Virginia Clashes With Virginia Tech This Weekend

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (20-19, 11-16 ACC) will be on the road for a three-game series at Virginia Tech (22-15, 15-12 ACC) beginning Friday (April 30) at Atlantic Union Park. The entire series will be broadcast live on ACC Network beginning with Friday’s opener at 7 p.m.

Game Coverage: ACC network is available through participating TV providers. For more information on how to get ACC Network, visit GetACCN.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 – 7 p.m.
Virginia: LHP Andrew Abbott (4-5, 3.86 ERA, 60.2 IP, 22 BB, 91 SO)
Virginia Tech: LHP Peyton Alford (1-3, 4.80 ERA, 45.0 IP, 29 BB, 66 SO)

Saturday – 7 p.m.
Virginia: RHP Mike Vasil (6-3, 3.51 ERA, 56.1 IP, 8 BB, 55 SO)
Virginia Tech: RHP Anthony Simonelli (4-1, 5.08 ERA, 39.0 IP, 21 BB, 43 SO)

Sunday – 6 p.m.
Virginia: LHP Nate Savino (1-2, 4.10 ERA, 26.1 IP, 8 BB, 16 SO)
Virginia Tech: TBA

LEADING OFF

• Virginia comes into the weekend 9-6 in the month of April and is seeking its third-straight road series win over a nationally-ranked opponent.
• The Cavaliers have won five of their last eight games way from Disharoon Park.
• The weekend pits the Cavaliers who have the second-lowest team ERA in the ACC (3.97) against the Hokies who have scored 256 runs, the most in the league.

AGAINST VIRGINIA TECH

• With the exception of 2020, the two Commonwealth foes have met every year since 1981. The 2020 season was only the second time since 1968 the Cavaliers and Hokies didn’t play one another.
• Virginia owns a 103-87 advantage in the all-time series that first began in 1900, a 12-0 Cavalier victory.
• Under head coach Brian O’Connor, Virginia is 32-13 against Virginia Tech. From his days at Maryland, O’Connor is 14-6 against Virginia Tech’s John Szefc.
• In the last meeting in Blacksburg in 2019, the Hokies avoided the sweep with an 8-4 winin the finale. The Cavaliers prevailed 8-6 in 11 innings in the series opener, in a five-hour, 30-minute marathon, the longest game in terms of time in Virginia baseball history.

COMEBACK-VILLE

• Virginia came from five runs down to defeat ASUN-leading Liberty 6-5 on Tuesday. Kyle Teel hit a go-ahead, solo home run in the eighth inning.
• The loss was the first for Liberty when leading after six innings since 2018, a span of 70 games.
• Virginia registered its seventh comeback win of the season and fifth in the month of April.
• The Virginia bullpen pitched eighth scoreless innings and escaped three bases loaded jams in the contest. Closer Stephen Schoch left them loaded in the eighth and stranded the tying run in scoring position in the ninth for his second win of the season.

ON THE MOUND

• Virginia’s team ERA of 3.97 is the second lowest only to Florida State in the Atlantic Coast Conference. As a staff, Virginia has struck out 412 batters, the ninth most in the country.
• The Cavaliers have struck out 10 or batters in each of the last five games and a total of 25 times this season. Virginia is 15-10 when fanning 10 or more batters in game.
• Lefty Andrew Abbott comes into the weekend with 91 strikeouts and is looking to become the second player to reach the century mark this season (Jack Leiter – Vanderbilt – 102). Derek Casey and Daniel Lynch were the last Cavaliers to strikeout 100 in a season back in 2018.
• Abbott is coming off his second 14-strikeout performance of the season in a 9-3 game one victory over Duke last weekend. Since 2000, only Abbott and UVA baseball hall of famer Danny Hultzen have struck out 14+ twice in their careers.
• Abbott goes into the weekend ranks sixth in UVA history with 256 career strikeouts. He trails Brandon Creswell (1998-01) who fanned 261 for fifth place. Abbott owns a 13.63 strikeouts per nine innings average, the third highest of any active pitcher in college baseball.
• On Saturday, the league’s win leader, Mike Vasil (6-3) will make his 27^th career start, the most on the Virginia staff. The righthander has pitched in series-clinching win or a win to avoid a sweep, six times this season. He recorded wins on Sunday to avoid sweeps against FSU and Pitt while take a no-decision in a win to avoid a sweep against Pitt. He has won series-clinching games against UConn, Georgia Tech and Duke.
• Vasil leads the staff with six quality starts and has logged six or more innings in 10 of his 14 starts in a Cavalier uniform.
• Sunday starter Nate Savino is seeking his first victory as a weekend starter this season after moving into the role prior to the Clemson series. He pitched into the sixth inning for the first time in his career last Sunday against Duke.
• The Cavaliers were hurt by the long ball in the Duke series, surrendering a season-high eight in the weekend series against the Blue Devils including four in the finale. A total of 12 of the 13 Duke runs came via the home run last weekend. Virginia has allowed a home run in each of its last six ACC games.

SCHOCH STOPPER

• Graduate student Stephen Schoch was one of 65 players named to the 2021 Stopper of the Year midseason watch list and one of 11 on the original preseason watch list.
• Schoch has 25 career saves, the third most among active NCAA pitchers. His 12 in the last two seasons as a Cavalier are tied for the 10^th most in program history.
• Going into the weekend, Schoch ranks second in the ACC with seven saves this season and is tied for 12^th in the NCAA

NOTES/TRENDS

• Last weekend Brian O’Connor won his 300^th ACC game with a 9-3 series-opening win over Duke. He is the eighth coach in league history to record 300 wins.
• Virginia has a pitcher in the top-2 in the ACC in wins (Mike Vasil – 1^st), strikeouts (Andrew Abbott – 1^st), innings pitched (Abbott – 2^nd) and saves (Schoch – 2^nd).
• The Cavaliers improved to 8-5 this season in one-run games with the win over Liberty in the midweek. A total of 17 games this season have been decided by one or two runs, 12 in ACC play.
• Freshman Kyle Teel moved into a three-way tie with Zack Gelof and Devin Ortiz for the team home run lead. He nearly hit two out on Tuesday but had one taken back in the fourth inning.
• Zack Gelof put together his fourth three-hit game of the season on Tuesday and since moving to the lead-off spot is batting .394 (26-for-66) with five doubles, three home runs and 15 RBI. The junior is currently riding a team-best 13-game hit streak and had reached base safely 16-straight. He also leads the team with nine multi-RBI games.
• Senior Brendan Rivoli delivered the game-tying, two-run single on Tuesday in a 2-for-4, three RBI effort against the Flames. Rivoli is the team’s leader in multi-hit games with 16.