Virginia Heads to No. 1 Miami This Weekend

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April 21, 2016

VIRGINIA CAVALIERS (24-16, 9-9 ACC)
Probable Starting Rotation
Fri. – Jr. RHP Connor Jones (7-1, 2.17 ERA)
Sat. – So. LHP Adam Haseley (6-1, 1.60 ERA)
Sun. – Jr. RHP Alec Bettinger (0-4, 5.47 ERA)

MIAMI HURRICANES (29-6, 13-3 ACC)
Probable Starting Rotation
Fri. – Sr. LHP Thomas Woodrey (4-2, 4.43 ERA)
Sat. – So. LHP Michael Mediavilla (6-1, 4.02 ERA)
Sun. – Jr. LHP Danny Garcia (6-2, 2.08 ERA)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The Virginia baseball team travels to top-ranked Miami Friday through Sunday for a three-game ACC series at Alex Rodriguez Park in Coral Gables, Fla. Game times are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

Broadcast Information
ESPN3 has the video broadcasts for the full series. WINA 1070-AM and 98.9-FM have the radio call of all three games. Links to live statistics for the three games also can be found on VirginiaSports.com. VirginiaSports.com has the audio broadcasts through a Cavaliers Live subscription.

Things to Know
• Virginia has five Florida natives on its roster.
• Ernie Clement has nine bunt hits this season.
• Clement is riding a career-high 11-game hit streak.
• Matt Thaiss is batting .565 (13-for-23) during his current seven-game hit streak.
• Daniel Pinero is 9-for-27 (.333) with four RBI in his career against Miami.

Virginia-Miami Series
Virginia leads the all-time series, 24-23, and has won six straight series against the Hurricanes. UM’s last series win against the Cavaliers came in 2009 in Charlottesville.

The teams split four games last season (UVA took two of three at home). Miami scored seven runs in the eighth inning to rally from a 5-2 deficit and win 9-5 in pool play in the ACC tournament.

Since 2010, UVA is 15-6 against Miami. Head coach Brian O’Connor is 21-18 against the Hurricanes.

Virginia Takes on No. 1
Virginia is playing the nation’s top-ranked team for the first time since May 30-31, 2009, when the Cavaliers faced then-No. 1 UC Irvine in the NCAA Irvine Regional. UVA won both of those matchups en route to its first trip to the CWS. This is UVA’s first regular-season matchup with a No. 1-ranked team since an April 25-27, 2008, series at Miami.

Thaiss Comes Off Big Week
Matt Thaiss was named the ACC Player of the Week after going 8-for-12 (.667) with a triple, home run and seven RBI. This is Thaiss’ second ACC Player of the Week honor (also on April 27, 2015). Thaiss reached base safely in 14 of his 18 plate appearances (.778 OBP). Thaiss had two key hits in the Sunday finale against UNC, a two-out, two-run single to tie the game in the second inning and a two-run home run in the sixth inning. He went 3-for-7 in UVA’s two midweek games this week.

Life on the Road
Virginia’s next eight games will be on the road — UVA’s longest stretch of regular-season true road games since 1999. Seven of the eight games in the road trip will feature a top-50 RPI foe.

Ten of UVA’s next 13 games feature teams ranked in the top 55 of the latest RPI, including ACC series against Miami (3), Pitt (38) and Georgia Tech (29) and a non-league game at Old Dominion (53). Virginia stands at No. 46 in the latest RPI.

Noting Miami
Miami lost its lone midweek game to No. 17 Florida Atlantic, 4-3, on Wednesday in Coral Gables. UM took two of three games in its ACC series at Duke last weekend. Zack Collins leads the Hurricanes in batting (.413), home runs (8) and RBI (40), while Carl Chester (.371), Brandon Lopez (.370) and Johnny Ruiz (.323) all are batting over .300 while Miami has a .292 team batting average. The Hurricanes’ pitching staff has a 3.36 ERA while limiting opponents to a .238 batting average. Miami also boasts the ACC’s top defense, with a league-high .983 fielding percentage.

Up Next
Virginia continues its road swing against Old Dominion next Tuesday in a noon game at Harbor Park in Norfolk.