No. 11 Virginia Closes Homestand With VCU on Tuesday

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 11 Virginia (25-7) will play the final game of a five-game homestand on Tuesday (April 9) when it hosts VCU (22-10) at Disharoon Park. First pitch for the non-conference tilt is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game will air live on ACCNX.

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

Probable Starting Pitchers
Thursday – 6 p.m.
VCU: RHP Everett Vaughan (0-2, 7.56 ERA, 16.2 IP, 10 BB, 12 SO)
Virginia: LHP Matthew Buchanan (0-0, 5.68 ERA, 6.1 IP, 5 BB, 6 SO)

LEADING OFF

• Virginia enters the midweek with 25 wins, tied for the ninth most in the country and fourth-most in the ACC. The Cavaliers are one of 13 schools in the country with 25 or more wins.
• UVA moved up four spots in the D1Baseball Top-25 poll, its second-highest ranking of the season. Virginia has been as low as No. 9 back on March 26, the sixth week of the season.
• The Cavaliers enter Tuesday’s game with 14-1 record against non-conference opponents. UVA has won 33 of its last 34 games against non-conference foes in the regular season.
• Virginia is 16-3 at home this season and has won 53 of its last 61 games at Disharoon Park.
• The UVA offense leads the country in hits (401) and doubles (93) while sporting the nation’s second-best team batting average (.342).
• VCU comes into Disharoon Park sporting the A-10’s lowest team ERA (4.72) and third-highest scoring offense (7.5 runs per game).

AGAINST VCU

• Tuesday will be the 73rd meeting between Virginia and VCU, two schools’ home stadiums separated by 73 miles. The Cavaliers own a 47-25 advantage in the all-time series that was first played in 1979.
• The Cavaliers are 23-6 against the Rams under head coach Brian O’Connor.
• Last season the Cavaliers took both games against the Rams for the first time since 2019. The two teams have played a home and home series nine of the last 11 years with the only absences coming in 2015 and the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season.
• In last year’s meeting in Richmond, Ethan Anderson had a hit in his first five at bats and the switch-hitting first baseman hit a home run from both sides of the plate. He was robbed in a bid for his sixth hit which would have matched UVA’s single-game hits record when VCU center fielder AJ Mathis who came up with a diving play in the right center field gap. His 14 total bases were the most by any UVA player in a game in the last 23 years.
• UVA’s loss to UMass on March 2 was the first non-conference loss since dropping 9-7, 10-inning decision at VCU on April 19, 2022. The Cavaliers rattled off 38-straight regular season non-conference victories after that fateful night in Richmond.

ON THE MOUND

• Junior Matthew Buchanan will make his first start of the year and first start since April 27, 2022. He will be the 10th different Cavalier pitcher to make a start this season.
• Buchanan has made five relief appearances this season allowing four earned runs over 6.1 innings pitched. Four of his 6.1 inning this season have come in his last two outings in which he’s allowed one earned and struck out four.
• In his four career starts, all in the 2022 season, the UVA offense has outscored its opponents 52-8.

BULLPEN NOTABLES

• Last Tuesday, UVA used a season-high, eight pitchers in a combined two-hit shutout of ODU. It marked the second shutout of the season for the UVA pitching staff.
• Graduate student Owen Coady was lights out for the Cavaliers in two appearances last week. He earned the win against ODU, striking out all six batters he faced. He came on to pitch the final 2.2 innings of UVA’s 7-2 series-clinching win over North Carolina on Friday night to earn the save. He struck out nine of the 15 batters he faced.
• Lefthander Angelo Tonas the standout on the mound for the Cavaliers in the series finale against North Carolina. The graduate student took over on the mound in the third and kept the Tar Heels scoreless for the next 3.2 innings, his longest outing as a Cavalier. Tonas hasn’t allowed a run in 12 of his 15 relief appearances this season.
• Blake Barker was a key piece in UVA’s comeback win over North Carolina on Thursday. He put a halt to the early scoring outburst from the Tar Heels, pitching 3.1 innings of scoreless relief beginning in the third inning. He matched a career-high with five strikeouts and faced the minimum in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

HOOS DIG THE LONG BALL

• Virginia went four games without a home run before blasting five in the opener against North Carolina. It marked the longest home run drought since a four-game spell between March 27 – April 21, 2021. The Cavaliers broke out of that homerless spell with a grand slam by Nic Kent in an 8-2, game two at Georgia Tech. The win proved significant as UVA went on to win 14 of its next 20 ACC games after starting league play 4-12, a run that sparked a berth into College World Series for the fifth time in program history.

• Henry Ford broke UVA’s latest home run drought with his first career grand slam and the second by a Cavalier this season (Henry Godbout vs. GW on March 6). It was the first of three long balls for Ford in the contest, the first three-homer game by a UVA hitter since 2002 (Dan Street vs. ODU).

• Ford has 10 home runs in his first 32 collegiate games. He is the fourth Cavalier freshman to hit 10 or more home runs in a season since 2004, joining UVA Baseball Hall of Famers Mark Reynolds (15 in 2002), Sean Doolittle (11 in 2005) and Steven Proscia (10 in 2009).
• Harrison Didawick has 13 home runs in his first 32 games, tied for the third-most in the ACC and tied for eighth most in the country. He needs one more home run to join UVA’s single-season top-10 list.

Most Home Runs in a Single Season (UVA History)

OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER

• The Virginia offense comes into Tuesday night’s contest ranked No. 1 in the country in hits (401) and doubles (93). The team’s collective batting average of .342 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: runs (4th – 320), scoring (4th – 10.0), slugging percentage (7th – .566) and on-base percentage (10th – .436).
• UVA leads the ACC in batting average, doubles, hits, on-base percentage, runs and scoring.
• Last season, Virginia led the country in batting average, doubles and hits. It ranked in the top-10 in seven different offensive categories.

PLAYER NOTABLES

• Henry Ford’s 49 hits are the most of any freshman in the country and his 10 homers are the third-most of any first year in D-I baseball. Ford has reached base safely in 25-straight games, the longest active streak on the team.
• Griff O’Ferrall scored four runs in the three-game series against North Carolina, giving him 164 for his career, the ninth-most in program history.
• Casey Saucke eclipsed the 50-hit mark with two base knocks in the series finale against North Carolina. Saucke and Ford co-led the team with 16 multi-hit efforts. Saucke’s 51 hits are tied for the second-most amongst ACC foes.
• Ethan Anderson homered twice in UVA’s 7-2 series-clinching win over North Carolina on Friday, his second two-homer game of his career. He went 6-for-14 (.429), with two doubles, 2 home runs, and five RBI in three games vs. UNC.
• Harrison Didawick has scored 46 runs, the most in the ACC and tied for the eighth most in the country. He’s already surpassed his season total from last year (44).
• Bobby Whalen enters the series ranked third in the ACC in batting average. He’s reached in all but three of his starts this season.

COMEBACK CAVS

• UVA has faced a deficit in 21 of the 32 games this season and recorded 15 come-from-behind victories.
• The Cavaliers have recorded three walk-off victories and four wins when erasing a deficit of five or more runs.
• Of the Cavaliers 15 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, five runs after the seventh inning stretch in the finale against the Demon Deacons and 11-6 after three innings against North Carolina on April 4.
• 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 11-4 when opponents score first and 10-4 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.