No. 2 Virginia Entertains ODU Tuesday, GW Wednesday

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March 31, 2014

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 2 Virginia baseball team starts a busy week of five games in six days as it plays Old Dominion Tuesday and George Washington Wednesday in non-conference matchups at Davenport Field. Both games begin at 5 p.m.

Virginia (23-4, 10-2 ACC) has won six straight games as well as 13 consecutive home contests.

Broadcast Information
A live audio broadcast is available for the Tuesday game, while live video broadcasts is available for the Wednesday contest, each through a Cavaliers Live subscription on VirginiaSports.com. Live statistics (GameTracker) for both games also will be located on VirginiaSports.com. The audio, video and live stats also can be accessed through the Virginia Sports app, which is available through iTunes.

Parking Information
Parking will be available in the University Hall, John Paul Jones Arena and McCue lots.

Promotions
Tuesday is a $2 Tuesday, with $2 ‘Hoo Dogs and $2 22oz. Pepsi products available throughout the day.

Virginia in the Latest National Rankings
NCBWA – 1
USA Today Coaches, Perfect Game – 2
Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball – 3

Noting the Cavaliers
At the midway point of the regular season, Virginia tops the ACC and ranks seventh nationally in ERA at 2.23 while opponents are batting just .205, which is tied for fourth lowest in the nation. Nick Howard leads the ACC in saves with eight.

The Cavaliers are batting .281 as a team, which ranks third in the ACC. Mike Papi leads the team in batting at .355, which is fourth in the conference. He also ranks second in the ACC in runs (27), third in home runs (5) and on base percentage (.492) and sixth in RBI (26).

UVa continues to pace the conference in fielding at .986. The Cavaliers committed two errors on Sunday, marking just their second multiple-error game of the season.

Virginia-Old Dominion Series
ODU leads the series with UVa, 29-25-2, although the Cavaliers have won the last three matchups.

Virginia rallied from a five-run deficit last year to pull out a 10-9 win in 10 innings against ODU. Mike Papi cranked a seventh-inning grand slam to tie the game 8-8 and Jared King hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning.

Virginia-George Washington Series
Virginia owns a 21-13 all-time record against GW, with UVa winning the past five matchups. The Cavaliers earned an 11-0 victory last season against the Colonials.

Looking at Old Dominion
ODU is 16-11 this season, including a 6-6 mark in Conference USA, after taking two of three games in its home series with Charlotte last weekend. P.J. Higgins leads the team with a .328 batting average, while Jordan Negrini is hitting .309; ODU is batting .272 as a team.

The Monarchs sport a solid 3.41 team ERA as well as an impressive .978 fielding percentage. They have played a strong early schedule with several good wins, including games over Rice, UAB, VCU and Liberty.

Noting George Washington
GW holds an 11-17 record entering play this week. The Colonials play host to Georgetown on Tuesday.

GW was swept at Saint Louis this past weekend. Owen Beightol tops the team in batting at .325, while Ryan Xepoleas is hitting .292 with a seven-game hit streak. The Colonials are batting .236 as a team, have a 4.61 team ERA and .958 fielding percentage.

Up Next
The Cavaliers travel to Pittsburgh Friday through Sunday for a three-game ACC series with the Panthers, who have won six straight ACC home games as well as 18 consecutive home contests, dating to 2013.