March 1, 2018

Yale at No. 18 Virginia
Date/Time Sat., March 3, 1 p.m. (Doubleheader)
Sun., March 4, 1 p.m.
Location Charlottesville, Va. | Davenport Field
Live Audio Sunday
Live Video Game 1 | Game 2
Radio VirginiaSports.com (Sunday only)
Social Media UVA Game Notes | Twitter: @UVABaseball | O’Connor Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 18 Virginia (6-3) will host Yale (0-4) in a three-game series at Davenport Field this weekend. The series opener is scheduled for Friday at 3 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra.

Game Coverage: Both games on Saturday will be carried live on ACC Network Extra, a dedicated digital channel for ACC sports which is available to authenticated subscribers of ESPN3 through WatchESPN and the ESPN app at no additional charge.

A web-only radio stream on VirginiaSports.com will be available for Sunday’s contest. All three games will feature live stats with links also available on VirginiaSports.com. Fans can follow in-game updates on the team’s official twitter page (@UVABaseball).

Clear Bag Policy
Consistent with what is already in place at Scott Stadium, John Paul Jones Arena and Klöckner Stadium fans attending games at Davenport Field this season must adhere to the department’s clear bag policy and entrance procedures. Details of the of the policy can be found here: http://www.virginiasports.com/facilities/clear_bag_Davenport_Klockner.html

Saturday Parking Instructions: Due to the Virginia men’s basketball game at 4 p.m., parking for baseball will be available in the Emmett/Ivy Garage ONLY. Please refer to the parking map below

Saturday Parking Map: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/va/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/2017-18/misc_event/33BaseballParkingMap.pdf

Probable Pitching Matchups

Saturday – Game 1
Yale – RHP Scott Politz (0-1, 9.00 ERA, 5.0 IP, 2 BB, 3 SO)
Virginia – RHP Derek Casey (2-0, 1.42 ERA, 12.2 IP, 3 BB, 19 SO)

Saturday – Game 2
Yale – LHP Kumar Nambiar (0-0, 2.57 ERA, 7.0 IP, 0 BB 4 SO)
Virginia – LHP Daniel Lynch (0-1, 4.50 ERA, 12.0 IP, 3 BB, 11 SO)

Sunday
Yale – RHP Eric Brodkowitz (0-1, 1.50 ERA, 6.0 IP, 2 BB, 6 SO)
Virginia – RHP Evan Sperling (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 11.0 IP, 3 BB, 15 SO)

Leading Off
– Virginia comes into the weekend winners of its last four games while Yale seeks its first win of 2018.
– Friday’s meeting between Yale and Virginia will be the first since 2013. The two programs first met in 1893 a 14-8 Bulldog victory.
– Yale owns a 43-24-3 advantage in the all-time series.
– Virginia has won seven of the last eight games against Yale including a two-game series in 2013 in which the Cavaliers outscored the Bulldogs, 24-3.

Midweek Nail Biters
– The Cavaliers were on the winning end of two one-run victories, a 10-9 win over VMI on Tuesday and a 4-3 extra inning thriller against William & Mary.
– On Tuesday, Virginia scored the game’s first 10 runs but VMI stormed back to pull within a run late in the contest.
– History was made at Davenport Field on Wednesday when six Cavalier pitchers combined for an 11-inning no-hitter. Virginia walked off in the bottom of the 11th when two runs scored on a Tribe fielding error.

No-Hit Recap
– Six pitchers, Bobby Nicholson, Blake Rohm, Grant Donahue, Riley Wilson, Mack Meyer and Bennett Sousa combined to pitch the sixth no-hitter in program history.
– Sousa was credited with the win after pitching the final 2.2 innings
– William & Mary scored three runs despite not recording a hit, one on a ground out in the top of the sixth and the game-tying run in the seventh. The Tribe took the lead after benefiting from three 11th inning Virginia errors.
– After scoring 35 runs in its two previous games, the Virginia offense was limited to eight hits and did not record an RBI in the contest.

No-Hit Facts
– The no-hitter was the seventh this season in college baseball.
– Four of the six no-hitters in Virginia history have come in the Brian O’Connor era (2004-present).
– The combined no-hitter is the first in Virginia history.
– 11 innings matched the longest no-hitter in NCAA Division I baseball since 2002, the other occurred on Feb. 28, 2015 when Lehigh blanked Iona, 2-0.
– Of the 294 MLB no-hitters, an opponent has never scored more than two runs.

Yale’s 11-inning Almost No-No
– Regarded by some as the greatest pitching duel in college baseball history, Yale’s Ron Darling and St. John’s Frank Viola battled over 11 innings in a 12-inning, 1-0 St. John’s victory. Darling pitched 11 no-hit innings before giving up by a bloop single in the 12th. Darling struck out 16 batters while Viola.

Off to a fast Start
– Friday night’s starting pitcher, Derek Casey, struck out a career-high 12 batters last weekend against Eastern Kentucky. Casey leads the team with 19 strikeouts in two starts.
– Sunday starter Evan Sperling has yet to give up a run in 12.2 innings pitched. In his first start of the season against Rice, he matched a career-high with nine strikeouts.
– Each of the three starting pitchers on the weekend have a quality start to their name this season and all have gone 5+ innings in six combined starts.

Offensive Trends
– Virginia has scored in the first inning in each of the last five games and are 4-1 in those contests.
– Senior Caleb Knight and junior Nate Eikhoff have reached base safely in all nine games this season.
– Knight has a team-best 10 RBIs in the first nine games and also leads the team in home runs (2) and walks (9)
– Ranking third in the ACC in batting average (.305), Virginia is one of three teams in the league with a team average over .300.
Jake McCarthy is a perfect 6-for-6 stealing bases in 2018. His six swiped bags are tied for the 12th most in the country.

Noting Yale
– The Bulldogs went winless in their first four games in a four-team tournament in Buies Creek, N.C., hosted by Campbell University.
– Yale won a program-best, 34 games in 2017 and captured the program’s sixth conference title.
– The Bulldogs reached the Corvalis Regional Final before falling to eventual College World Series bound Oregon State.
– Yale returns all of its pitching wins from a season ago and including First Team All-Ivy selection, Scott Politz.