Virginia Hosts No. 2 Florida State In Weekend Series

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia softball team (21-13, 8-1 ACC) continues ACC play at home this weekend, hosting a three-game series against No. 2 Florida State (32-2, 7-2 ACC) at Palmer Park. The series begins with game one at 6 p.m. on Friday (April 1).

TICKETS AVAILABLE AND WEEKEND PROMOTIONS
• Fans can purchase tickets to the series at UVATix.com and get discounted tickets with advance purchase online.

• Youth (ages 18 and under) can attend all remaining regular season baseball games for free in general admission seating based on availability. To claim free youth tickets, fans are REQUIRED to purchase a minimum of one paid adult ticket (maximum of four youth tickets per paid adult ticket). The offer is online only and not available at the box office.

• Saturday will be the program’s Strike Out Cancer game and the first 250 fans receive a free t-shirt to support the cause to help raise awareness and strike out cancer.

• Sunday is Season Ticket Holder Appreciation Day.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
All three games of the weekend series will be streamed on ACCNX which is available through the ESPN app and at ESPN.com. Live stats are also available for the three-game series. Links to the broadcast and the live stats are at VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also get updates by following the program’s official Twitter account (@UVASoftball).

NOTING THE HOOS
• Virginia is off to its best ACC-start in program history with an 8-1 record, passing the previous best start of 7-2 set by the 2010 team.
• The Cavaliers have swept back-to-back series in ACC play, marking the first time in program history for the program to sweep consecutive three-game series and first time since 2019 to sweep two ACC series in a season.
• The Hoos continue to put one of the best defensive teams in the nation on the field, ranking fifth nationally in defense with a .982 fielding percentage. It will be a test of stellar defenses as FSU ranks first at a .987 percentage.
• Freshman Sarah Coon continues to lead UVA at the plate with a .319 average and is first in walks with 17 this season. She is second on the team in RBI and third in runs scored batting in the leadoff spot.
• Senior Tori Gilbert leads the Hoos in home runs with nine this season and has hit four home runs in ACC play.
• Junior Katie Goldberg is the team leader in RBI with 23 and is second on the team with seven home runs.
• Sophomore Leah Boggs leads the ACC in runners caught stealing with 11 thrown out this season.
• Sophomore reliver Madi Harris has posted a team-high four saves this season, shutting the door twice last weekend against Boston College in the series sweep. She has allowed two runs in 20.0 IP with 21 strikeouts.

THE SERIES WITH FLORIDA STATE
• Virginia and Florida State have faced each other 103 times with the Seminoles leading the series 85-18.
• The teams last met in the 2019 season with Florida State taking a three-game series in Charlottesville.
• Virginia’s last win in the series came in the 2014 series when the Hoos won the first game 11-9 in Charlottesville.
• That win was the last over a top-10 team for the Hoos as Florida State was ranked No. 9 at the time.

HOOS SCORE EARLY AND OFTEN
• The early innings have been good to the Hoos this season and a predictor of success for Virginia.
• The Cavaliers have scored 88 of 165 runs through the first three innings this season.
• The second inning of games has been the most prolific with Virginia scoring 33 runs in that frame.
• When Virginia has a lead after four innings, the Cavaliers are 17-1 this season and 14-0 when leading after five.
• Teams have only scored 36 runs in the final three innings against the Hoos.