No. 15 Virginia Opens Six-Game Homestand on Tuesday

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 15 Virginia (22-6) returns home to play six-straight games at Disharoon Park beginning Tuesday (April 2) with a non-conference matchup against ODU (15-12). First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. and the contest is scheduled to air on ACCNX and WINA.

HOW TO FOLLOW
Watch: ACCNX
Listen: WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM/WINA.com/Virginia Sports App)
Live Stats: VirginiaSports.com

Probable Starting Pitchers
Tuesday – 5:30 p.m.
ODU: RHP Nick Sulpizio (0-0, 9.95 ERA, 6.1 IP, 1 BB, 7 SO)
Virginia: RHP Joe Savino (5-1, 3.86 ERA, 53.2 IP, 12 BB, 72 SO) *2023 statistics at Elon 

LEADING OFF

• UVA’s 22 wins are tied for the eighth-most in the country and tied for the third-most in the ACC.
• Virginia is 13-2 at home this season and has won 50 of its last 57 games at Disharoon Park.
• The Cavaliers are 15-1 against non-conference opponents this season and have won 44 of their last 45 games against non-conference opponents in the regular season.
• Tuesday will mark the second of three meetings against ODU this season. The Cavaliers won the first game back on Feb. 21, 8-0 and will travel to Norfolk for the final matchup of the year on April 16 at Harbor Park, Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles.
• The Virginia offense leads the country in hits (361) and doubles (87) while sporting the nation’s second-best team batting average (.347).
• ODU is one of the top pitching teams in the Sun Belt Conference. The Monarchs’ team ERA of 4.07 is the second lowest in the league and ranks 25th in the NCAA. ODU’s 3.15 strikeout-to-walk ratio is the sixth best in DI baseball.
• Tuesday will mark UVA’s first scheduled home night game (5 p.m. or later) of the season. The Cavaliers have started two home games after 5 p.m. this season due to weather delays (VMI – 2/28 & Wake Forest 3/15).

ROUND TWO VS. THE MONARCHS

• The all-time series between ODU and UVA is now even at 34-34-1 after an 8-0 Virginia win back on Feb. 21.
• The last six regular season meetings between the two commonwealth schools have occurred in Charlottesville. The April 16 matchup will be the first time the two teams have met in Norfolk since the 2016 season.
• The Cavaliers have won eight of the last nine meetings against ODU and are 13-8 against the Monarchs under Brian O’Connor.
• The shutout against ODU on Feb. 21 is the only clean sheet for the Cavalier pitching staff this season. Five UVA pitchers combined to allow just four hits with Kevin Jaxel earning the first of his team-leading four wins on the year. Jaxel stranded four runners between the fifth and sixth in a total of 1.2 innings of work.
• Harrison Didawick hit his third home run in four games and went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI to pace the UVA offense.

ON THE MOUND

• Righthander Joe Savino is expected to make his season debut on Tuesday and will be the ninth Cavalier to get a start on the mound this year.
• Savino is a graduate transfer from Elon where he posted a 3.94 ERA over 50 appearances and 169 innings pitched in three seasons. He struck out 193 batters and walked only 32.
• Last season for the Phoenix he was one of the top relievers in the CAA, earning an all-conference honorable mention distinction.
• Savino’s last collegiate start came on May 13, 2022 against Towson where he took a no-decision in a 5-4, hit-by-pitch, walk-off victory in the bottom of the ninth for Elon.

OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER

• The Virginia offense comes into the midweek ranked No. 1 in the country in hits (361) and doubles (87). The team’s collective batting average of .347 is the second highest of any team in college baseball.
• In total, the Cavaliers are ranked in the top-10 in the nation in seven different offensive categories including: on-base percentage (5th – .442), runs (3rd – 288), scoring (3rd – 10.3) and slugging percentage (9th – .571).
• Last season, Virginia led the country in batting average, doubles and hits. It ranked in the top-10 in seven different offensive categories.

MOST DOUBLES IN UVA HISTORY

* Cavalier sophomore Ethan Anderson set UVA’s single season for doubles with 26 in 2023.

MOST STOLEN BASES IN UVA HISTORY

• Junior Griff O’Ferrall stole two bases in the three-game series at Pitt, becoming the newest member of UVA’s 40 career stolen bases. He’s the first Cavalier with 40 career stolen bases since 2010 – Phil Gosselin (48), Tyler Cannon (49), Jarrett Parker (46). O’Ferrall needs six stolen bases to enter UVA’s all-time top-10.

COMEBACK CAVS

• UVA has faced a deficit in 19 of the 27 games this season and recorded 14 come-from-behind victories.
• The Cavaliers have recorded three walk-off victories and three wins when erasing a deficit of five or more runs.
• Of the Cavaliers 14 come-from-behind victories, the largest came against then-No. 18 Iowa on Feb. 24 in Jacksonville, Fla. where UVA trailed by six runs. They trailed by five runs in the opener against Wake Forest and five runs after the seventh inning stretch in the finale against the Demon Deacons.
• Virginia is 6-1 this season in games decided by one or two runs and have gone to extra innings on three different occasions. The Cavalier had seven one or two-run victories in all of 2023.
• Remarkably, UVA is 10-3 when opponents score first and 9-3 when opponents score in the first inning. Virginia has scored 39 runs in the sixth inning this season, its most potent frame.
• Prior to UVA’s 5-4, 10-inning walk-off win against Wichita State on Feb. 23, the Cavaliers had lost 39-straight games when trailing after seven.

PLAYER NOTABLES

• Jacob Ference is UVA’s hottest hitter over the last 10 games: .441 (15-for-34) with a double, triple and five home runs. The graduate student is in the midst of a 13-game hit streak, the longest active streak on the team. Ference has reached base safely in all 18 of his starts (14 at C, 4 DH) this season.
• Harrison Didawick leads the ACC in run scored with 42 and ranks in the top-5 in the league in RBI (2nd – 40), home runs (4th – 12) and total bases (5th – 81).
• First year Henry Ford’s 41 hits are the second most of any freshman in the country behind Miami’s Daniel Cuvet (42). Ford has reached base safely in 21-straight games.
• Casey Saucke has a hit in all but three games this season and is currently sporting a nine-game hit streak. He went 3-for-5 in the series finale, his sixth multi-hit game in the last nine games. Saucke ranks in the top-10 in the ACC ranks: in hits (4th – 46), runs (6th – 35) and RBI (10th – 32). The series finale against Duke marked Saucke’s 100th consecutive start in a Cavalier uniform.
• Ethan Anderson reached base in the first 26 games of the season and the streak came to an end on Friday at Duke. He was kept off base for the final two games of the series, the first time he did not reach base in back-to-back starts in his career.
• Bobby Whalen enters the midweek ranked fifth in the ACC in batting average. He’s reached in all but three of his starts this season.
• Henry Godbout had a double in each of the final two games at Duke and upped his season total to 13, tied for 8th in the NCAA.
• Griff O’Ferrall has recorded a hit in 16 of his last 17 games, including his fifth two-double effort of his career in Sunday’s loss at Duke.