No. 10 Virginia Wraps Homestand Tuesday Against Towson

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 10 Virginia (19-1) will host Towson (7-13) in the final game of a six-game homestand at Disharoon Park on Tuesday (March 22). The contest is slated for a 4 p.m. first pitch and will air live on ACCNX.

GAME COVERAGE: ACCNX is available to authenticated subscribers of the ACC Network through the ESPN app and ESPN.com. Links to live stats are available on VirginiaSports.com. Fans can get in-game updates on the team’s official twitter page (@UVABaseball).

TACO TUESDAY: Tako Nako will have a food truck setup near the left field entrance.

TUESDAY PARKING INFORMATION
Baseball fans can park in the JPJ South Lot on a first come, first served basis. Due to the men’s basketball NIT game at John Paul Jones Arena, baseball patrons will have to vacate the JPJ garage and the JPJ West lot at 4 p.m. The JPJ East lot will have a 5:30 p.m. vacate time.

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Tuesday – 4 p.m.
Towson: LHP Teddy Blumenauer (0-3, 10.67 ERA, 14.1 IP, 12 BB, 14 SO)
Virginia: LHP Matthew Buchanan (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6.1 IP, 2 BB, 10 SO)

LEADING OFF

• Virginia has matched the program’s best start to a season through 20 games. The Cavaliers went 19-1 in both 2009 and 2011. UVA has never started a season 20-1.
• UVA is one of three, one-loss teams remaining in college baseball (Tennessee – 19-1; Purdue 17-1).
• The Cavaliers are currently on a 17-game home win streak that dates back to last season. It is the third-longest active home win streak in the country (Tennessee – 23 games; North Carolina 19 games).
• Virginia enters the midweek contest No. 1 in the country in hits (248), runs (236), runs per game (11.8).
• UVA is the only school in the country to be ranked in the top-10 in batting average (2^nd – .343), earned run average (5^th – 2.35) and fielding percentage (6^th – .987).
• Virginia is outscoring its opponents 236-53 on the year. In its five midweek contests in 2022, UVA is has posted 62 runs compared to just nine by opposing offenses.

CONSENSUS TOP 10

• Virginia ascended nine spots in the D1Baseball.com poll and comes into the week as the No. 10 team in the country.
• The Cavaliers are ranked as high as No. 3 according to Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. Baseball America has UVA ranked No. 4 (up one spot) while the USA Today Coaches, NCBWA and Perfect game each have Virginia as the eighth-ranked team in the country.
• Virginia goes into the weekend ranked No. 14 in the NCAA RPI.

AGAINST TOWSON

• Virginia has won 22 of the 24 meetings against the Tigers in an all-time series that began in 1982.
• The Cavaliers have won 16-straight games against Towson.
• All 24 meetings have occurred in Charlottesville.
• Five Cavalier pitchers combined for a one-hit shutout against Towson last season at Disharoon Park. Paul Kosanovich was credited with the win after pitching three scoreless frames.

DISHAROON PARK LAUNCHING PAD

• Virginia enters the game two home runs shy of tying the Disharoon Park season record. The current school mark of 38 was set back in 2017 in 34 games. The Cavaliers have hit 36 in 14 home games this season.
• Virginia has won all 14 of its home games this season and scored 10 or more runs in all but one contest at its home venue. UVA is averaging 14.0 runs per game at The Dish this season.
• The Cavaliers are outscoring opponents 196-42 in home games this spring.
• 36 of Virginia’s 40 home runs on the season have left the confines of Disharoon Park.

Most Home Runs at Disharoon Park (Since 2002)

YEAR OF THE GRAND SLAM

• Through the first 10 games, Virginia has hit four grand slams, three have come off the bat of Kyle Teel, the other from Chris Newell.
• Virginia has hit four grand slams in a season, four times in the last 22 years (2022, 2021, 2013, 2009).
• UVA has hit three grand slams in its last five games. In Friday’s series opener against Boston College, Teel and Newell cleared the bases with a home run marking only the third time since 2000 and the last time since Kenny Towns hit two grand slams himself in 2013 against ECU that the Cavaliers have hit two in the same game.
• Teel, whose most notable grand slam came in game three of last year’s Super Regional, has four grand slams in his first 74 collegiate games the most of any Cavalier since 2000.
• With the bases loaded this season, Teel is 4-for-4 with a grand slam, a triple and 15 RBI.
• Newell has a grand slam in each of his three seasons as a Cavalier.

OUTSTANDING PERFORMERS

• Alex Tappen earned ACC Player of the Week honors on Monday, March 21 after batting .611 (11-for-18) with two doubles, three homers and 14 RBI. He drove in a career-high six runs in a 4-for-4 effort at the plate. Tappen has reached base safely in 19-straight games.
• For the fourth time in program this season, Jake Gelof hit two homers in a game, leaving the ballpark twice in the middle game against Boston College. Only Gelof and Jon Benick in 2002 have four multi-home run games in a season since 2000.

UVA Multi-Home Runs Games in a Season (Since 2000)
4 – Jon Benick (2001)
4 – Jake Gelof (2022)
2 – Dan Street (2002)
2 – Mark Reynolds (2002)

• In five games last week, Devin Ortiz scored 12 times. He reached base 15 times in the five contests and batted .563 (9-for-16) with two home runs and seven RBI.
• Freshman Casey Saucke has a hit in his first 18 games of his collegiate career. His 18-game hit streak is the longest of any freshman since 2000 and the longest by any Cavalier since Matt Thaiss in 2016.

UVA Longest Hit Streaks (Since 2000)
Brandon Guyer (2007) – 26
Greg Miclat (2007) – 20
David Stone (2001) – 20
Dan Grovatt (2009) – 19
Matt Thaiss (2016) – 18
Casey Saucke (2022) – 18

ON THE MOUND

• In addition to the nation’s fifth-lowest ERA, the Cavalier pitching staff has allowed only 6.35 hits per nine innings the fifth-lowest rate in the NCAA this season.
• UVA hurlers are ranked in the top-10 in the country in strikeouts per nine innings (6^th – 11.8), WHIP (5^th – 1.05) and strikeout to walk ratio (8^th – 3.87).
• Virginia is one of four teams with five shutouts (Vanderbilt, Texas, Tennessee) this season, the most in the country.
• Tuesday starting pitcher Matthew Buchanan will make his second-straight midweek start. He earned his first collegiate victory last week against Rider after striking out six over 3.2 innings of work. He retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced and was lifted after 70 pitches.

CAVALIER NOTABLES

• Jake Gelof leads the country in home runs (12), RBI (45), slugging percentage (1.174) and total bases (81).
• Freshman Griff O’Ferrall ranks sixth in the NCAA in runs scored (28) and has scored two or more runs in a game, 10 times this season. The first year has batted leadoff and played shortstop in all 20 games.
• Max Cotier is one hit shy of 100 for his career. He’s looking to join Alex Tappen (149) and Devin Ortiz (118) as active Cavaliers with 100+ hits. Kyle Teel and Chris Newell are six hits away from reaching the century mark.