No. 11 Virginia Hosts North Carolina in Weekend Series

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 11 Virginia (28-10, 10-8 ACC) resumes Atlantic Coast Conference play this weekend with a three-game series against North Carolina (23-14, 8-10 ACC) at Disharoon Park. The series opener on Friday and Saturday’s middle game are scheduled to air on ACCNX at 6 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively. Sunday’s finale will be televised live on ESPNU at 2 p.m.

GAME COVERAGE:  ACCNX is available to authenticated subscribers of ACC Network on the ESPN app and ESPN.com. For information and a list of ACC Network carriers visit: GetACCN.com Additionally, Friday and Sunday’s game 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).

WEEKEND PROMOTIONS
ALL GAMES:  Youth ages 18 and under are free at every home game this season with the purchase of an adult ticket (online only). 

FRIDAY: Fralin Family head football coach, Tony Elliott will throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Sombrero’s food truck will be stationed in left field. 

SATURDAY: Dog Day at the Dish with a pet bandanna giveaway to the first 500 fans. Representatives from the SPCA will be in the right field plaza with adoptable dogs. 

SUNDAY: Youth Day and includes inflatables in left field, a balloon artist, kids run the bases after the game, postgame autographs and a poster giveaway. Fans can enjoy a $6 concession deal that includes a hot dog, bag of chips and 22 oz. fountain drink combo. Sombrero’s food truck also be stationed near the left field gate.

PARKING

**Note with multiple events occurring simultaneously at UVA this weekend, the following parking options are available:

• There will be a shuttle running from Emmett/Ivy garage to the ticket office from 3 p.m. – 10 p.m. for baseball/softball/track fans on Friday and Saturday.
• A limited amount of spots will be held for baseball fans on Friday night in the JPJ south lot
• JPJ south, JPJ west, JPJ garage, JPJ east and Emmett/Ivy garage are open to baseball fans all weekend, free of charge.

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Friday – 6 p.m.
North Carolina: RHP Max Carlson (1-1, 4.13 ERA, 32.2 IP, 17 BB, 46 SO)
Virginia: LHP Nate Savino (4-3, 3.83 ERA, 49.1 IP, 15 BB, 54 SO)

Saturday – 1 p.m.
North Carolina: LHP Brandon Schaeffer (3-1, 3.92 ERA, 43.2 IP, 12 BB, 31 SO)
Virginia: LHP Brian Gursky (6-0, 2.59 ERA, 41.2 IP, 21 BB, 48 SO)

Sunday – 2 p.m.
North Carolina: TBA
Virginia: LHP Jake Berry (4-2, 4.25 ERA, 36.0 IP, 14 BB, 49 SO)

LEADING OFF

• After playing three of the last four weekends on the road, Virginia will close out its home conference schedule with three-straight ACC series at Disharoon Park beginning Friday with North Carolina.
• Virginia will play 13 of the next 14 games at home and will not leave the Commonwealth until its May 19-21 series at Louisville.
• Dating back to last season, Virginia has won four-straight ACC series at home including three-game sets this season against Boston College and Georgia Tech in 2022.
• The Cavaliers have dropped five of their last six ACC games and have lost back-to-back ACC series. Virginia has lost five in a six-game ACC stretch under head coach Brian O’Connor (2022, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2015 (2x), 2008, 2005), seven times.
• At 778 career wins, O’Connor needs two more to tie former North Carolina head coach Mike Roberts (780) for the eighth most by an Atlantic Coast Conference coach.

Overall Wins (While a Member of ACC)

• Virginia is ranked No. 11 by D1Baseball.com falling out of the top-10 of the for the first time since March 14 when it debuted in the poll at No. 19.
• The Cavaliers offense ranks in the top-5 in the country in scoring (4^th – 9.7 rpg), hits (5^th – 425) and runs (4^th – 367).

AGAINST NORTH CAROLINA

• North Carolina is the only opponent that Virginia has played 300 games against. The all-time series dates back to 1891 with the Tar Heels holding a 188-113-4 advantage.
• Either Virginia and/or North Carolina has been nationally ranked when playing one another in each of the last 17 weekend series.
• UNC has won the last four series against UVA, three of them taking place in Chapel Hill. This weekend will be the Tar Heels’ first visit to Charlottesville since 2018 when they won the final two games to clinch the series.
• The two teams opened up the extended conference schedule at the end of February last season against one another with three, one-run games. The Tar Heels won the series by winning the first two games, 3-2 and 2-1. The Cavaliers salvaged the series with a 3-2 win in the finale, behind a quality start from Mike Vasil (6.0 IP, 0 R) and a two-run homer by Nic Kent.

MIDWEEK REVIEW

• The Cavaliers snapped a four-game win streak in extra inning games with a 6-4 setback against VCU this week. The Rams hit a walk-off, two-run homer in the ninth to win their third-straight game against the Cavaliers. The last UVA extra-inning loss was to North Carolina in the 2019 ACC Tournament.
• UVA erased a five-run deficit with a five-run seventh inning, capped by a game-tying two-run over by Devin Ortiz. On the mound Jacob Hodorovich eclipsed career-highs in innings pitched (4.0) and strikeouts (5).
• The Cavaliers bounced back on Wednesday against Georgetown with their seventh come-from-behind victory of the season. UVA trailed twice in the contest and didn’t take its first lead until the eighth inning. Jay Woolfok, who gave up the walk-off homer the night prior, struck out five-straight batters in 1.2 innings and earned the win in the contest.

ON THE MOUND

• The Cavaliers will have an all-left-handed rotation for the ninth-straight weekend. The three-man combination of Nate Savino, Brian Gursky and Jake Berry stays intact for the third-straight series. Prior to this season, O’Connor had never started three lefthanders in a weekend series.
• Friday night starter Nate Savino began the season with four wins in six starts and has since dropped three-straight decisions. Of the 18 runs that have come around to score against him in those three starts, 13 have been earned. Against Pitt last Friday, Savino left with two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth before a Cavalier fielding error allowed six unearned runs to score in the frame, the most runs in an inning by a UVA opponent this season.
• Brian Gursky turned in his longest outing of his career last Saturday against Pitt, tossing 6.2 innings of two-hit, shutout baseball. It was his second quality start of the season. He combined with Alex Greene for the team’s seventh shutout, tied for the most in the NCAA. In the eight games Gursky has started, UVA has outscored its opponents 101-75.
• Sunday afternoon starter Jake Berry, who started the season working out of the bullpen, logged 1.1 innings of relief work on Wednesday against Georgetown. The lefty was incredibly efficient, needing only 14 pitched to record four outs, two by way of the strikeout. He has struck out 33 batters in 11 relief appearances this season. Sunday will be his fifth career start since he made an emergency start against Wake Forest on March 26. He delivered five hitless innings and struck out a career-high nine batters in a combined no-hit bid in Winston-Salem that was broken up on an infield single with two outs in the ninth.
• As a staff, Virginia sports a 3.40 ERA, the ninth-lowest in the country and the lowest in the ACC. In addition, the Cavalier hurlers are allowing only 7.03 hits per game which is the fewest of any team in the country.
• UVA has struck out 411 batters this season the fifth-most in the country and the Cavaliers are one of 10 teams to reach the 400-strikeout plateau. The 11.0 strikeouts per nine innings are the 11^th most in the nation.
• Virginia, Stanford and Vanderbilt come into the weekend with an NCAA-best, seven shutouts.

CAVALIER NOTABLES

• In two midweek games, Devin Ortiz drove in four runs, including two on a game-tying home run against VCU to cap a five-run seventh inning. The two-way graduate student has hit safely in five-straight games coming into the weekend.
• Freshman Griff O’Ferrall walked a season-high four times in Wednesday’s win against Georgetown. He drew a bases loaded walk to tie the game in the sixth. Going into the series, he’s statistically the toughest batter in the ACC to strikeout (1 every 10.8 AB).
• First year Justin Rubin was the only multi-hit performer on Wednesday against Georgetown. He has two or more hits in five of his last seven starts.
• Kyle Teel beat out a bases loaded single in the eight inning against the Hoyas to record his 18^th RBI with the bases loaded this year. He is 5-for-8 (.625) with three home runs and a triple with the bases juiced this season.
• Alex Tappen and Jake Gelof are the only teammates in the country who each have 50 or more RBI this season. The duo has combined for 106 RBI, 56 from Gelof and 50 from Tappen. Both are career-highs through 38 games this season.
• Tappen has played in 198 career games for UVA and is looking to become the first Cavalier to reach the 200 games played mark since Kenny Towns who appeared in 207 from 2012-15.

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