No. 19 Virginia Concludes Home Stand Tuesday

March 5, 2018

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Winners of six of its last seven games, No. 19 Virginia (8-4) will conclude a 10-game home stand on Tuesday (March 6) with a non-conference tilt against Davidson (8-3). First pitch at Disharoon Park is slated for 1 p.m.

Game Coverage: Tuesday’s contest 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.

Live stats will be available on VirginiaSports.com. Fans can follow in-game updates on the team’s official twitter page (@UVABaseball).

Promotions
Hot Dog will be tomorrow’s featured item at the ballpark concession stands and be sold for $2 throughout the game as part of the “$2 Tuesday” promotion. At each Tuesday home game this season a designated concession item will be sold for $2. Free hot chocolate will also be available to all in attendance.

Clear Bag Policy
Consistent with what is already in place at Scott Stadium, John Paul Jones Arena and Klöckner Stadium fans attending games at Disharoon Park 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

Probable Pitching Matchup
Davidson – RHP Connor Gordon (2-1, 0.00 ERA, 11.2 IP, 5 BB, 11 SO)
Virginia – RHP Bobby Nicholson (0-0, 1.42 EA, 6.1 IP, 4 BB, 5 SO)

Leading Off
– Virginia and Davidson will meet for the first time since 1992.
– The Cavaliers own a 13-5 advantage in an all-time series that began in 1903
– Virginia has won four of the last five meetings against the Wildcats
– On the current home stand, Virginia boasts a 6-3 record and has won six of the last seven games.

Close Calls
– Virginia has won its last four games by one run and are 4-1 in games decided by a run in 2018.
– The Cavaliers have come-from-behind in their last three wins, including two that have ended in walk-off fashion.
– Virginia captured its second-straight series win despite holding a lead in four of the 27 innings played over the weekend against Yale.

In the Polls
– Baseball America has Virginia holding steady at No. 14 in its Top 25 poll while the Cavaliers moved up two spots to No. 17 in D1Baseball’s national rankings.
– Virginia moved down a slot in the USA Today Coaches poll to No. 19 and slipped to No. 27 in Collegiate Baseball’s weekly rankings.

League and National Leaders
– Junior Jake McCarthy has been successful in all seven stolen base attempts this year, tied for the most in the ACC and 16th most in the country.
– After back-to-back 12-strikeout performances, Derek Casey leads the ACC and ranks 10th in the nation with 31 strikeouts. Casey is the first Cavalier since UVA Baseball Hall of Famer, Danny Hultzen in 2011, to record 12 or more strikeouts in consecutive starts.
– Senior Caleb Knight added two RBI to his season total on Sunday and goes into Tuesday tied for sixth in the ACC with 13.
– Junior Andy Weber‘s team-best 17 hits on the season are tied for the eighth most in the ACC.
– As a team, Virginia boasts the fifth highest batting average (.290) amongst its ACC cohorts.

Tough Outs
– Caleb Knight and Nate Eikhoff have reached base in all 12 games this season.
– Weber, who had his 12-game hit streak (dating back to last season) snapped against William & Mary last Wednesday, has a hit in 11 of the 12 games played in 2018.
– Justin Novak has a hit in all 10 games in which he’s appeared and leads the team with a .378 batting average. He ranks in the top-50 on the NCAA’s toughest to strikeout list, with only two strikeouts in 37 at bats.

Noting Davidson
– The Wildcats dropped games one and three in a weekend series at home against Lehigh. Coming into the series, Davidson was 7-1.
– In 2017, the Wildcats posted a 35-26 record and won their first conference title in the 115-year existence of the program. Davidson went 3-0 in the Chapel Hill Regional, defeating No. 2 seed North Carolina twice in the process.
– Junior Eric Jones earned Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week honors last week (Feb. 20-25) after hitting .462 (6-for-13) with three home runs and 17 RBIs in five games.