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No. 1 Virginia Baseball Travels to VCU Tuesday Night
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 1-ranked Virginia baseball team travels to Richmond Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game with VCU at The Diamond. WINA 1070-AM will carry the live radio broadcast, while the audio broadcast also will be aired on VirginiaSports.com (subscription required).
Virginia and VCU were rained out last Tuesday in Charlottesville; the teams played an inning and a half before thunderstorms prompted the cancellation of the contest. UVa last played at The Diamond on April 21, 2009, as the Cavaliers earned an 8-1 win over VCU.
The Tuesday game is a rematch of the opener of the 2010 NCAA Regional, which Virginia won 15-4 in Charlottesville. It also serves as a homecoming for seven Cavaliers from the Richmond area – Reed Gragnani and Tyler Biddix (Mills Godwin HS), Mitchell Shifflett (Cosby), John Hicks (Goochland), David Coleman (Trinity Episcopal), Tyler Wilson (Midlothian) and Will Roberts (Maggie Walker Governor’s School).
Virginia (42-5, 20-4 ACC) is ranked No. 1 nationally this week by Baseball America and in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll. UVa stands No. 2 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings and No. 3 in the NCBWA poll.
UVa won its 14th-consecutive ACC series last weekend after taking two-of-three games in its three-game set at Boston College. The Cavaliers recorded a pair of shutouts in the series (17-0 Friday and 4-0 Sunday). It marked just the third time since the ACC went to the three-game series scheduling format in 1990 that UVa has posted two shutouts in a series.
Virginia leads the ACC in three major statistical categories this week – batting (.312 average), pitching (2.26 ERA) and fielding (.984 fielding percentage). UVa did not commit an error in its series at Boston College last weekend.
After a hot April, David Coleman (Sr., Richmond, Va.) now leads the team and ranks second in the ACC with a .400 batting average. Coleman hit .549 (28-for-51) during a torrid stretch in April. He also swatted a pair of homers and drove in a team-high 21 runs during the month of April.
John Hicks (Jr., Sandy Hook, Va.) and Steven Proscia (Jr., Suffern, N.Y.) continue to anchor the middle of the UVa lineup. Hicks ranks seventh in the ACC with a .356 batting average, while Proscia is 10th at .354. Proscia has 70 hits this year – one off the conference lead – while Hicks stands third with 69 hits.
Chris Taylor (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) leads the ACC with 48 runs scored this year. He has hit in the leadoff spot in all 47 games and owns a .303 batting average.
VCU holds a 17-24 record this year, including a 9-12 mark in CAA play. The Rams dropped two of three games at home in their CAA series with conference-leading Delaware last weekend.
John Lenherr leads the Rams with a .378 batting average and 16 stolen bases, while Taylor Perkins is hitting .322. VCU is batting .291 as a team, holds a 4.37 team ERA and is fielding at a .963 clip.
UVa defeated VCU twice last year in Charlottesville and owns a 32-19 edge in the all-time series.
After the Tuesday game at VCU, Virginia will go on a nine-day hiatus for final exams. The Cavaliers return to action May 13-15 at home against No. 14 Miami.