CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (9-10) will play the first game of a midweek home and home series against Liberty (13-5) on Wednesday (March 23) at Liberty Baseball Stadium. First pitch for the contest is scheduled for 4 p.m. and will air live on ESPN+.

Game Coverage: ESPN+ is a video streaming subscription service offered on the ESPN app that is available for an additional monthly fee. Wednesday’s game can also be heard locally on WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM) or anywhere on WINA.com. Links for the 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

Wednesday – 4 p.m.
Virginia: RHP Matt Wyatt (1-0, 3.72 ERA, 9.2 IP, 7 BB, 8 SO)
Liberty: RHP Mason Hand (1-0, 4.61 ERA, 13.2 IP, 7 BB, 12 SO)

LEADING OFF

  • Virginia will play its first road game since March 7 after completing a season-long eight-game homestand on Monday.
  • Liberty comes into Wednesday’s contest winners of 11-straight games including a two-game series sweep of VCU this past weekend.
  • The Cavaliers come into Wednesday having won 20-straight midweek games dating back to 2019. Virginia’s last loss in the midweek came at Liberty on March 13, 2019.
  • Wednesday will be the first of two games against the Flames on the schedule. Liberty will come to Charlottesville on April 27.

AGAINST LIBERTY

  • Virginia owns a 39-21-1 record against Liberty all-time and are 15-2 against the Flames under head coach Brian O’Connor.
  • The Cavaliers and Flames split the season midweek series in 2019, each team victorious in their home stadiums.
  • The Flames snapped a nine-game losing streak against Virginia with a 13-6 win in Lynchburg in 2019. It marked the first every loss on the road at Liberty under Brian O’Connor.
  • Virginia salvaged the series with a 6-3 victory at Disharoon Park thanks to a five-run fifth inning.

HOOS IN THE MIDWEEK

  • Virginia has outscored its midweek opponents this season 37-6 in four games and tossed consecutive shutouts, including last Wednesday’s blanking of Towson.
  • Five UVA pitchers combined for a one-hit shutout of Towson, the first UVA one-hitter since March 27, 2018 when they held Longwood to a one base knock in a 6-0 victory
  • In four midweek games this season, Virginia pitchers have surrendered just three earned runs and boast a 0.75 ERA.

ON THE MOUND

  • Righthander Matt Wyatt will make his first start of the season and the third of his UVA career. All eight of his appearances have been out of the bullpen this season. Wyatt’s last start was the second-to-last game of the 2020 season, a 24-5 Virginia victory over UMass-Lowell where he pitched a career-high, four scoreless innings.
  • The Virginia pitching staff enters Wednesday’s game with 222 strikeouts, the seventh most in the country. The Cavaliers have struck out 10 or more batters in all but four games this season.
  • As a staff, Virginia boasts a 3.45 ERA, the second lowest in the ACC and is the 34th best ERA in the NCAA.
  • Virginia is one of three teams in the ACC to toss multiple shutouts this season.
  • Reliever Blake Bales added 3.1 scoreless innings to his season total in Saturday’s loss to then-No. 18 Pitt. In 14.2 innings out of the bullpen the junior has not allowed a run and has struck out 22 batters. He’s has allowed two runs in his last 17 appearances dating back to the 2018 season.
  • Stephen Schoch’s four saves are tied for the second most in the ACC despite not entering a save situation since March 7.

NOTING THE WEEKEND

  • Virginia is coming off a series loss to No. 15 Pitt at home over the weekend, the first ever series win for Pitt in Charlottesville. The Panthers entered the weekend 0-6 at Disharoon Park.
  • The Cavaliers improved to 3-1 series finales after a 10-4 win over No. 15 Pitt on Monday afternoon
  • Virginia put forth its best offensive effort in ACC play with 11 hits and 10 runs, eight coming with two outs.

NOTES & TRENDS

  • Virginia recorded its second come-from-behind victory of the season in the 10-6 win over No. 15 Pitt on Monday. The Cavaliers are just 2-9 when opponents score first and 7-1 when their the first on the board.
  • Catcher Logan Michaels has eight hits and is batting .421 (8-for-19) in his last four games. He has scored twice and drove in four runs.
  • Freshman Kyle Teel served as the team’s designated hitter in the last eight games is a team-best, 10-for-31 (.323) with two home runs and seven RBI. He has put forth multi-hit efforts in three of his last four games.
  • Devin Ortiz was responsible for the fireworks at the plate for Virginia this past weekend, blasting his first two home runs of the season in back-to-back games to finish the series. The senior has a team-best five-game hit streak and has reached base safely in nine-straight games.