No. 12 Virginia Returns to Action Wednesday to Host Longwood

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 12 Virginia (34-12) will host Longwood (19-27) on Wednesday (May 11) in its final non-conference game of the regular season. The contest is scheduled to air live on ACCNX at 6 p.m.

GAME COVERAGE: ACCNX is available to authenticated subscribers of ACC Network via ESPN.com and the ESPN app. 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
Longwood: RHP Cole Taylor (1-1, 8.54 ERA, 26.2 IP, 17 BB, 20 SO)
Virginia: RHP Matt Wyatt (0-1, 7.15 ERA, 11.1 IP, 11 BB, 13 SO)

LEADING OFF

• Virginia is 7-2 through the first nine game of its season-long 13-game homestand. The Cavaliers wrap up its regular season home slate this weekend with a three-game ACC series against Clemson.
• The Cavaliers will have a non-conference opponent after the exam break for the first time since 2019. Under head coach Brian O’Connor, Virginia is 10-2 against non-conference foes coming off exam break.
• UVA owns a 20-2 record against non-ACC schools this season with its only blemishes coming against ODU and VCU, both NCAA Tournament teams in 2021.
• The Cavaliers own a 26-4 record at home this season, the most wins at home since the 2017. Virginia has posted 26 or more wins 11 times since 2005.
• Virginia’s 26 home wins are tied with Davidson for the third most in the country this season. Only Tennessee (30) and Arkansas (27) have more.
• Despite a dormant weekend, the Cavaliers moved up two spots to No. 12 in the D1Baseball.com top-25 rankings. The Cavaliers are ranked No. 9 according to the USA Today/Coaches Poll and come in at No. 14 in the NCAA RPI, one of five ACC teams inside the top 14.

AGAINST LONGWOOD

• Virginia and Longwood will meet for the first time since 2019, a 13-4 Cavalier victory in Charlottesville. The only players on the current roster to play in the game were Drew Hamrock, Devin Ortiz and Alex Tappen.
• Virginia owns a 15-2 record against Longwood in an all-time series that was first played in 1980.
• UVA is 11-0 against the Lancers in the Brian O’Connor era (2004-present) and have outscored Longwood 92-23 in those contests.

CHASING HISTORY

• Virginia has homered in eight-straight games and is three home runs shy of matching the school single-season record of 67 set back 1988. It took the 1988 club 52 games to reach the 67 home run mark.

• Jake Gelof sits alone in third on Virginia’s single-season home run list with 17 in 46 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) for the most in program history.
• 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 became the 13^th Cavalier ever to reach 60 RBI in a season with a pair of RBI against VCU on May 4. He now has 61 on the year, tied with for the 10^th most in school history.

MOST RBI IN A SINGLE SEASON UVA HISTORY

• With an appearance against Longwood, Tappen will have played in his 207^th game tied with Kenny Towns (2012-15) for the eighth most in UVA history.

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 (61) – 128
2010 – Steven Proscia (65), Phil Gosselin (61) – 126

• With Chris Newell’s 10^th home run of the season coming on May 4 against VCU, the Cavaliers have three players with double-digit home runs for the first time since 2010. The Cavaliers have never had four reach double digits in the same season.

Three players w/ 10+ HRs – Same Season
2022 – Jake Gelof (17), Alex Tappen (12), Chris Newell (10)
2010 – Phil Gosselin (11), Jarrett Parker (10), Steven Proscia (10)
2002 – Mark Reynolds (15), Dan Street (12), Robert Word (11)

ON THE MOUND

• For the second-straight Wednesday, righthander Matt Wyatt will get the start for the Cavaliers. It marks his second start of the season and the fifth of his career.
• In his first five appearances of the season, Wyatt did not allow a run over 6.2 innings. All nine of his earned runs this season have come over his last four appearances (4.2 innings).
• Virginia comes into the midweek with the lowest ERA (3.61) in the ACC and the 12^th-lowest in the country. The Cavaliers have allowed 7.39 hits per game the seventh-fewest of any staff in the nation.
• UVA pitchers have 10.9 batters per nine innings, the eighth-highest ration in the NCAA.
• The Cavaliers are five strikeouts away from 500 for the season. UVA has reached 500 strikeouts 10 times in its history, including the school-record 687 last season.
• Virginia has seven shutouts this season, one behind national leader Vanderbilt. Virginia is one of seven teams in the country with seven or more shutouts (Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Stanford, Central Michigan, Omaha).

CAVALIERS AT THE PLATE

• Virginia is the No. 4 scoring offense in the country, averaging 9.4 runs per game. The Cavaliers have totaled 434 runs in 46 games, the sixth most national and second behind Wake Forest (453) for the ACC lead.
• The Cavaliers have scored 10 or more runs in a game 22 times this season, including 20 of the 30 games at Disharoon Park in 2022.
• Virginia has scored five or more runs in a single inning 25 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 (3rd), on-base percentage (5^th) and hits (9th).

CAVALIER NOTABLES

• Chris Newell has hit three home runs in his last four games played including a solo shot over the “Blue Monster” in center field against Virginia Tech on May 1. He joined Mark Reynolds (2003) and Joe Koshansky (2004) as the only to Cavaliers to clear it.
• Freshman Griff O’Ferrall has hit safely in eight-straight games and comes into midweek action as the ACC’s third-toughest batter to strikeout. He’s fanned 19 times in 178 at bats and has collected 33 walks this season.
• O’Ferrall and Newell are tied for fifth 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.
• Devin Ortiz has reached in 13-straight games, the longest active streak on the team. He had a 14-game reached base streak earlier this season.
• Over the last five games, freshman Casey Saucke has collected a team-bests eight hits and driven in eight runs. He’s batting .421 (8-for-19) with four doubles and a home run in the five-game span.