No. 1 Cavaliers Return Home for Georgetown, Coastal Carolina
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The top-ranked Virginia baseball team comes home this week for five home games, beginning Tuesday with a 6 p.m. matchup against Georgetown at Davenport Field. UVa then will take on Coastal Carolina at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
In addition to the regular $2 Tuesday promotion ($2 hot dogs and sodas all evening), the Tuesday game also is the annual Ben & Jerry’s free cone day.
The Georgetown radio broadcast will air on WINA 1070-AM in the Charlottesville area as well as online at VirginiaSports.com. Live video and audio of the Coastal Carolina also will be available at VirginiaSports.com.
Virginia is ranked No. 1 for the third straight week by Collegiate Baseball and remains No. 2 behind Vanderbilt in the Baseball America, NCBWA, USA Today/ESPN Coaches polls.
The Cavaliers (31-3) come off a successful weekend, where they took two of three games at No. 8 Georgia Tech. Virginia now has won all five of its ACC series this season, including three on the road.
UVa dropped a 10-8 decision on Sunday to the Yellow Jackets, snapping the Cavaliers’ 12-game win streak. It marked Virginia’s second double-figure win streak of the season – a first in program history. UVa also won 13 in a row from March 1-19 earlier this year.
Keith Werman (Jr., Vienna, Va.) broke out of an offensive funk last week and led the team in hitting, going 8-for-14 (.571) with a team-best six RBI in the team’s four games. Reed Gragnani (So., Richmond, Va.) batted .500 (7-for-14) for the week, while David Coleman was 5-for-11 (.455) with a homer and five RBI in three starts.
Virginia continues to lead the ACC in ERA (2.32) and fielding percentage (.982). After a strong offensive weekend, UVa raised its batting average to .301 and ranks fourth in the conference.
Will Roberts (Jr., Richmond, Va.) is slated to make the Tuesday start. Entering the game Roberts owns a streak of 21-consecutive scoreless innings. That is the longest scoreless streak for a UVa pitcher since Sean Doolittle worked 26-consecutive scoreless innings from April 10-May 25, 2005.
Roberts has not allowed a run in his last three starts (5.0 innings vs. Towson, 9.0 innings vs. George Washington, 7.0 innings vs. Radford). He last allowed a run in the sixth inning of the March 16 win over James Madison.
Georgetown is 18-16 this season. The Hoyas were swept in a three-game series at West Virginia last weekend. Mike Garza leads the team in batting average (.363) as well as RBI (31) and doubles (12). Georgetown is batting .281 as a team and has a good ERA of 3.91.
Coastal Carolina swept Presbyterian last weekend to up its record to 21-11 and now leads the Big South Conference with a 7-2 record. The Chanticleers are led by second baseman Tommy LaStella, who tops the team with a .365 batting average, eight home runs and 39 RBI. Scott Woodward is batting .336 and ranks among the top five nationally in stolen bases with 20 (in 21 attempts).
Virginia defeated both teams last year, downing Coastal Carolina, 6-3, on April 27 and Georgetown, 10-5, on April 28. UVa is 18-16 all-time against the Hoyas and 2-4 versus the Chanticleers.
Virginia returns to ACC action this weekend when it plays host to Duke. The teams will play at 7 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. UVa (13-2 ACC) holds a one-game lead over Georgia Tech and North Carolina in the Coastal Division entering play this weekend.