11th-Ranked Cavaliers to Play Two in the Midweek

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 11 Virginia (33-12) will play its final road game of the regular season on Tuesday (April 30) against VCU (27-16) at The Diamond in Richmond before returning home on Wednesday (May 1) to host Navy (25-19). First pitch on Tuesday at VCU is set for 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+ while the Cavaliers will take on the Midshipmen at 6 p.m. on ACCNX Wednesday.

HOW TO FOLLOW
Watch: ESPN+ (Tuesday) | ACCNX (Wednesday)
Listen: WINA – 98.9 FM/1070 AM/WINA.com (Both games)
Live Stats: VirginiaSports.com

Probable Starting Pitchers
Tuesday – 6:30 p.m.
Virginia: RHP Bryson Moore (1-0, 2.08 ERA, 8.2 IP, 4 BB, 7 SO)
VCU: RHP Zach Peters (2-3, 6.15 ERA, 26.1 IP, 23 BB, 22 SO)

Wednesday – 6 p.m.
Navy: TBA
Virginia: TBA

LEADING OFF

• The Diamond will be Virginia’s fourth professional baseball stadium the Cavaliers will play at this season. UVA has played at 121 Financial Ballpark (Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp), Harbor Park (Norfolk Tides, Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox) and The Diamond (Richmond Flying Squirrels). The 2024 ACC Tournament is slated be played at Truist Field (Charlotte Knights). UVA is 3-2 at professional parks this season.
• Virginia climbed three spots in the D1Baseball.com top-25 poll to No. 11. The Cavaliers are inside the top-15 for the seventh-straight week.
• UVA’s 33 wins are tied for the eighth most in the country. The Cavaliers are tied with North Carolina for the third-most wins in the ACC, one behind Florida State and Clemson.
• The Cavaliers are 10-5 in true road games 13-7 in games away from Disharoon Park this season. The Cavaliers have tallied 11 true road wins in two of the last three years.
• Virginia’s 548 total hits are tied with Austin Peay for the most by any team in the country. The Cavaliers have seven qualified hitters batting over the .300 mark and are hitting .335 as a team, the third-highest average in the country.
• VCU comes into Tuesday’s contest with a team ERA of 4.67, the lowest in the A-10. Navy is the top fielding team in the Patriot League and its .980 fielding percentage is the ninth-highest in D-I college baseball.

ROUND TWO VS. VCU

• Virginia erased deficits of 1-0 (first inning) and 4-3 (fifth inning) and came away with an 8-4 win over the Rams on April 2 at Disharoon Park. Harrison Didawick provided the decisive blow with a three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth. Chase Hungate, a VCU transfer, was credited with the win after pitching two scoreless innings.
• Virginia has won four-straight games against VCU and owns a 48-25 mark against the Rams in an all-time series that was first played in 1979.
• The Cavaliers are looking to sweep the season series for the second-straight year. Virginia has not taken both games of the season series in back-to-back years since the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
• Last year at The Diamond, Ethan Anderson went 5-for-6 with three doubles and two home runs against the Rams. He homered from both sides of the plate (left/right). The three doubles in the contest also matched a school record.

AGAINST NAVY

• Virginia and Navy will square off for the 26th time on Wednesday. The Cavaliers are 15-10 in the all-time series that dates back to 1889.
• UVA has won five-straight meetings, including a 24-5 win in the 2023 season opener at Disharoon Park, a game that was originally scheduled to be played in Wilmington, N.C.
• In last year’s meeting, the Cavaliers erupted for 14 runs in the fifth inning, the most by a Virginia team in a single inning under Brian O’Connor (2004-present). The Cavaliers collected 20 hits in the contest including the first collegiate home run by Harrison Didawick in his UVA debut.

ON THE MOUND

• First year Bryson Moore will make a midweek start for the third-straight week. The righthander pitched the first two innings of last Tuesday’s 14-4 win over Liberty last Tuesday. In two starts he’s logged three innings, allowed two runs, struck out one and walked two.
• Virginia is coming off its third shutout of the season after blanking Boston College on Saturday and first in ACC play since March 17, 2023, against NC State. The Cavaliers have not recorded back-to-back shutouts since the 2022 season.
• Beginning with his April 9 outing against VCU, Chase Hungate has been one of UVA’s most consistent arms out of the bullpen. Over his last six appearances, he his 4-0 with a 1.10 ERA over 16.1 innings pitched. He has issued one walk and struck out five.

MILESTONE WATCH

• After four home runs last Tuesday vs. Liberty, Virginia has 76 long balls on the season, the second-most in a single season in program history. Last year UVA set the program mark, launching 83 homers in 65 total games. The three highest single-season home run totals have occurred in the last three seasons.
• Griff O’Ferrall is currently ranked tied for ninth on UVA’s career hit list with current UVA undergraduate assistant coach and UVA Baseball Hall of Famer, John Hicks at 245. O’Ferrall set UVA’s single-season record for hits in 2023, compiling 108 as the leadoff man for UVA’s College World Series team.

Most Career Hits in UVA History

• O’Ferrall is also climbing UVA’s all-time runs list and has crossed the plate 176 times in three seasons, the sixth-most of any Cavalier.

Most Career Runs in UVA History

• Ethan Anderson also has chance surpassing a John Hicks career mark. Anderson has 54 career doubles, tied with Hicks for the third-most in UVA history.
• Henry Ford is currently tied with Mark Reynolds (2002) for the most home runs by a UVA freshman. He is three RBI shy of matching Steven Proscia’s 2009 mark of 58, the current freshman program record.

POTENT ATTACK

• The Virginia offense comes into the midweek tied for the national lead in hits (548).
• UVA ranks in the top-10 in the nation in five other categories: batting average (3rd – .335), doubles (4th – 111), runs (4th – 436), sacrifice flies (4th – 33), scoring (6th – 9.7 rpg). The Cavaliers are ranked 11th in the country with a .559 team slugging percentage.
• Virginia scored double-digit runs 22 times this season and is 19-3 when scoring 10 or more runs in a game.
• UVA leads the ACC in batting average, doubles, hits, on-base percentage, runs and sacrifice flies 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

• Griff O’Ferrall leads the Cavaliers with 21 multi-hit games and is statistically the second-toughest batter in the ACC to strikeout. O’Ferrall leads the team and ranks third in the ACC with 67 hits on the season. His nine sacrifice flies are the most of any ACC hitter.
• Ethan Anderson is 7-for-17 (.412) with two doubles and five runs scored in his last five games. He has reached base safely in 17-straight games, second-longest active streak on the team (Eric Becker – 18).
• In the three-game series against Boston College, Bobby Whalen reached base eight times after going 3-for-7 with five walks two runs and three RBI. He also made a key defensive play, with a full-extension, diving grab in center field in the sixth inning of game two. Whalen’s .405 batting average is the third-highest in the ACC and his .500 on-base percentage is second only to Pitt’s Luke Cantwell for the highest among any ACC hitter.
• Henry Ford’s 63 hits and 55 RBI are the most by any DI freshman in the country.
• Casey Saucke enters the midweek on a team-best seven-game hit streak. He’s put forth multi-RBI efforts in the last three ACC series finales. His 65 hits are the fifth-most in the ACC and 10-shy of matching his career-high of 75 last season.