No. 3 Baseball Entertains Boston College This Weekend

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March 13, 2014

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 3 Virginia baseball team takes on Boston College Friday through Sunday (March 14-16) in a three-game ACC series at Davenport Field. The teams will play at 5 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Broadcast Information
Live video broadcasts will be available for all three games through a Cavaliers Live subscription on VirginiaSports.com. WINA 1070-AM and WINA.com will carry the radio broadcast of the Friday game; WINA will carry the men’s basketball broadcasts on Saturday and Sunday, but if Virginia is knocked out of the tournament and not playing, WINA will have the baseball broadcast.

Live statistics (GameTracker) for all three games will be located on VirginiaSports.com. The video and live stats also can be accessed through the Virginia Sports app, which is available through iTunes.

Virginia in the Latest National Rankings
Perfect Game – 1
Baseball America, NCBWA – 3
USA Today Coaches, Collegiate Baseball – 5

Parking Information
Parking will be available in the University Hall, McCue and John Paul Jones Arena lots all weekend. Because of an event at JPJ on Saturday evening, all vehicles in the JPJ lot need to vacate that lot by 5 p.m. Saturday.

Promotions
The first set of Virginia baseball trading cards will be issued Friday. The Washington Nationals Racing Presidents will be entertaining at the Sunday game. Sunday also is Cavman’s Crew Day, and there will be postgame autographs and running of the bases.

Virginia Cavaliers (12-3, 2-1 ACC)
Probable Starting Rotation
Fri. – So. LHP Nathan Kirby (4-0, 0.74 ERA)
Sat. – So. RHP Josh Sborz (3-1, 2.29 ERA)
Sun. – So. LHP Brandon Waddell (3-1, 4.09 ERA)

Boston College Eagles (6-9, 0-3 ACC)
Probable Starting Rotation
Fri. – Jr. RHP John Gorman (2-2, 2.28 ERA)
Sat. – So. LHP Andrew Chin (2-0, 1.25 ERA)
Sun. – So. RHP Jeff Burke (0-1, 4.45 ERA)

Virginia-Boston College Series
Virginia is 16-3 all-time against Boston College. All of the meetings have come since the Eagles entered the ACC, although the last meeting was a non-conference game played at Coastal Carolina to start the 2012 season (BC won 5-3).

The teams did not meet in ACC play the last two years; their last ACC meeting was in 2011 when UVa won two of three games in Chestnut Hill. BC last came to Charlottesville from March 19-21, 2010, when UVa swept a three-game series.

Fisher Out 4-6 Weeks with Broken Hamate Bone
Starting outfielder Derek Fisher will miss the next four to six weeks because of a broken hamate bone in his right wrist. Fisher suffered the injury during the Duke series and is scheduled to have surgery on the fracture on Monday. A 2014 Preseason All-American, Fisher started each of the Cavaliers’ first 14 games this season in left field and is batting .333 this year.

Pitchers Buckle Down after Opener
Virginia has given up three runs or fewer in each of the last 14 games, the longest such streak in program history. The previous best was 13 games of allowing three runs or fewer from Feb. 9-March 2, 2007.

Cavaliers pitchers have rolled up a 1.77 ERA and allowed just 77 hits in the last 14 games (.182 BAA). UVa has recorded two shutouts in this stretch.

Young Rotation Moves into ACC Play
Virginia has the youngest weekend pitching rotation in the ACC this year, with a trio of sophomores manning the starting staff. UVa is the only ACC team to start all underclassmen on the weekend this year.

Brandon Waddell has made 20 career weekend starts, while Nathan Kirby has recorded five and Josh Sborz four. The three have combined to go 10-2 with a 2.31 ERA this year.

Noting Boston College
Boston College is 6-9 on the season, including an 0-3 mark in the ACC following a series sweep at then-No. 16 Miami last weekend. All three games against the Hurricanes were low scoring, with UM winning by 6-2, 5-2 and 4-3 counts. BC has not given up more than six runs in a game this season.

BC is batting .258 as a team, led by Johnny Adams (.308) and Chris Shaw (.300). The Eagles own a solid 3.53 team ERA, and weekend starters Andrew Chin and John Garman both boast sub-2.50 ERAs, at 1.25 and 2.28, respectively.

Up Next
The Cavaliers play a pair of home midweek games next week, taking on Rutgers at 4 p.m. Tuesday and Towson at 4 p.m. Wednesday. UVa heads to Miami next Saturday through Monday (March 22-24) in conference play.