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No. 25 Cavaliers Host Radford Tuesday, Travel to VCU Wednesday
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 25 Virginia baseball team has a pair of midweek games on the docket this week, as the Cavaliers play host to Radford at 6 p.m. Tuesday and then travel to The Diamond in Richmond, Va., at 7 p.m. Wednesday to lock horns with VCU.
Both games will be broadcast by WINA 1070-AM in the Charlottesville area, and the audio will be streamed online on VirginiaSports.com (subscription required). A live video link for the VCU game, as well as GameTracker links for both games, also can be found at VirginiaSports.com.
The Radford game marks another $2 Tuesday at Davenport Field, with $2 hot dogs and sodas available throughout the evening.
The Cavaliers will start LHP Kyle Crockett (So., Poquoson, Va.) Tuesday against Radford and RHP Shane Halley (Sr., Burke, Va.) Wednesday against VCU. Radford will start RHP Jake Palese versus Virginia, while VCU will start LHP Heath Dwyer against UVa.
Ranked No. 25 nationally for the second straight week in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll, Virginia (26-14-1) took two of three games last weekend at Duke to notch its fourth ACC series win of the season and its first on the road. Stephen Bruno (Jr., Audubon, N.J.) had a great series, going 8-for-14, including 7-for-9 in UVa’s Saturday doubleheader sweep of the Blue Devils. He currently is riding a 13-game hitting streak and batting 26-for-55 (.473) during that stretch.
With his recent hot streak, Bruno has moved into the team lead in batting at .370; that total ranks fifth in the ACC. Bruno is tied with Georgia Tech’s Sam Dove for the ACC lead in hits with 60. Jared King (Sr., Radford, Va.) is second on the squad with a .331 average, and he leads the team with 39 runs batted in, which ranks sixth in the ACC. Derek Fisher (Fr., Rexmont, Pa.) is hitting .300 with a team-best 21 extra-base hits.
UVa leads the ACC in batting with a .304 average. The Cavaliers are second in the ACC in fielding (.972) and fifth in ERA (3.33).
Radford (23-16) scored a series victory over Winthrop last weekend in Rock Hill, S.C., after winning two of three games over the Eagles. Matt Hillsinger tops the team in batting with a .356 average and also owns a team-best eight home runs. Jeff Kemp is batting .352 with a team-high 16 doubles and 45 RBI. Radford is batting .296 as a team and has a 4.35 team ERA. The Highlanders boast a sparkling .983 fielding percentage, which ranks among the five best nationally.
VCU (22-18) took two of three games in its home series with William and Mary last weekend. Joey Cujas leads the team with a .413 batting average and 34 RBI. Bill Cullen is hitting .369 with a team-high 66 hits. The Rams are batting .293 as a team and own a .973 fielding percentage and 4.09 ERA.
Virginia leads the series with Radford, 17-3-1. The teams met twice last year, with UVa earning shutouts in each instance. UVa won 2-0 at home on April 5, then picked up a 12-0 win at Radford two weeks later.
Virginia holds a 33-19 lead in the all-time series with VCU. UVa has won the last nine meetings with the Rams, including a 14-3 win last May in Richmond. A state-record crowd of 5,421 attended that contest at The Diamond.
Virginia heads to No. 18 Miami next weekend for a three-game ACC series. All three games will be televised. Game 1 is set for 1 p.m. Saturday on the ACC’s Regional Sports Networks (Comcast Mid-Atlantic in Virginia). The second game is at 7 p.m. Sunday on CSS and ESPN3.com (Comcast Mid-Atlantic in Virginia), while the finale is slated for 7 p.m. Monday on ESPNU as part of ESPN’s ACC Mondays package.