Virginia Set for Greenville Regional on FridayVirginia Set for Greenville Regional on Friday

Virginia Set for Greenville Regional on Friday

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (38-17) will open up NCAA Regional play in Greenville, N.C. on Friday (June 3) when it takes on Coastal Carolina (36-18-1) at Clark-LeClair Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the contest is scheduled to air on ESPN+.

GAME COVERAGE: ESPN+ is a subscription-based service available for a monthly fee on the ESPN app and ESPN.com. The game can be heard locally in Charlottesville on WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM) and 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.
Coastal Carolina: LHP Reid VanScoter (9-2, 3.06 ERA, 82.1 IP, 22 BB, 80 SO)
Virginia: LHP Nate Savino (5-6, 4.02 ERA, 71.2 IP, 30 BB, 75 SO)

LEADING OFF

  • UVA is making its 19th NCAA postseason appearance and have qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 16th in 18 chances under head coach Brian O’Connor.
  • Virginia has reached the College World Series five times since 2009, tied for the second most in of any college baseball program.
  • The Cavaliers are one of the six teams that went to Omaha last year that are part of the 2022 field.
  • Head coaches Gary Gilmore and Brian O’Connor are two of the seven active coaches with a National Championship to their credit. A total of five are playing in this year’s tournament.
  • The Greenville Regional is one of four in this year’s tournament to feature two teams that have won a national championship. Four of the last six national champions are grouped in two regionals – Virginia (2015) and Coastal Carolina (2016) in Greenville; Oregon State (2018) and Vanderbilt (2019) in Corvallis.
  • Virginia enters the NCAA postseason averaging 8.8 runs per game, the ninth-highest scoring offense in the country.
  • Virginia and consensus No. 1 Tennessee are the only two programs in the country to be ranked in the top-20 in both batting average (11th – .311) and earned run average (17th – 4.03).

NOTING THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

  • Virginia has won seven regional championships (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2021) and reached the College World Series five times – 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2021.
  • UVA has played on the road for a regional in three of the five times it has reached the College World Series (2009, 2015, 2021).
  • Brian O’Connor is one of seven active coaches to win a National Championship.
  • Competing in its 19th NCAA tournament, Virginia is 61-42 in NCAA play.
  • UVA is 49-24 in the NCAA tournament since 2009, tied for the third-most NCAA wins in that span.
  • Under Brian O’Connor (since 2004), UVA is 55-35 in the NCAA tournament and 37-23 in regional play.
  • The Cavaliers captured the program’s first National Championship in 2015 in a rematch of the 2014 College World Series final. Virginia became the first ACC school to claim a national title since 1955 (Wake Forest).
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AGAINST THE GREENVILLE FIELD

  • East Carolina is the only team in the regional Virginia has faced in the NCAA Tournament. The two teams met in the 2016 Charlottesville regional with ECU coming away with an 8-6 win.
  • UVA and Coastal Carolina were regular opponents from 2007 to 2012 and last played in 2016, the Chanticleers national championship season. Coastal has won five of the nine all-time meetings, including a 5-4 victory over the Cavaliers in the third game of the 2016 season.
  • Virginia is 31-21 against East Carolina in an all-time series that was first played in 1967. Despite dropping four of the last five games against the Pirates, UVA is 14-5 against ECU under Brian O’Connor.
  • The Cavaliers have won all nine meetings against Coppin State and last played in 2008 in Charlottesville, a 27-1 UVA victory. The 27 runs are the most by the Cavaliers in the O’Connor era (2004-present).

DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES

  • The Virginia roster boasts seven position players (Cotier, Gelof, Newell, Ortiz, Sullivan, Tappen, Teel) and four pitchers (Neeck, Ortiz, Savino, Wyatt) that have played in an NCAA Tournament game.
  • In UVA’s 2021 College World Series run, not a single Cavalier had been to an NCAA Regional.

ON THE MOUND

  • Lefthander Nate Savino is scheduled to make his 15th start of the season and his second NCAA Tournament start of this career on Friday.
  • Savino pitched nine innings in three NCAA Tournament appearances last season including a start in the decisive game three of the Super Regionals against Dallas Baptist on June 14. Allowed three earned runs in NCAA postseason and struck out four batters.
  • Savino recorded his first win since March 25 in his final regular season start at Louisville. He scattered five hits over five innings of work and was charged with one earned run.
  • In the ACC Tournament pool play finale, Savino pitched into the fifth inning for the 10th time in 13 starts this season but was on the losing end of a 3-0 Notre Dame victory. The lefthander struck out five batters and allowed two runs in 4.2 innings of work.
  • Over the first 37 games of the season, UVA pitchers recorded two saves, one being a three-inning outing by Avery Mabe in a 14-4 win over Rider.
  • Brandon Neeck has assumed UVA’s closer role after pitching in the weekend rotation earlier this season. Since moving to the bullpen he has three saves (all in ACC play) and has a 2.76 ERA with 30 strikeouts in 16.1 innings pitched.
  • The Cavaliers have allowed 7.94 hits per game the third fewest of any staff in the ACC. UVA ranks 16th in the country in hits allowed per game.
  • Virginia ranks sixth in the country with 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings. Its 581 punchouts are the fourth most in program history and are tied with East Carolina for the 15th most in the country.
  • Including this season, UVA has struck out 500+ batters 11 times including a school-record 687 batters last season.
  • Virginia is one of nine teams in the country with seven or more shutouts (Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Stanford, Central Michigan, Omaha, Texas, Long Beach St. Southern Miss).

HOOS AT THE PLATE

  • Virginia is the No. 9 scoring offense in the country, averaging 8.8 runs per game. The Cavaliers have totaled 484 runs in 54 games, the 11th most nationally. The 484 runs are the fourth most in a single season in program history.

Most Runs in a Single Season in UVA History

1. 525 2010
2. 507 2009
3. 489 2013
4. 484 2022
5. 471 2011

 

  • The Cavaliers have scored 10 or more runs in a game 24 times this season.
  • Virginia has scored five or more runs in a single inning 28 times this season. The seven runs in the fourth inning of game one against Clemson marked the 10th time UVA has scored seven or more in a single frame.

2022 NCAA Run Differential

1.              Tennessee +6.7
2.              Rutgers +4.9
3.              Davidson +4.2
4.              Virginia +4.2

CAVALIER NOTABLES

  • Kyle Teel has started 107-consecutive games in his first two seasons for the Cavaliers. He has caught all 55 games for UVA this season and split time as an outfielder, catcher and DH as a true freshman. He batted .422 (19-for-45) with three doubles, a grand slam and eight RBI in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
  • Jake Gelof, a semifinalist for both the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy, has started all 55 games for UVA this season, 53 of them at third base. Along with his brother Zack, a Gelof has occupied the hot corner in 178 of the last 185 games. The Cavaliers are 54-25 in the last 79 games with Jake Gelof in the lineup.
  • Alex Tappen had 42 RBI in ACC play, the most of any hitter in the league. Tappen has been UVA’s hottest hitter of the last 10 games, batting .439 (18-for-41) with six runs scored and 11 RBI.
  • Devin Ortiz, a two-way player for the Cavaliers, is one of five finalists for the John Olerud Two Way Player of the Year Award. He earned Second Team All-America honors as a utility player. He homered in back-to-back games to close out the regular season and is one homer shy of matching his career high set last season.
  • UVA has had three true freshman in the starting lineup in all but one game, the opening game of the season. The Cavaliers have had four true freshman in the lineup in 18 of 55 games this season.

McMULLAN RETURNS TO GREENVILLE

  • Prior to joining O’Connor’s staff, UVA associate head coach Kevin McMullan spent three seasons as ECU’s recruiting coordinator. In his time in Greenville, the Pirates posted a record of 138-46, which placed ECU among the top five programs in the country in wins, averaging 46 victories a season. East Carolina won three conference championships and an NCAA Regional Championship in 2001.
  • McMullan as the Pirates served as acting head coach at East Carolina in 2001-02 for Keith LeClair, who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. During that season, McMullan coached ECU to a 43-20 record, Conference USA Championship and NCAA Regional Final.