Virginia Closes Homestand Tuesday Against George Washington

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (11-0) will close out its nine-game homestand on Tuesday (March 8) when it hosts George Washington (3-7) at Disharoon Park. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. and the game will air live on ACCNX and WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM).

GAME COVERAGE: ACCNX is available to authenticated subscribers of the ACC Network through the ESPN app and ESPN.com. In addition, the contest can be heard locally in Charlottesville on WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM or anywhere on WINA.com. Links to live stats are available on VirginiaSports.com. Fans can get in-game updates on the team’s official twitter page (@UVABaseball).

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Tuesday – 3 p.m.
George Washington: LHP Jonathan Brus (0-0, 23.14 ERA, 2.1 IP, 5 BB, 2 SO)
Virginia: RHP Joe Miceli (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 4.0 IP, 1 BB, 5 SO)

LEADING OFF

• Virginia is one of five teams nationally without a loss through the first three weeks of the season – Clemson (11-0), Purdue (12-0), Tennessee Tech (10-0), Wake Forest (11-0).
• Going into Tuesday’s midweek matchup against George Washington, Virginia is one of nine teams with 11 or more wins.
• The Cavaliers are 11-0 for the fourth time (2008, 2009, 2013, 2022) under head coach Brian O’Connor and are off the best start since the 2013 season when UVA won its first 14 games.
• Through 11 games, Virginia has outscored its opponents 135-21.
• UVA has scored 10 or more runs in eight-straight games, a program record.
• Including the last three home games of the 2021 regular season, the Cavaliers have won 11-consecutive games at Disharoon park, the most since rattling of 16-straight in 2014.
• Virginia has won 12-straight games against George Washington dating back to the 2009 season.

NATIONAL RANKINGS

• Virginia is nationally ranked in five of the six major collegiate top-25 polls and come in as high as No. 5 according to Baseball America. The Cavaliers are No. 26 in the first installment of NCAA RPI rankings.
• Virginia comes into Tuesday with the fourth-lowest ERA (1.55), fifth-best fielding percentage (.989) and the seventh-highest batting average (.344) in the country. Only Virginia and Tennessee rank in the top-10 nationally in all three categories.
• The Cavaliers have the No. 2 scoring offense in the country, averaging 12.3 runs per game. The 135 runs produced this season are second only to Tennessee’s 141.
• Jake Gelof took over the national lead in RBI and now has 29 in 11 games played. He ranks third in slugging percentage (1.278), fourth in home runs (7), fifth in total bases (46) and ninth in sacrifice flies (3).

ON THE MOUND

• The Cavaliers have struck out 10 or more batters in all but two games this season including four performances of 15+ strikeouts.
• The Cavaliers rank fourth with an average of 13.1 strikeouts per nine innings, the second-highest rate of any staff in the country and the 144 strikeouts are the third most behind Florida State (151) and Vanderbilt (148).
• Virginia is tied for the national lead with four shutouts in 11 games.
• Righthander Joe Miceli is scheduled to make his first start in a Cavalier uniform on Tuesday. A transfer from Bergen County Community College (N.J.), he made eight starts in two seasons. Prior to the year, D1Baseball.com ranked him No. 26 on its Top 50 Impact transfer lists.
• The pitcher of record for UVA in 10 of the 11 games this season has been the starter.
• The Cavaliers have yet to surrender a run in two midweek games this season, defeating VMI 14-0 and William & Mary 12-0. Between the two games, Cavalier pitchers have allowed nine hits and struck out 24 batters.
• In four games last week, the Cavalier bullpen allowed two runs in a total of 14 innings pitched.

AGAINST GEORGE WASHINGTON

• Virginia has won 27 of the 39 meetings in an all-time series that was first played in 1905, a 22-1 Cavalier victory in Charlottesville.
• The Cavaliers have won 12-straight games against the Colonials dating back to 2009.
• Virginia won the home and home midweek series last season by a combined score of 18-3.
• UVA is 16-1 against George Washington under head coach Brian O’Connor which includes a 13-1 mark at Disharoon Park.
• Virginia’s lone perfect game came against the Colonials in 2011 when Will Roberts needed just 98 pitches to complete just the 24^th perfect game in NCAA history. The 2-0 win was also UVA’s 2,000^th victory.

THE BIG INNING

• Virginia has scored five or more runs in a single inning, 10 times this season and all eight games of the current homestand.
• The Cavaliers broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning of game one against Penn State with an eight-run outburst, the largest of the season.
• The fifth inning has been the launching pad for four of the 10 “big innings”.

FIRST YEAR IMPACT

• At the top of the lineup for all 11 games, shortstop Griff O’Ferrall has scored 20 runs, the third-most in the NCAA and the second most in the ACC. In the series finale against Penn State, he reached base five times and went 4-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI.
• Freshman Casey Saucke leads the team and ranks eight in the country with a .516 batting average. He has a team-best, seven-game hit streak going into Tuesday.
• Switch-hitting Ethan Anderson has blasted two home runs in the last four games. He has an RBI in five of his six starts on the season.
• Colin Tuft has started all but two games as a true freshman (8 in LF, 1 at DH). He’s scored a run in each of his nine starts. He notched a season-high three hits and scored three times in the finale against Penn State.

11-0 in Starts UVA History
2009 – 19-0*
2013 – 14-0
2022 – 11-0
2008 – 11-0
*School Record