No. 14 Virginia Hosts VCU Wednesday Night at The Dish

***UPDATE: TUESDAY’S GAME HAS BEEN POSTPONED AND WILL BE PLAYED ON WEDNESDAY (MAY 4 AT 6 P.M.)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 14 Virginia (33-12) and VCU (27-17) will conclude their midweek home and home series on Wednesday (May 4) at Disharoon Park. First pitch for the non-conference tilt is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will air live on ACCNX.

GAME COVERAGE:  ACCNX is available to authenticated subscribers of ACC Network via ESPN.com and the ESPN app. Additionally the contest 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
VCU: RHP Justin Humenay (0-0, 16.20 ERA, 1.2 IP, 2 BB, 4 SO)
Virginia: RHP Matt Wyatt (0-1, 6.52 ERA, 9.2 IP, 9 BB, 11 SO

LEADING OFF

• Virginia is 6-2 through the first eight games of its season-long, 14-game homestand. The Cavalier have one ACC home series remaining (Clemson – 5/13-16) and non-conference matchups with VCU (May 3), Longwood (5/11) and Mount St. Mary’s (5/17).
• VCU has won three-straight meetings against Virginia, including a 9-7 extra-inning loss to the Rams at the Diamond on April 19.
• UVA is 25-4 at home this season and owns has won 76 percent of its games at Disharoon Park since the facility opened in 2002. Wednesday will be the 698^th game at The Dish.
• The Cavaliers own a 19-2 mark against non-conference foes this season and are 5-4 against schools from the Commonwealth this season.
• The Cavaliers are nationally ranked for the eighth-straight week but slipped to No. 14 in the D1Baseball.com national rankings, its lowest since entering the polls at No. 19 on March 14. UVA comes in as high as No. 9 in the USA Today/Coaches Poll.

AGAINST VCU

• Virginia owns a 44-25 all-time record against VCU in an all-time series that was first played in 1979, a 17-4 Cavalier victory in Charlottesville.
• Under Brian O’Connor, the Cavaliers own a 20-6 mark against the Rams.
• The Rams have won three-straight games against Virginia for the first time since 2002-03.
• In the April 19 meeting, Virginia stormed back from a 7-2 deficit with five runs in the top of the seventh inning. The game-tying hit for UVA was a 403-foot missile off the bat of Devin Ortiz. The Rams prevailed in extra innings on a two-run, walk-off homer by Jacob Selden in the 10^th inning.
• Reliever Jacob Hodorovich established career-highs in innings pitched (4.0) and strikeouts (5) but was walked go-ahead run in the 10^th that eventually came around to score on the Selden homer.

CHASING HISTORY

• Jake Gelof sits alone in third on Virginia’s single-season home run list with 17 in 45 games the season. The 17 are the most in the Brian O’Connor era (2004-present) and trail Brian Buchanan (22 in 1994) and Jon Benick (18 in 2001).
• Gelof is also having a historic season driving in runs. His 67 are tied with Kenny Towns (2015) and Joe Koshansky (2004) for the second most in in program history. Pavin Smith set the school mark with 77 in 2017.
• Alex Tappen is looking to become the 13^th Cavalier ever to reach 60 RBI in a season. Tappen has played in 205 career games, the 10th-most in program history and two behind Kenny Towns who appeared in 207 games for UVA.
• As a team, Virginia has hit 62 home runs, tied with the 1996 club for the second most in school history. Only the 1988 team, which hit 67 in 52 games, had more in a single season.

Single Season RBI Duos – UVA History
2017 – Pavin Smith (77), Cam Simmons (56) – 133
2015 – Kenny Towns (67), Matt Thaiss (64) – 131
2009 – Jarrett Parker (65), Phil Gosselin (64) – 129
2022 – Jake Gelof (67), Alex Tappen (59) – 126
2010 – Steven Proscia (65), Phil Gosselin (61) – 126

CAVALIERS AT THE PLATE

• Virginia is the No. 6 scoring offense in the country, averaging 9.4 runs per game. The Cavaliers have totaled 422 runs in 45 games, tied for third nationally behind Texas Tech (423) and UNLV (438).
• The Cavaliers have scored 10 or more runs in a game 21 times this season, including 19 of the 29 games at Disharoon Park in 2022.
• Virginia has scored five or more runs in a single inning 24 times this season. The seven runs in the 10^th against UNC on April 23 marked the ninth time UVA has scored seven or more in a single frame.
• UVA ranks in the top-10 nationally in batting average (4th), hits (5th), on-base percentage (6^th), walks (7^th) and sacrifice flies (8^th).

ON THE MOUND

• As a staff, Virginia sports a 3.55 ERA, the 10th-lowest in the country and the lowest in the ACC. In addition, the Cavalier hurlers are allowing only 7.28 hits per nine innings which are the seventh fewest of any team in the country.
• UVA has struck out 486 batters this season the sixth-most in the country. UVA is averaging 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings are the ninth most in the nation.
• Virginia has seven shutouts this season, one behind national leader Vanderbilt. Virginia is one of five teams in the country with seven or more shutouts (Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Stanford, Central Michigan).

CAVALIER NOTABLES

• Freshman Griff O’Ferrall has hit safely in seven-straight games and comes into midweek action as the ACC’s second-toughest batter to strikeout. He’s fanned 18 times in 173 at bats and has collected 33 walks this season.
• O’Ferrall and Chris Newell are tied for fourth in the ACC with 16 stolen bases. Newell has swiped 37 career bags and owns the third-highest stolen base percentage (.902) by any Cavalier since 2000.
• Newell reached base six times in three games against Virginia Tech and hit his ninth and 10^th home runs of the year. It marks the first time since 2010 Virginia has three players with double-digit home runs.