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Baseball Plays Host to Wright State, Seton Hall This Weekend
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VIRGINIA CAVALIERS (5-2-1)
Probable Starting Rotation
Fri. G1 – RHP Branden Kline (1-1, 3.48 ERA)
Fri. G2 – RHP Whit Mayberry (2-0, 1.50 ERA)
Sat. – LHP Scott Silverstein (1-0, 1.50 ERA)
Sun. – RHP Artie Lewicki (0-1, 6.00 ERA)
WRIGHT STATE RAIDERS (1-5)
Probable Starting Rotation
Fri. G1 – LHP Cody Kopilchack (2-2, 6.30 ERA)
Fri. G2 – RHP Travis Hissong (0-0, 22.50 ERA)
Sat. – RHP Joey Hoelzel (0-2, 19.06 ERA)
Sun. – RHP Lee Valencheck (0-1, 3.24 ERA)
SETON HALL PIRATES (2-5)
Probable Starting Rotation
Fri. G1 – RHP Jon Prosinski (1-1, 5.73 ERA)
Fri. G2 – LHP Rick Mangione (0-1, 2.45 ERA)
Sun. G1 – RHP Frank Morris (0-1, 4.50 ERA)
Sun. G2 – RHP Ryan Harvey (0-2, 11.25 ERA)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia baseball team will play four games this weekend in a double round robin tournament with Seton Hall and Wright State at Davenport Field.
The UVa games each will be broadcast online at VirginiaSports.com through Cavaliers Live. GameTracker links for all six games also will be available at VirginiaSports.com.
Because of a high probability for inclement weather on Saturday (March 3), the tournament schedule has been altered. Rather than playing two games Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the tournament will consist of three games on Friday, one on Saturday and two on Sunday.
The first two games Friday each will be moved up one hour with the addition of a Virginia-Seton Hall game at approximately 6 p.m. There only will be one game played Saturday – Wright State vs. Virginia at 5 p.m. The Sunday games will be played as scheduled.
The new weekend schedule is as follows:
Friday, 11 a.m.: Seton Hall vs. Wright State
Friday, 3 p.m.: Virginia vs. Wright State
Friday, 6 p.m.: Virginia vs. Seton Hall
Saturday, 5 p.m.: Virginia vs. Wright State
Sunday, 11 a.m.: Wright State vs. Seton Hall
Sunday, 2:30 p.m.: Virginia vs. Seton Hall
Ranked as high as 14th nationally, Virginia (5-2-1) looks to regain some momentum after its four-game winning streak was snapped in an 8-0 home loss to Liberty on Tuesday.
Jared King (Sr., Radford, Va.) has been UVa’s top threat at the plate this year, hitting .452 (14-for-31) in the first eight games. King has knocked in a team-high 11 runs with five extra-base hits this year.
Reed Gragnani (Jr., Richmond, Va.) has been strong in the No. 2 slot in the order this year, batting .407. Gragnani has reached base safely in seven of the eight games; he did not reach base in the Liberty game when he exited after four innings.
After losing its top four starting pitchers to professional baseball, Virginia has plugged the holes nicely thus far. UVa’s weekend rotation of Branden Kline (1-1, 3.48 ERA), Scott Silverstein (1-0, 1.50) and Whit Mayberry (2-0, 1.50) has combined for a 4-1 record and 2.10 ERA through two weeks. They have pitched through the fifth inning in five of six starts.
Wright State (1-5) has competed in two of the last three NCAA tournaments, with the last coming in the 2011 College Station Regional. The Raiders also return 2011 Horizon League Player of the Year Jake Hibberd and HL Relief Pitcher of the Year Michael Schum. WSU was swept in a 3-game series at then-No. 6 North Carolina last weekend.
Virginia and Wright State first met in 2010, with the teams splitting a pair of games in Charlottesville. WSU knocked off then-No. 1 Virginia and starter Danny Hultzen, 2-1, in the first game before UVa pounded the Raiders 13-3 in the second contest.
Seton Hall (2-5) is the reigning BIG EAST champion; the Pirates competed in the College Station Regional last year, defeating Arizona (4-0) before losing to Texas A&M (6-3) and Arizona (6-0). The Pirates were swept in a 3-game series at Tennessee last weekend.
Virginia has a 32-19-1 all-time mark against Seton Hall and last faced the Pirates in 2004, Brian O’Connor‘s first year at UVa. UVa swept the 3-game series in 2004 and has won seven straight vs. Seton Hall, dating to 2001. The programs met every season from 1989-2002. Every matchup in the 52-game series has been in Charlottesville.
UVa travels to Harrisonburg at 4 p.m. Tuesday to play James Madison.