No. 8 Virginia Travels to Pitt for Three-Game ACC Series

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 8 Virginia (26-7, 9-6 ACC) will be on the road this weekend to play three games at Pitt (19-12, 7-7 AC). The series opener is scheduled for Friday (April 15) at 6 p.m. The opener along with Saturday’s contest will air on ACCNX while game three on Sunday will be carried by ACC Network.

GAME COVERAGE: Authenticated subscribers of ACC Network can watch the entire series on the ESPN app and ESPN.com. For a list of providers that have ACC Network and more information on the network visit GetACCN.com. All three games can be heard locally in Charlottesville on WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM) or anywhere on WINA.com. Links to live stats can be found on VirginiaSports.com. Fans can get in-game updates on the team’s official twitter page (@UVABaseball).

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS

Friday – 6 p.m.
Virginia: LHP Nate Savino (4-2, 3.89 ERA, 44.0 IP, 11 BB, 49 SO)
Pitt: RHP Matt Gilbertson (5-2, 2.98 ERA, 48.1 IP, 10 BB, 45 SO)

Saturday – 3 p.m.
Virginia: LHP Brian Gursky (5-0, 3.09 ERA, 35.0 IP, 16 BB, 42 SO)
Pitt: RHP Logan Evans (3-3, 6.00 ERA, 42.0 IP, 11 BB, 39 SO)

Sunday – 2 p.m.
Virginia: LHP Jake Berry (4-1, 4.65 ERA, 31.0 IP, 11 BB, 45 SO)
Pitt: RHP Billy Corcoran (4-2, 3.80 ERA, 45.0 IP, 5 BB, 33 SO)

LEADING OFF

• Virginia is in the midst of an eight-game stretch that includes seven road games, its longest stint away from Disharoon Park this season. After the road trip, the Cavaliers will close the season with 14 of its last 18 at home.
• The Cavaliers enter the weekend on a four-game losing streak, the longest since 2016 (March 26 – April 1), a stretch that also included a midweek loss to Old Dominion. The Cavaliers have not lost five in-a-row since 2003.
• The Cavaliers are the No. 2 scoring team in the country and one of two schools (Louisville) still averaging double-digit runs per game. UVA has not scored 10 or more runs since posting 18 against Georgia Tech on April 3.
• Coming in at No. 8 in this week’s D1Baseball.com’s top-25 poll, Virginia has been in the top-10 for the last four weeks. Among the six major poll, UVA is as high as No. 5 according to Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
• Virginia will visit Pittsburgh for the first time since 2018. The Cavaliers were en route to Pittsburgh in March of 2020 before the season was canceled due to the COVID19 pandemic.

AGAINST PITTSBURGH

• Virginia owns a 20-7 record against the Panthers in an all-time series that dates back to 1940.
• The Panthers have won two of the last three ACC series against Virginia. In 2018 the Panthers won the deciding game on Sunday to clinch their first series against the Cavaliers. Last year, Pitt won the first two games to take its first ever road series at Virginia.
• Virginia won 11 of its first 13 meetings against the Panthers as an ACC member institution. Under Brian O’Connor, UVA owns a 15-6 record against Pitt.
• In the first ever meeting in ACC play between the two schools on April 4, 2014, UVA baseball Hall of Famer Nathan Kirby threw a no-hitter and struck out 18 batters, allowing only two batters to reach base.

ON THE MOUND

• The Cavaliers have issued 21 walks in the last two games, including 13 in the series finale against Miami last Sunday, the most in a game since allowing 15 to Florida State on March 22, 2015. Virginia has walked five or more batters in six of its seven losses this season.
• The UVA pitching staff holds a collective ERA of 3.35, the 10^th lowest in all of college baseball. Virginia has allowed 7.03 hits per game, the eighth fewest in the country.
• Virginia pitchers are averaging 11.3 strikeouts per game, tied for the fifth most in the nation. The Cavaliers have totaled 368 strikeouts in 33 games, the sixth most of any college pitching staff. UVA set a program record with 687 punch outs last year.
• The Cavaliers are one of seven teams with an NCAA-best six shutouts this season.
• Friday’s starting pitcher, Nate Savino, is looking for a bounce back outing after being charged with a loss in each of his last two starts. He has four of Virginia’s five quality starts this season including a complete game shutout against Duke in the team’s ACC opener. The complete game is one of three in the ACC this season, the other two belonging to Pitt’s Logan Evans (7 inn.) and Billy Corcoran.
• Brian Gursky, Saturday’s starter, was the victim of two Hurricane home runs in his start in Miami but left after four innings with a 4-3 lead. He won his first five starts of the season and the Cavalier offense has outscored opponents 83-25 in the seven games he’s started this season.
• The first three starts of Jake Berry’s career have come on the last three Sundays. His first start was a memorable one, allowing no hits to the then-No. 5 hitting offense Wake Forest over five innings pitched. The Cavaliers were an out away from a combined no-hitter, losing it in the ninth inning on an infield single. Berry suffered his first loss after being lifted after three innings of work at Miami last Sunday.
• Virginia has been involved in one save situation all year, the season opener against Bellarmine in which Matt Wyatt recorded the save. Avery Mabe has the club’s other save after pitching the final 3.1 against Rider on March 15. Will Geerdes has finished a team-high nine games for the Cavaliers.

CAVALIER NOTABLES

• Virginia recorded 21 hits in three games in Miami, the fewest in a three-game stretch this season. The Cavaliers scored first in all three losses to the Hurricanes after winning all 22 previous games when scoring the game’s first run.
• Jake Gelof is involved in what now is a crowded national home run race. His 14 this season are tied for the sixth most in a Cavalier in a single season and tied with four others for the fifth most in the country. A total of 20 players have hit 13 or more home runs this season and Texas’ Ivan Melandez is tops in the nation with 16.
• Gelof has 54 RBI in 33 games this season, second only to the 59 by Carlos Contreras (Sam Houston) for the national lead. Gelof also ranks in the top-10 in slugging percentage (2^nd – 0.871) and total bases (9^th – 101).
• Catcher Kyle Teel has been behind the Dish in all 33 games this season and is 5-for-11 with a home run and three RBI in his last three games. He has reached base in all but two contests this season.
• Another model of consistency has been freshman shortstop Griff O’Ferrall who has started at led off all 33 games for UVA this season. He’s reached base safely in nine-straight games and is fourth in the ACC with 13 stolen bases. O’Ferrall is statistically the ACC’s third toughest to hitter to strikeout.
• Gelof and graduate student Alex Tappen have combined for 101 RBI this season. Gelof is second in the nation with 54 while Tappen ranks seventh with 47. Either would have led UVA’s College World Series team last season.
• Freshman Justin Rubin who has earned seven starts at second base in ACC play this season enters the weekend with four multi-hit games in his last five starts.
• Chris Newell matched a career-high with four hits in the series finale at Miami. He hit his eighth home run of the season and 17^th of his career.