No. 13 Virginia Returns Home to Host VMI on Wednesday

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 13 Virginia (7-0) will open up a five-game homestand on Wednesday (Feb. 28) when it hosts VMI (3-5) in non-conference action. First pitch at Disharoon Park is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and the game will air live on ACCNX.

HOW TO FOLLOW
Watch: ACCNX
Listen: n/a
Live Stats: VirginiaSports.com

Probable Starting Pitchers
Wednesday – 6:30 p.m.
VMI: RHP Andrew Jones (0-1, 27.00, 1.0 IP, 2 BB, 1 SO)
Virginia: RHP Cullen McKay (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 5.1 IP, 4 BB, 6 SO)

LEADING OFF

• The Cavaliers are off to a 7-0 start for the third-straight season. UVA has won 23-straight games in the month of February.
• Virginia is one of 16 unbeaten teams in college baseball. Only three ACC teams have yet to suffer a loss – Florida State (6-0), Duke (7-0) and Virginia (7-0).
• Under head coach Brian O’Connor, UVA has started 7-0, eight times (2008, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2024).
• Virginia enters the contest with a 36-game win streak against non-conference opponents in the regular season. The Cavaliers have won 24-straight non-conference regular season home games.
• Virginia has won six-straight home games including the final two games of the 2023 Charlottesville Super Regional against Duke.
• UVA has faced a deficit in six of its seven wins the season, the largest coming against then-No. 18 Iowa after it trailed 6-0 in the first inning.
• Four of UVA’s seven wins have been decided by one or two runs. The Cavaliers were 7-8 in games decided by one or two runs last season, including two one-run losses in the College World Series.

UNDISPUTED JAX CHAMPS

• Virginia was awarded the championship belt after it captured the inaugural Jacksonville College Classic title this past weekend. After outlasting Wichita State in 10 innings on Friday, the Cavaliers downed then-No. 18 Iowa (12-9) and handed Auburn its first loss of the season with a 6-4 win on Sunday.
• Henry Ford, Henry Godbout, Casey Saucke, Anthony Stephan and Jay Woolfolk were each listed on the All-Tournament team.
• The Cavaliers made it to two ACC Championship games (2005 & 2008) when the conference tournament was played in Jacksonville. UVA improved to 11-6 all-time in games at 121 Financial Ballpark, home of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins.

NATIONAL ATTENTION

• Virginia moved up one spot in the D1Baseball.com Top-25 poll to No. 13. UVA is one of six ACC teams ranked in the top-20.

• The Cavaliers landed inside the top-10 in the Baseball America (No. 8), NCBWA (No. 10), Perfect Game (No. 9) and USA Today/Coaches (No. 9) national polls.
• UVA led the country and broke the program’s single-season record for doubles with 172. Through seven games, UVA has 24 doubles, the second-most in the ACC and the 10th-most in the country through Tuesday’s action.
• Virginia is batting .350 as a team, ranked 15th in the NCAA and fourth in the ACC. The Cavaliers are 11 hits shy of 100 for the season and have recorded 10 or more hits in each of the last six games.

CAVALIERS VS. KEYDETS

• Wednesday will be the 143rd meeting between VMI and Virginia in an all-time series that first began in 1889. The Cavaliers own a 110-32 advantage in the all-time series including a 17-5 mark under head coach Brian O’Connor.
• Virginia has won six-straight meetings against VMI, including a 3-0 shutout on Feb. 28 last year. Five pitchers, including 2024 returners Angelo Tonas and Jay Woolfolk, combined for the shutout and Kyle Teel drove in all three runs for UVA.
• UVA is 155-26 (.856) against teams from the Commonwealth of Virginia at Disharoon Park. The Cavaliers have won 11-straight games against in-state foes at The Dish.
• UVA pitcher Matthew Buchanan’s brother Seth is a freshman infielder for the Keydets. They were teammates on Lebanon High School’s 2021 state championship team.

ON THE MOUND

• Righthander Cullen McKay will make his second-straight midweek start and Wednesday will mark his fifth career start.
• Last weekend he headlined UVA’s 8-0 shutout victory over ODU, logging a career-high 4.1 innings. The righthander retired the first eight batters he faced and fanned five, one shy of matching a career-best.
• In McKay’s four career stats, the UVA offense has outscored its opponents 41-9.
• Over the course of three games in Jacksonville, the Virginia bullpen yielded only three earned runs in 17 innings pitched (1.59 ERA). The eight arms that came out of the bullpen combined for 18 strikeouts.

PLAYER NOTABLES

• Henry Godbout led the team with seven hits and batted .583 (7-for-12) with two doubles in three games in Jacksonville. He reached base in nine of his 15 plate appearances. Godbout’s six doubles are the most in the ACC and tied for the eighth most in the country.
• Godbout has yet to strikeout in 23 at bats this season. He is one of 18 players in the country with 20 or more plate appearances that hasn’t struck out.
• Anthony Stephan found his way on base 10 times in three games in Jacksonville. He drew six walks in three games and drew a bases loaded free pass against then-No. 18 Iowa in the ninth inning that gave UVA a 10-9 lead. It was one of four walks in the he earned in the contest.
• Henry Ford has put forth a multi-hit effort in five of his first seven collegiate games. No hit was more important than his walk-off double in the 10^th inning against Wichita State on Friday. He then provided insurance in the ninth inning against then-No. 18 Iowa with a two-out, two RBI single giving UVA a 12-9 advantage, the eventual final score.

• Graduate transfer Bobby Whalen has reached base in the last six games. He is batting .579 (11-for-19) on the year, the second-highest in the ACC and eighth-best in all of DI baseball. Whalen led off the game-winning rally in the bottom of the 10th with a walk on Friday against Wichita State and recorded an infield single in the ninth inning to move the go-ahead run on third base in Saturday’s 12-9 win over then-No. 18 Iowa.