Cavaliers Open NCAA Charlottesville Regional Friday vs. Navy

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VIRGINIA AT THE NCAA CHARLOTTESVILLE REGIONAL
Probable Pitching Matchups
Fri. – UVa RHP Will Roberts (10-1, 1.78 ERA) vs. Navy RHP Ben Nelson (5-5, 4.91 ERA)
Sat. – UVa LHP Danny Hultzen (10-3, 1.59 ERA) vs. TBA

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia baseball team begins the 2011 NCAA Tournament at 1 p.m. Friday when it plays host to Navy in the first game of the NCAA Charlottesville Regional at Davenport Field. The No. 1 national seed, Virginia will be playing at home in the NCAA tournament for the second straight season. The Cavaliers were the No. 5 national seed in 2010, hosting the regional and super regional rounds.

2011 NCAA Charlottesville Regional Schedule

Friday, June 3

Game 1 – No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 4 Navy, 1 p.m.

Game 2 – No. 2 East Carolina vs. No. 3 St. John’s, 6 p.m.

Saturday, June 4

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 5

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 6

Game 7 – Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6, 6 p.m. (if necessary)

Locally, WINA 1070-AM will have radio coverage of all of Virginia’s tournament action. WRNL 910-AM in Richmond also will pick up the Friday game. The UVa radio broadcasts also will be streamed online at VirginiaSports.com (subscription service). The NCAA will have a live, free video stream of the entire regional on NCAA.com.

Coming off four straight wins to capture the ACC Baseball Championship, Virginia (49-9, 22-8 ACC) is hosting its fifth regional all-time (2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011).

Counting this year, Virginia has competed in each of the last eight NCAA tournaments and 11 overall. UVa is 22-22 all-time in the NCAA tournament. Under Brian O’Connor (since 2004), UVa is 16-16 in the NCAAs, including a 6-3 run to the College World Series in 2009.

Virginia is one of 13 Division I baseball programs to reach the NCAA tournament each of the last eight seasons (including 2011). 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, Oral Roberts, Rice, South Carolina, Southern Miss, TCU and Texas.

Virginia faced nine teams this year that advanced to the NCAA tournament (Clemson, Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, Florida State, Georgia Tech, James Madison, Miami, North Carolina and NC State). Twenty-six of Virginia’s 58 games were against NCAA qualifiers (44.8 percent) – UVa went 18-8 against those teams.

No. 2 seed East Carolina (39-19, 14-10 Conference USA) received an at-large berth in the tournament. The Cavaliers and Pirates already have faced each other at Davenport Field this season. UVa won the series 2-1 the last weekend in February. Senior Trent Whitehead leads the team with 77 hits, doubles (20), stole bases (16) and batting average (.322).

No. 3 seed St. John’s (35-20, 18-8 BIG EAST) received an at-large berth in the tournament after finishing runner-up to Seton Hall in the BIG EAST. The Red Storm are led by Joe Panik, a semi-finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, who leads the team with a .402 average, while belting nine home runs and collecting 56 RBI.

No. 4 seed Navy (33-23-1, 12-8 Patriot League) earned the Patriot League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after winning the league’s championship series, two games to one, over rival Army. The Midshipmen are appearing in their first NCAA Tournament since 2002. Taylor Cato leads the team in batting with a .332 average and a team-high 75 hits.

Ticket/Parking 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 Wednesday afternoon, over 3,100 ticket books had been sold for the regional round as well as a potential super regional tournament. Davenport Field will seat 5,050 for postseason play.

All-session General Admission ticket books are currently on sale for $45 for the regional and $24 for a potential super regional. Reserved ticket books are sold out for both the Regional and a potential super regional.

Customers ordering tickets from now until game day may pick up their tickets at the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office in Bryant Hall through noon Friday 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 (June 3) from 9 a.m. to noon by phone and online. If available, single-session tickets will be $12 for Reserved and $8 for General Admission. Any remaining single-game tickets for the super regional will go on sale on Friday, June 10 at 9 a.m. and will be $16 for Reserved and $12 for General Admission.

Ticket sales at Davenport Field begin two hours prior to the first session each day and end at the top of the seventh inning on the last session each day. Fans may upgrade from General Admission to Reserved on game day, subject to availability, at the Davenport Field ticket windows for $4 per ticket.

All parking will be paid parking for the entire postseason. Parking on game day will be $5 in the University Hall and McCue Center lots. Parking is available for $5 in John Paul Jones Arena lot and parking garage on Friday (June 3) and Monday (June 6). The John Paul Jones Arena parking lot and garage will likely not be available for baseball parking on Saturday (June 4) and Sunday (June 5) because events taking place at the arena. Parking will be free in the Emmet/Ivy garage.

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.