Virginia Hosts No. 19 Miami in ACC Series This Weekend

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (9-11, 3-9 ACC) gets back to ACC play this weekend against No. 19 Miami (10-7, 5-6 ACC) beginning with the series opener on Friday (March 26) at Disharoon Park. Game one is set for a 4 p.m. first pitch while Saturday and Sunday’s games will begin at 1 p.m. All three games will air on ACCNX.

Game Coverage: ACCNX is available to authenticated subscribers of ACC Network via the ESPN App. In addition, the games on Friday and Sunday can be heard locally in Charlottesville on WINA 98.9 FM/1070 AM and 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.

TICKET INFORMATION

Due to the limited number of tickets, the current attendance policy includes pre-sale ticket access for UVA students, 2020 baseball donors and season ticket holders.  If any tickets remain after the pre-sale process, they will made available to the general public on Friday (March 26) at 10 a.m.

Fans must purchase a pair of tickets. All tickets regardless of location will be $5. Tickets can be purchased on UVATix.com or from Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. by calling the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office at 434-924-8821.

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS

Friday – 4 p.m.
Miami: RHP Alejandro Rosario (2-1, 4.44 ERA, 24.1 IP, 9 BB, 23 SO)
Virginia: RHP Griff McGarry (0-3, 6.38 ERA, 18.1 IP, 18 BB, 34 SO)

Saturday – 1 p.m.
Miami: RHP Victor Mederos (0-1, 4.56 ERA, 25.2 IP, 5 BB, 19 SO)
Virginia: LHP Andrew Abbott (1-4, 3.18 ERA, 28.1 IP, 11 BB, 43 SO)

Sunday – 1 p.m.
Miami: TBA
Virginia: RHP Mike Vasil (3-1, 2.13 ERA, 25.1 IP, 4 BB, 27 SO)

LEADING OFF

• This weekend will close a stretch of 11 home games in 20 days for Virginia. Beginning Tuesday at George Washington, the Cavaliers will play seven of the next eight away from Disharoon Park.
• Miami comes into the series after getting swept at home against Florida State and outscored 34-2. The Hurricanes are 6-2 on the road this year and have left the state of Florida only once, a three-game series at NC State on March 5-7.
• Virginia is one win away from No. 500 at Disharoon Park. The Cavaliers are 499-154 (.764) at their home ballpark that first opened in 2002.
• Miami will be the third-straight nationally-ranked opponent by D1Baseball.com to come for a weekend series in Charlottesville.
• The Hurricanes have won seven-straight games against Virginia dating back to 2019 with five of those meetings decided by three or less runs.
• In the ACC preseason coaches poll, Miami was picked to win the Coastal Division and the Cavaliers were picked to finish second.

AGAINST MIAMI

• The Hurricanes own a 32-28 advantage in the all-time series but the two schools are deadlocked a 25-25 since Miami joined the ACC prior to the 2005 season. Brian O’Connor is 26-27 against Miami since taking over in 2004.
• The Cavaliers had won eight-straight series against Miami from 2010-2017 before the Hurricanes swept weekends from Virginia in 2018 and 2019.
• The two teams last met in the 2019 ACC Tournament, a 10-3 victory for Miami in Durham, N.C.

LAST TIME OUT

• Virginia’s 20-game win streak against midweek opponents came to a close on Wednesday at Liberty after a 10-2 setback in Lynchburg.
• The Flames scored five runs in the first inning, the third time a Virginia opponent has scored five or more runs in an inning this season.
• A total of eight pitchers saw action for the Cavaliers and combined for a season-high nine walks.
• Four Liberty hurlers limited Virginia to four hits, two came off the bat of freshman Kyle Teel.

ON THE MOUND

• The Virginia pitching staff enters Wednesday’s game with 229 strikeouts, the ninth most in the country and the second-most in the ACC.
• The Cavaliers have struck out 10 or more batters in 15 of 20 games this season.
• Saturday’s starting pitcher Andrew Abbott is the ACC’s leader in strikeouts with 43. Griff McGarry’s 35 Ks are tied for fifth in the ACC.
• Abbott’s career 13.70 strikeouts per nine innings ratio is the highest of any active NCAA pitcher. He’s one of 21 pitchers in college baseball with 200 career strikeouts. Abbott has lost four games the season, two have been one run affairs and the other was a 2-0 loss at Florida St.
• Sunday afternoon’s starting pitcher Mike Vasil sports the fourth-lowest ERA in the ACC (2.13). The Cavaliers are 4-1 in games in which Vasil starts.
• 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.

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 2-10 when opponents score first and 7-1 when they’re 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. He started the first 19 games of the season behind the dish and sat out for the first time against Liberty on Wednesday
• Freshman Kyle Teel served as the team’s designated hitter in the last nine games is a team-best, 12-for-35 (.343) with two home runs and seven RBI. He has put forth multi-hit efforts in four of his last five games. He started eight-straight games as the team’s designated hitter before making his first start at catcher on Wednesday vs. Liberty.
• Brendan Rivoli had one of the two RBI for the Cavaliers against Liberty and now has driven in a run in seven of the last 10 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.