No. 8 Virginia Set for First Home ACC Series

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 8 Virginia (19-2, 4-2 ACC) will host Florida State (12-9, 3-3 ACC) in a three-game series this weekend at Disharoon Park. First pitch for all three games in the series beginning Friday is scheduled for 1 p.m.

HOW TO FOLLOW

TV: ACCNX (All three games)
RADIO: WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM/WINA.com – Fri. & Sat. | Virginia Sports App/VirginiaSports.com – Sat. only
LIVE STATS: VirginiaSports.com

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
Friday – 1 p.m.
Florida State: RHP Jackson Baumeister (1-1, 5.31 ERA, 20.1 IP, 11 BB, 31 SO)
Virginia: RHP Nick Parker (3-0, 4.01 ERA, 24.2 IP, 9 BB, 34 SO)

Saturday – 4 p.m.
Florida State: TBA (n/a)
Virginia: RHP Brian Edgington (4-0, 1.98 ERA, 27.1 IP, 8 BB, 30 SO)

Sunday – 1 p.m.
Florida State: TBA (n/a)
Virginia: RHP Jack O’Connor (1-1, 2.73 ERA, 26.1 IP, 12 BB, 25 SO)

WEEKEND PROMOS
Friday: Bachelor Day – Sabre Rewards Event, roses to students (while supplies last), free pizza to first 300 students (left field bleachers) and in-game bachelor themed promotions
Saturday: Free Koozies to the first 300 people
Sunday: Youth Day – Inflatables, free face painting, balloon artist, postgame autographs, kids run the bases after the game and much more.

PARKING INFORMATION

• Due to an event at JPJ on Saturday and Sunday, free parking for baseball will be available in the JPJ South Lots as well as Emmet Ivy Garage. There will be a free fan shuttle on both Saturday and Sunday that will run from Emmet Ivy Garage to the Klöckner Stadium/Palmer Park ticket booth on Copeley Road.

LEADING OFF

• Virginia will host an ACC opponent for the first time this season after winning its first two conference series against then-No. 14 North Carolina and then No. 23 NC State.
• The Cavaliers are 13-0 at Disharoon Park this season and have won 14-straight at home dating back to last season.
• UVA is seeking its third-straight ACC series win. The Cavaliers won their first four ACC series last year.
• Virginia’s 19 wins are tied for the second-most (Florida, Wake Forest, LSU Kentucky & Arkansas) in the country. South Carolina is the only 20-win team in the nation at 20-2. On the flip side, UVA’s two losses are tied for the fewest in the country with South Carolina, Arkansas, LSU, Louisville and Kentucky.
• Virginia jumped up six spots to No. 8 in this week’s D1Baseball Top 25, the first time UVA is in the top-10 this season. UVA ascended to as high as No. 4 last season and spent a total of three weeks inside the top-10 in 2022.
• This year marks the fifth time in program history (2009, 2011, 2013, 2022, 2023) that Virginia has at least 19 wins through its first 21 games. Last year Virginia started the year off 20-1, the best start in program history.
• Virginia is ranked in the top-5 in the country in fielding percentage (2^nd – .988), batting average (4^th – .332) and ERA (4^th – 2.62). Virginia is the only school in the country to rank in the top-5 in all three categories. Consensus No. 1 LSU is the only other school in the nation to rank in the top-20 in all three categories.

AGAINST THE SEMINOLES

• Florida State has won six of the last eight meetings against UVA, including a 13-3 win in eight innings of last year’s ACC Tournament. It was the first time Virginia had been run-ruled in the tournament since 2006, also against FSU (11-0, 7 inn.).
• FSU has a 60-31 advantage in the all-time series that was first played in 1972. Head Coach Brian O’Connor is 23-25 against Florida State in his tenure at UVA.
• The Seminoles have claimed the last two ACC series against the Cavaliers, one in Tallahassee (2021) and another in Charlottesville (2019). UVA’s last series win against Florida State came in 2017 at Dick Howser Stadium.

COACHING TIES

• Virginia’s Brian O’Connor and Notre Dame’s Link Jarrett have both coached at Notre Dame. O’Connor an assistant for the Irish from 1994-2003 and Jarrett was the head coach at Notre Dame the past three seasons.
• Both O’Connor and Jarrett were participants as players in the 1991 College World Series, O’Connor at Creighton and Jarrett at Florida State. The two teams did not play one another in 1991.
• In five all-time matchups as head coaches, Jarrett has won four of the meetings including Notre Dame’s first three-game sweep over Virginia in Charlottesville back in 2021.

LAST WEEKEND IN RALEIGH

• For the second-straight season UVA has begun ACC play with consecutive series wins and sit in second place in the Coastal Division behind 6-1 Miami. It marks the first time since 2016 UVA has won back-to-back regular season series wins over Top-25 opponents to start the season. UVA took two out of three against then-No. 13 North Carolina and then-No. 1 Miami back in 2016.
• Virginia clinched its first road series win in 14 tries against NC State in Raleigh by winning the first two games against the Wolfpack. It was the first time UVA won back-to-back road games against NC State since sweeping a doubleheader in 1969.
• Virginia played in its first one-run game of the season, securing a 2-1 win in the series opener against NC State. UVA played in five one-run games last season, the fewest in Brian O’Connor’s tenure.
• The Cavaliers clinched the series with their fourth shutout of the season in game two. Brian Edgington did the bulk of the work, pitching 6.1 scoreless innings.
• UVA was one strike away from a sweep after a dramatic ninth inning, but NC State rallied with four hits and three runs to walk-off with a 5-4 in the Saturday finale. Virginia trailed 2-1 for the majority of the contest until back-to-back home runs by Jake Gelof and Kyle Teel.

THE HOME RUN CHASE

• Gelof hit a solo home run in the first inning against Georgetown on Wednesday moving him within one homer shy of fourth place on UVA’s all-time home run list.
• Gelof has homered in his last six ACC series including a dramatic go-ahead shot in the ninth inning against NC State in the series finale.
• Only six players in UVA history have 30 career home runs and the last Cavalier to eclipse the 30-home run mark was Mark Reynolds (2002-04).

Most Career Home Runs in UVA History

ON THE MOUND FOR THE HOOS

• The last five starting pitchers for UVA have allowed a combined five runs in the last 29.1 innings pitched, a 1.53 ERA.
• In the three-game set against NC State last weekend Nick Parker, Brian Edgington and Jack O’Connor only yielded three runs in 17 innings pitched (1.59 ERA)
• Nick Parker comes into the weekend as one of college baseball’s most experience pitchers. His 45 career starts are tied for the second most among active pitchers. A total of 40 came at Coastal Carolina and five this season with UVA.
• Parker is coming off his third win of the season last Friday, one in which he battled, working around runners all five innings pitched. He stranded a runner in scoring position in each of the first four frames. His only blemish came on a solo home run in the fourth by Wolfpack catcher Jacob Cozart.
• Parker fanned seven NC State batters last weekend, his second-highest total in five Cavalier starts. He enters the weekend tied for ninth in the ACC with 34 strikeouts.
• UVA is also the only staff in the country that features two pitchers with 200 career strikeouts (Parker – 216; Edgington – 216). Both reached the 200-strikeout plateau on back-to-back outings against Rhode Island. The duo trails only Wake Forest ace Rhett Lowder (222) for the most career strikeouts among ACC pitchers.
• Edgington is looking to join teammate Connelly Early as part of the five-win club. There are nine current NCAA pitchers with five wins in 2023.
• Edgington put forth his longest outing in a Cavalier uniform last weekend, tossing 6.1 innings of a combined shutout of one of the top offenses in the country. He was on the right side of a 1-0 pitcher’s duel before UVA erupted for six runs in the final two innings. Edgington escaped a pair of bases loaded jams in the contest and struck out four batters.
• First year Jack O’Connor struck out a season-high eight batters in the season finale in Raleigh and did not issue a walk in 5.2 innings of work. He was the third UVA start of the weekend to pitch five or more innings.

RUNS EARLY AND OFTEN

• Virginia has scored 31 runs in the first inning the season, the most of any other frame.
• The Cavaliers have scored in the first inning in 11 of the first 21 games this season.
• The UVA offense has scored five or more runs in an inning nine times in 2023.
• Virginia enters the midweek averaging 9.5 runs per game, the 14^th most in the country.
• The Cavaliers have outscored opponents 202-62, a 6.7 run differential, the fourth highest in college baseball.

Highest DI Scoring Margin/Run Differential

PLAYER NOTES

• Catcher Kyle Teel has reached base safely in all 21 games this season and enters the weekend with the ninth-highest batting average in the country (.457). He has homered in three of the last four games, including two in the final two games against NC State last weekend.
• The third-year catcher has started the last 131 games in a Cavalier uniform including 79-straight starts at catcher.
• Ethan Anderson and Teel lead the team with 11 multi-hit games. Anderson and Teel each have two four-hit games this season.
• Anderson’s .391 batting average is the 10^th-highest in the ACC and he is second in the league (11^th in the country) with 10 doubles in his first 21 games played. As a team, the Cavaliers have accumulated 62 doubles, the most of any team in the country.
• Anderson is UVA’s top hitter through six conference games, batting .360 (9-for-25) with two doubles and three RBI.
• Shortstop Griff O’Ferrall has been UVA’s top hitter over the past five games with eight hits in 20 at bats (.400) including three doubles and five RBI.
• Jake Gelof has an RBI in five of the last six games. He enters the weekend with a team-best 31 RBI, the second most of any hitter in the ACC.