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Cavaliers Open Charlottesville Super Regional Saturday vs. UC Irvine
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VIRGINIA AT THE NCAA CHARLOTTESVILLE SUPER REGIONAL
Probable Pitching Matchups
Sat. – UVa LHP Danny Hultzen (11-3, 1.57 ERA) vs. UCI RHP Matt Summers (11-2, 1.72 ERA)
Sun. – TBA
Mon. – (if necessary) – TBA
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia baseball team continues play in the 2011 NCAA Tournament at 1 p.m. Saturday when it plays host to UC Irvine in the first game of the best-of-three Charlottesville Super Regional at Davenport Field. The No. 1 national seed, Virginia will be hosting a super regional 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. The winner of the weekend series will advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
2011 NCAA Charlottesville Super Regional Schedule
Saturday, June 11
Game 1 – Virginia vs. UC Irvine, 1 p.m. (ESPNU)
Sunday, June 12
Game 2 – Virginia vs. UC Irvine, 1 p.m. (ESPNU)
Monday, June 13
Game 3 – Virginia vs. UC Irvine, 1, 4 or 7 p.m., if necessary (ESPNU)
Locally, WINA 1070-AM will have radio coverage of all of Virginia’s tournament action. WRNL 910-AM in Richmond will carry Saturday’s game and Monday’s if necessary. WHEE 1370-AM in Martinsville and 790-AM in Mt. Jackson will carry all three games of the super regional. The UVa radio broadcasts also will be streamed online at VirginiaSports.com (subscription service).
The series will be televised live on ESPNU and can be viewed online at ESPN3.com.
As of Friday, tickets are sold out. UC Irvine also will have the option to return any remaining unused tickets on the day of each game. In the event this occurs, these reserved tickets will be handled in the same manner as the regional. The returned tickets will be made available for sale and upgrades on a first-come, first-served basis on game day at the ticket booth at Davenport Field. The ticket booth will open at 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Fans may upgrade from General Admission to Reserved on game day, subject to availability, at the Davenport Field ticket windows for $4 per ticket.
Parking on game day will be $5 in the University Hall, McCue Center and John Paul Jones Arena lots for each of the three games. Parking will be free in the Emmet/Ivy Garage. Spaces will be held in the University Hall lot for those who purchased pre-paid parking. John Paul Jones Arena is not hosting events on any of the three days in which the super regional will be played. Therefore, parking will be available in the JPJ lots for all three super regional games.
Coming off seven straight wins to capture the ACC Baseball Championship and the NCAA Charlottesville Regional, Virginia (52-9, 22-8 ACC) is hosting its second super regional all-time (2010, 2011).
Counting this year, Virginia has competed in each of the last eight NCAA tournaments and 11 overall. The Cavaliers are also appearing in their third all-time super regional, all of which have come in successive seasons (’09, ’10, ’11). UVa is 25-22 all-time in the NCAA tournament. Under Brian O’Connor (since 2004), UVa is 19-16 in the NCAAs, including a 6-3 run to the College World Series in 2009.
Virginia is one of four Division I baseball programs to reach the super regional round in each of the last three seasons (including 2011). The Cavaliers are one of two schools in the ACC to hold that distinction, joining Florida State. The other programs are Arizona State and Florida.
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. Florida State is UVa’s lone 2011 opponent to reach the super regional round.
UC Irvine (42-16, 16-8 Big West) received an at-large berth in the tournament and was a No. 3 seed at the Los Angeles Regional, hosted by UCLA. The Anteaters swept through regional play, going 3-0 while defeating a trio of conference champions. UC Irvine topped Fresno State (12-6), San Francisco (4-3) and host UCLA (4-3) to earn a trip to Charlottesville for the super regional. The Cavaliers and Anteaters met twice previously in the 2009 Irvine Regional. UVa was victorious, 5-0 and 4-1, ultimately winning the regional over UCI and setting the stage for the Cavaliers’ first super regional and College World Series appearances in program history.
Senior Brian Hernandez (.351) and his team-best 85 hits lead the UC Irvine offense. Senior Drew Hillman provides the power to the lineup with team highs in home runs (5) and RBI (50). Junior Matt Summers leads the pitching staff with an 11-2 record and a 1.72 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 16 starts.