Virginia Hosts No. 7 Louisville in Weekend Series

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (16-15, 8-13 ACC) returns home this weekend to host No. 7 Louisville (20-10, 12-5 ACC) in a three-game series at Disharoon Park beginning Friday (April 16). The entire series will be carried live on ACCNX and first pitch for the series opener is slated for 6 p.m.

Game Coverage: ACCNX is available to authenticated subscribers of ACC Network via the ESPN App. In addition, all three games can be heard locally on WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM) and anywhere on WINA.com. Links for the broadcast 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 (April 16) 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 – 6 p.m.
Louisville: LHP Michael Kirian (4-0, 2.75 ERA, 36.0 IP, 14 BB, 46 SO)
Virginia: LHP Andrew Abbott (3-5, 3.19 ERA, 48.0 IP, 5 BB, 48 SO)

Saturday – 4 p.m.
Louisville: LHP Luke Seed (0-0, 1.69 ERA, 21.1 IP, 6 BB, 13 SO)
Virginia: RHP Mike Vasil (5-2, 2.98 ERA, 45.1 IP, 4 BB, 40 SO)

Sunday – 1 p.m.
Louisville: RHP Luke Smith (0-2, 7.80 ERA, 15.0 IP, 10 BB, 8 SO)
Virginia: LHP Nate Savino (1-1, 2.65 ERA, 17.0 IP, 6 BB, 13 SO)

LEADING OFF

• Louisville is the fourth nationally ranked opponent to play a three-game set in Charlottesville this season and the first inside the top-10.
• The Cardinals sit atop of the Atlantic Division with a .706 win percentage and are the only school in the league with 20 wins.
• Virginia comes into the series with a 4-8 record against ranked opponents including two road wins over then-No. 6 Georgia Tech.
• The Cavaliers are 5-2 in the month of April and have won six of the last eight games.
• Virginia is scheduled to play seven of the next eight at home and with road games at VCU and Virginia Tech will not leave the Commonwealth until May 20^th.
• Head coaches Dan McDonnell (.715) and Brian O’Connor (.704) have the top two career winning percentage among active NCAA coaches.
• O’Connor is 298-193-1 in ACC play and is looking to become the eighth coach in the history of the league to reach 300 ACC victories.

AGAINST LOUISVILLE

• The Cardinals own a 9-7 advantage in the all-time series that was first played in 2015.
• Virginia has won four of the last five games against Louisville including two out of three at Disharoon Park in 2019.
• Of the five ACC regular season series, Louisville won the first three and Virginia has won the last two. The Cavaliers claimed their first series against the Cardinals in 2018 with a pair of one-run road victories. All three games in the series were decided by one run.

ROAD TRIPPING WITH THE HOOS

• Virginia is coming off a successful stint away from Charlottesville, winning road series at then No. 6 Georgia Tech and at Clemson last weekend.
• The Cavaliers went 5-2 in the last seven road games and are 7-7 away from Disharoon Park this season.
• In the last seven road games, Virginia racked up nine or more hits five times including 13-hit efforts in finales against Georgia Tech and Clemson to match a season-high against ACC opponents.

ON THE MOUND

• The Virginia pitching staff comes into the weekend with a 3.73 ERA, the second lowest in the ACC and 323 strikeouts, the third most in the league.
• Virginia has struck out 10 or more batters in four of the last six games. Opponents have struck out 10 or more times on 19 different occasions this season and Virginia is 11-8 when compiling 10 or more strikeouts in a game.
  • Andrew Abbott struck out seven batters but surrendered five runs in 4.2 innings in the opener at Clemson last weekend, his second shortest outing of the season. Abbott’s 13.30 career strikeouts per nine innings is the second-highest among active NCAA pitchers.
• Abbott’s 66 strikeouts on the year are the second most in the ACC and are tied for the ninth most in the nation. The lefthander is currently 11^th all-time on UVA’s career strikeout list and needs two strikeouts to tie Kevin Shrout (1997-2000) for the 10^th spot.
• As a freshman in 2019, Mike Vasil pitched into the eighth inning and earned his second career win in the second game of a doubleheader against the Cardinals. It was the first of two times the righthander has pitched into the eighth, the other coming this season against Miami on March 28.
• Vasil comes into the weekend tied for the league lead in wins (5) and has the fifth lowest ERA (2.98) in the ACC. His strikeout-to-walk ratio (9.60) and walks allowed per nine innings (0.99) are the best of any ACC hurler. Vasil has issued just five walks this season, tied for the fewest amongst qualified ACC pitchers.
• Blake Bales has appeared in 17 games this season, all out of the bullpen and has yet to surrender a run. The 17 appearances are the second most in the ACC and tied for the third most in the NCAA.
• Last week Bales appeared in three of Virginia’s four games, logged 7.2 innings of scoreless relief, struck out 10 and did not walk a batter.
• Stephen Schoch saved the series finale, the 24^th of his collegiate career, the third most of any active pitcher in the NCAA. As a Cavalier he has saved 11 games and with one more will tie Kyle Crockett (2011-13) and Justin Thompson (2009-12) for the 10^th most in program history.

NOTES/TRENDS

• Two of the four Cavalier comeback wins have come in the last four games.
• The one-run affair in the finale against Clemson was Virginia’s seventh in ACC play and the Cavaliers improve to 3-4 in one-run games against ACC opponents. A total of 10 of Virginia’s 21 conference games have been decided by one or two runs.
• In the last seven games, Virginia has committed just three errors and currently rank fourth in the ACC with a .978 fielding percentage.
• Zack Gelof is batting .371 (13-for-35) with two home runs and eight RBI from the leadoff position. He has batted leadoff for the last seven games.
• Devin Ortiz is riding an 11-game hit streak, the longest by a Cavalier this season. During the 11-gamee span he’s hitting .395 (17-for-43) w/ 4 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 10 RBI. Ortiz is batting a team-best .313 (21-for-67) in conference play and has hit all four of his home runs in league play.
• Chris Newell drove in five runs to match a career-high in the middle game against Clemson. His three-run homer in the eighth gave Virginia an 8-4 lead.
• Kyle Teel comes into the weekend with the team’s best batting average at .317 (26-for-82). The first year moved into a team lead with four homers in the series finale at Clemson. He drove in a season-high four runs in the series-clinching victory and has multi-hit efforts in three of his last four games.