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Cavaliers Open NCAA Charlottesville Regional Friday vs. VCU
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia baseball team begins the 2010 NCAA Tournament at 4 p.m. Friday when it plays host to VCU in the first game of the NCAA Charlottesville Regional at Davenport Field. The No. 5 national seed and top seed in the regional, Virginia will be playing at home in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007.
Ole Miss and St. John’s will play the nightcap Friday with an 8 p.m. contest. The complete regional schedule is as follows:
Friday, June 4
Game 1 – No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 4 VCU, 4 p.m.
Game 2 – No. 2 Ole Miss vs. No. 3 St. John’s, 8 p.m.
Saturday, June 5
Game 3 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 1 p.m.
Game 4 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6 p.m.
Sunday, June 6
Game 5 – Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 1 p.m.
Game 6 – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4, 6 p.m.
Monday, June 7
Game 7 – Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6, 6 p.m. (if necessary)
All Virginia games are carried locally on WINA 1070-AM and online at VirginiaSports.com for free through V-Pass live audio. In Richmond, the Friday game against VCU will be carried by WXGI 950 AM (the VCU school broadcast). Saturday (either time) the game will be carried on WRVA 1140-AM. Sunday (6 p.m. only), the contest will be carried by WRVA 1140-AM. Monday, the game would be carried by WRNL 910-AM
Counting this year, Virginia has competed in each of the last seven NCAA tournaments and 10 overall. UVa is 18-19 all-time in the NCAA tournament. Under Brian O’Connor (since 2004), UVa is 12-13 in the NCAAs, including a 6-3 run to the College World Series last season.
A national seed for the first time this year, Virginia is one of 14 Division I baseball programs to reach the NCAA tournament each of the last seven seasons (including 2010). The Cavaliers are one of four schools in the ACC to hold that distinction, joining Florida State, Miami and North Carolina. The other programs are Arizona State, Arkansas, Cal State Fullerton, Missouri, Oral Roberts, Rice, South Carolina, Southern Miss, TCU and Texas.
Virginia has plenty of experience when it comes to the NCAA tournament. The Cavaliers’ position players have combined to play in 119 NCAA tournament games, including 16 from Tyler Cannon over the last three seasons. Four UVa pitchers have combined to throw in 20 tournament games.
Virginia faced 10 teams this year that advanced to the NCAA tournament (Clemson, Coastal Carolina, Dartmouth, Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, NC State, Miami, VCU, Virginia Tech). Twenty-seven of Virginia’s 58 games were against NCAA qualifiers (46.5 percent) – UVa went 19-8 against those teams.
No. 2 seed Ole Miss (38-22, 16-14 Southeastern Conference) received an at-large berth in the tournament. The Cavaliers and Rebels also played in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, with Virginia winning two of three games in the Oxford Super Regional to earn a berth in the College World Series. The Rebels are led by All-America starting pitcher Drew Pomeranz, who went 8-2 with a 2.21 ERA this season. He also is one of the nation’s leaders in strikeouts with 134 and is expected to be a first-round pick next week in the Major League Baseball Draft. Matt Smith leads the team in batting (.344), home runs (12) and RBI (51).
No. 3 seed St. John’s (40-18, 16-11 Big East) captured the Big East’s automatic berth in the tournament by winning the Big East Tournament title. The Red Storm swept four games to win the championship, including a pair of wins over Louisville and a victory in the title game against Connecticut – both Louisville and UConn earned host sites for the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Freshman Jeremy Baltz leads St. John’s with a .393 batting average, 20 home runs and 74 RBI.
No. 4 seed (VCU, 34-24-1, 17-7-1 Colonial) earned the CAA’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament after defeating UNC Wilmington, 7-5 in 12 innings, Saturday in the CAA championship game. The Rams are familiar foes with Virginia and played in Charlottesville May 4, with UVa earning a 10-5 win. Joe Van Meter is one of the nation’s top hitters, with a .433 batting average.
Ticket Information is as follows:
Ticket books may be purchased in person at the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office in Bryant Hall, by calling the Ticket Office at (800) 542-8821 or logging on to VirginiaSports.com.
As of Thursday morning, over 3,400 tickets have been sold for the Regional tournament. After several expansions this season, Davenport Field now will seat 4,801 for postseason play.
Regional all-session ticket books are currently on sale and will be sold for $45 for General Admission seating. Reserved ticket books are sold out. Thursday is the last day fans will be able to purchase all-session ticket books.
Customers ordering tickets from now until game day may pick up their tickets at the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office in Bryant Hall through Friday at 10 a.m. or at Davenport Field Will Call on game day beginning two hours prior to the first session of the day.
If available, single-session tickets for the Regional will go on sale to the public on Friday. If available, single-session tickets will be $12 for Reserved and $8 for General Admission, with $4 per ticket upgrades available from General Admission to Reserved on game day.
All parking will be paid parking for the entire postseason. Parking on game day will be $5.
Because of the success of the Virginia baseball team this season and increased ticket demand, NCAA tournament games at Davenport Field are expected to sell out. Fans are strongly encouraged to purchase tickets in advance, as it is the only way to guarantee they will be able to attend all tournament games.
All sections of the grandstand (Sec. 101-109) and the first base bleachers (Sec. A-F) are considered Reserved seating for the entire NCAA tournament. General Admission seating is located on the grassy hillside down the left-field line and in the bleachers beyond the outfield wall in both left and right field. Standing room is also available for General Admission ticket buyers.