Virginia Visits VCU in Midweek Tilt at The Diamond

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (17-17) heads east to take on Commonwealth foe VCU (21-14) on Tuesday (April 20) at The Diamond in Richmond. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast 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. Tuesday’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

Tuesday – 7 p.m.
Virginia: RHP Griff McGarry (0-4, 6.94 ERA, 23.1 IP, 28 BB, 39 SO)
VCU: RHP Bradford Webb (2-1, 4.40 ERA, 30.2 IP, 12 BB, 27 SO)

LEADING OFF

• The matchup against VCU in Richmond will be Virginia’s final non-conference road game of the season.
• The Cavaliers are 3-1 against opponents from the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2021.
• Virginia is 7-7 away from home this season and has won six of the last eight road games including two against then-No. 6 Georgia Tech.
• Against midweek opponents this year, Virginia boasts a 6-1 record and have pitched to a 2.77 ERA.

AGAINST VCU

• Virginia is 46-22 all-time against VCU in a series that was first played in 1979, a 17-4 win in Charlottesville.
• The Cavaliers have won five of the last six meetings including a 3-2 victory on April 30, 2019, the last meeting at The Diamond.
• Virginia swept the home-and-home series in 2019 with a pair of one-run victories.
• Under head coach Brian O’Connor, Virginia is 21-3 against VCU.

WEEKEND RECAP

• Virginia took the opener of an ACC series for the first time in 2021 in dramatic fashion this past Friday against then No. 7 Louisville. Devin Ortiz tied the game at seven with a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth and the Cavaliers walked off on a two-out Cardinal fielding error.
• The Cardinals went on to win the final two games and captured their first series win over UVA since 2017.
• Louisville hit six home runs in the series, two in each game, the most by a Cavalier weekend opponent since Notre Dame hit seven.
• The Cavaliers held a pair of leads in the middle game before a pair of long balls accounted for the next five runs. In Sunday’s finale, Cardinal starting pitcher Luke Smith held UVA scoreless over the first seven innings that enabled Louisville to jump out to an 7-0 lead.
• UVA pitching was peppered with 36 Louisville hits in three games including an opponent season-high, 17 in the middle game.

ON THE MOUND

• The Virginia pitching staff comes into the weekend with a 4.01 ERA, the third lowest in the ACC and its 347 strikeouts rank 18^th in the NCAA.
• Virginia has struck out 10 or more batters in five of the last nine games. Opponents have struck out 10 or more times on 20 different occasions this season and Virginia is 12-8 when compiling 10 or more strikeouts in a game.
• Righthander Griff McGarry will make his first start since April 1. The senior pitched one inning of relief over the weekend against Louisville and allowed one run.
• McGarry will make his 25th start in a Cavalier uniform, tied with Mike Vasil for the most on the staff. Tuesday will be McGarry’s second start at The Diamond. He took the loss in VCU’s 11-3 Ram victory in 2018.
• Closer Stephen Schoch earned his first victory of the season in Friday night’s win over Louisville. The sidearmer faced just seven batters over two innings as Virginia won its sixth one-run ball game of the year. Schoch is second in the ACC with six saves and is sitting at 11 saves in two seasons at UVA, one shy of cracking the program’s all-time top-10.

NOTES/TRENDS

• Zack Gelof and Devin Ortiz each homered in the Louisville series and are tied for the team lead with five each. Gelof has 12 career homers most of any Cavalier hitter.
• Ortiz enters Tuesday on a 14-game hit streak, the longest by a Cavalier since 2018. Over the course of the streak Ortiz is batting .411 (23-for-56) with 15 runs scored, five doubles, three homers and 13 RBI. Since March 24, Ortiz’s batting average has risen 117 points.
• The one-run affair in the opener against Louisville was Virginia’s seventh in ACC play and the Cavaliers improve to 4-4 in one-run games against league opponents. So far in 2021, 11 of Virginia’s 24 conference games have been decided by one or two runs.
• Logan Michaels threw out four out of five runners attempting to steal in Saturday’s loss against Louisville, the most in a single game by a UVA catcher since 2000.
• Brendan’s Rivoli’s 13-game reached base streak came to a close on Sunday, one game shy of matching his career high. The senior has 13 multiple hit games in 2021, the most on the team.