina has won 17 straight. The Chanticleers boast the nation’s best record as well as the most wins.
The scheduled starting pitching matchup Tuesday is UVa’s Branden Kline (Fr., Frederick, Md.) against Coastal’s Jim Birmingham.
Virginia’s offense was strong last week, recording a .372 batting average as the Cavaliers went 5-0 with midweek wins over Richmond and George Mason and a three-game ACC series sweep at Maryland. Kenny Swab (Jr., Kernersville, N.C.) went 8-for-18 (.444) with four extra-base hits and seven RBI, while Steven Proscia (So., Suffern, N.Y.) was 7-for-18 (.389) with three homers and 11 RBI. Virginia racked up 19 doubles and 26 extra-base hits in the series against Maryland.
The pitching was stout as well, as UVa allowed just nine earned runs (1.80 ERA). UVa’s starting weekend rotation of Danny Hultzen (So., Bethesda, Md.), Robert Morey (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) and Cody Winiarski (Jr., Franksville, Wis.) finished off another strong weekend, with all three working at least seven innings and giving up two runs or fewer.
Virginia leads the ACC in batting and ERA entering the week. The Cavaliers own a .342 team batting average and 3.63 team ERA. UVa continues to rank among the nation’s best fielding teams with a .978 fielding percentage.
Coastal Carolina has been on fire this season and is coming off a weekend sweep at VMI. The Chanticleers are potent on the mound, at the plate and on the basepaths. In the latest NCAA rankings (as of April 18), Coastal ranks among the NCAA top 10 in scoring (seventh, 9.6/game), ERA (sixth, 3.18) and stolen bases (fourth, 2.76/game). Coastal boasts two of the top base stealers nationally in Scott Woodward (40-for-44) and Rico Noel (35-for-44). Tommy LaStella leads the team with a .350 batting average. Coastal has a .319 team batting average and 3.02 team ERA.
Georgetown is 19-21 this season, including a 2-13 record in the Big East. The Hoyas were swept in a three-game series last weekend at St. John’s. Rand Ravnaas leads the team with a .349 batting average and 10 home runs. The Hoyas are batting .289 as a team and have a 5.71 team ERA.
Coastal Carolina has won the last three meetings and holds a 4-1 edge in the all-time series. Virginia owns an 18-17 edge in the series with Georgetown.
After the midweek contests Virginia travels to Durham, N.C., to face Duke in a three-game series. All three games will be played at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, home to the triple-A Durham Bulls.