Virginia Hosts No. 25 Notre Dame This Weekend

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (7-5, 2-4 ACC) will be home on Friday (March 12) for the first game of a three-game series against No. 25 Notre Dame (4-2, 4-2 ACC). First pitch in the opening game is scheduled for 3 p.m. and will air live on ACCNX.

Game Coverage: All three games of the series will be carried on ACCNX which is available to authenticated subscribers of ACC Network via the ESPN App. In addition, Saturday and Sunday’s games can be heard locally in Charlottesville on WINA 98.9 FM/1070 AM and anywhere on WINA.com. Links for broadcasts and in-game live stats are available on VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also follow the Virginia baseball official twitter account (@UVABaseball) for in-game updates.

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS

Friday – 3 p.m.
Notre Dame: LHP Will Mercer (0-0, 7.20 ERA, 5.0 IP, 2 BB, 3 SO)
Virginia: LHP Andrew Abbott (1-2, 1.96 ERA, 18.1 IP, 6 BB, 29 SO)

Saturday – 1 p.m.        
Notre Dame: LHP John Michael Bertrand (1-0, 4.22 ERA, 10.2 IP, 4 BB, 12 SO)
Virginia: RHP Griff McGarry (0-2, 6.00 ERA, 12.0 IP, 11 BB, 24 SO)

Sunday – 1 p.m.
Notre Dame: TBA
Virginia: RHP Mike Vasil (3-0, 0.49 ERA, 18.1 IP, 2 BB, 20 SO)

LEADING OFF

• The Cavaliers are in the midst of an eight-game homestand, their longest of the season and will play 12 of its 17 games in the month of March at Disharoon Park.
• Notre Dame is ranked No. 25 by both D1Baseball.com and USA Today/Coaches after ACC series wins over Clemson and Wake Forest.
• The Cavaliers come into the weekend with the ACC’s lowest ERA (2.68)
• Virginia is seeking its third-straight ACC series victory at home dating back to the 2019 season.
• Under head Coach Brian O’Connor, the Cavaliers are 292-184-1 in ACC play. His 292 wins are the 8th most in league history and third most among active ACC coaches. His winning percentage (.613) in ACC play is the sixth-highest in league history and second-highest among active ACC coaches (min. 4 seasons).

AGAINST NOTRE DAME

• Virginia is 10-5 against Notre Dame all-time and have won seven of the 10 meetings since the Fighting Irish have joined the ACC.
• The Cavaliers swept a Saturday doubleheader in South Bend to take the series back in 2019. The series ended on an outfield assist at second base that occurred just before the tying run crossed the plate.
• Virginia came from behind to win each game of the twinbill and Kyle Whitten saved both ends of the doubleheader.
• Brian O’Connor is 7-3 against Notre Dame, a program where he spent nine seasons as an assistant coach under current LSU head coach Paul Mainieri. The Irish reached the College World Series in 2002 for the first time since 1957 and have not been back since. Mainieri and O’Connor teamed up for the first time since when they served on the 2018 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team coaching staff.

HOME AT THE DISH

• Virginia is three wins shy of 500 at Disharoon Park, a facility that opened in 2002 and changed the face of the Cavalier baseball program.
• 2021 is the 20th season at Disharoon Park and Virginia is 497-149 (.769) all-time in the facility.
• At Disharoon Park this season, Virginia has won five of six games. Dating back to last season, the Cavaliers are 18-3 in the last 21 games at home.
• The Cavaliers are scheduled to play 29 home regular season home games in Charlottesville in 2021.

AMONG THE RANKS

• Virginia dropped out of the D1Baseball Top 25 poll for the first time after being as high as No. 16 in the preseason.
• The Cavaliers are nationally ranked in three other polls and come in as high as No. 21 (Baseball America). Perfect Game has Virginia at No. 24 and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association has UVA ranked No. 25.
• The last ranked foe to come to Charlottesville, was NC State in 2020. Virginia upended the then-No.7 Wolfpack by taking two out of three and putting a stop to a 12-game NC State win streak.

ON THE HILL

• As a staff, Virginia is tied for 6^th in the NCAA in total strikeouts (146) and ranks 11^th in the NCAA in strikeouts per 9 innings (12.6).
• The weekend rotation of Andrew Abbott (No. 1), Griff McGarry (No. 3) and Mike Vasil (No. 8) all rank in the top eight in the ACC in strikeouts. Abbott’s 29 strikeouts are the seventh most in all of college baseball, three shy of the national leader.
• Seven pitchers combined for a shutout on Tuesday against Richmond, the team’s first shutout since opening night of the 2020 season. Virginia has fanned 10 or more batters in nine of the 12 games this season and only recorded eight in the four-hit blanking of the Spiders
• Friday night starter Andrew Abbott is coming off a career performance in which he struck out 14 batters against Florida St. last weekend. He was one of six Cavalier pitchers since 2000 to fan 14 or more in a game and the first since Nathan Kirby’s no-hitter against Pittsburgh in 2014.
• Abbott is seeking his 10^th career win and is six strikeouts shy of 200 for his career. He would be the 17^th member of UVA’s 200-strikeout club and the first since Alec Bettinger in 2017.
• Mike Vasil has the most wins (3) and has the lowest ERA (0.49) among ACC starting pitchers. Vasil is one of nine pitchers in NCAA with 18+ innings pitched and two or fewer walks.
• Among active NCAA pitchers, Abbott has the second-highest career strikeouts per nine innings (13.86) ratio. Teammates Griff McGarry and Stephen Schoch are also ranked in top 12.

 CAREER K/9 (ACTIVE NCAA PITCHERS)

*Stephen Schoch is ranked 12^th (11.46)

PLAYER NOTES

• Earlier this week, Logan Michaels was named to the Buster Posey Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award Watch list. He is one of 69 on the initial list that will be narrowed down to semifinalists on May 20.
• Michaels has caught all 12 games for the Cavaliers and has also made an impact on the offensive end. He leads the team with 11 runs scored and has only struck out five times in 41 at bats and his 0.42 strikeouts per game are the seventh fewest in the ACC.
• Five Cavaliers put forth multi-hit efforts on Tuesday against Richmond, including first year Kyle Teel. Making his second collegiate start, the designated hitter went 2-for-3 with a game-high two RBI. He’s 3-for-8 (.375) to start is UVA career.
• Nic Kent carries a team-best six-game hit streak into the weekend and also leads the Cavaliers six multi-hit game.
• Chris Newell swiped his second stolen base of the year and is a perfect 10-for-10 on stolen base attempts to start his UVA career.
• Reliever Blake Bales leads the ACC with seven appearances out of the bullpen. He has not allowed a run in 7.0 innings pitched and has fanned 12 of the 25 batters he’s faced this season.
• Brendan Rivoli has three RBIs in this last two games, all coming on three, two-out hits. Rivoli has six hits in his last five games and has upped his average to .289, third highest on the club.

100 CAREER HITS CLUB

Hits      Joined

Brendan Rivoli  114      2020
Nic Kent           106      2021
Zack Gelof        106      2021
Alex Tappen      92        —