ACC Tournament Pool Play Begins Wednesday for Fourth-Seeded Virginia

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Virginia (40-14), the fourth seed in the 2024 ACC Tournament and the top seed in Pool D, will begin its postseason journey on Wednesday (May 22) with a matchup against ninth-seeded Georgia Tech (31-22). First pitch on ACC Network is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Truist Park, home of the Charlotte Knights, Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.

The Cavaliers are slated to play fifth-seeded Florida State on Friday (May 24) at 11 a.m. to concluded Pool Play competition. The team with the best record coming out of Pool D will advance to the semifinals on Saturday (May 25) with the Championship game slated for Sunday, May 26 at Noon on ESPN2.

HOW TO FOLLOW
Watch: ACC Network
Listen: WINA – 98.9 FM/1070 AM/WINA.com/Virginia Sports App
Live Stats: VirginiaSports.com

Probable Starting Pitchers
Thursday – 6 p.m.
Virginia: LHP Evan Blanco (6-3, 3.79 ERA, 73.2 IP, 23 BB, 76 SO)
Georgia Tech: RHP Aeden Finateri (5-3, 6.12 ERA, 67.2 IP, 19 BB, 75 SO)

LEADING OFF

• Virginia ended the regular season ranked No. 16 in the D1Baseball poll. It has been ranked no lower than No. 18 and as high as No. 9 over the 14-week season.
• UVA enters postseason action winners of eight of the last 10 games, which includes a three-game sweep of Virginia Tech last weekend to close out the regular season. It marks the second-straight year UVA ended the season with series sweep, taking three on the road at Georgia Tech last season.
• The Cavaliers are one of 13 teams in the country with 40 wins at the end of the regular season, tied for the second most in the ACC.
• Virginia has reached the 40-win plateau for the 14th time in program history, 13 of which have come under head coach Brian O’Connor’s direction.
• Virginia is one of the top offenses in the country ranking in the top-5 in the country in six different categories – hits (2nd – 666), batting average (3rd – .340), scoring (4th – 9.6), runs (5th – 521), doubles (5th – 132) and slugging percentage (5th – .584). It leads the ACC in nearly every offensive category including home runs with 106.

VIRGINIA IN THE ACC TOURNAMENT

• Virginia has been part of every ACC Tournament since its inception in 1973 and will make its 50th overall appearance. Only Virginia and Clemson have participated in every ACC Tournament.
• UVA is the fourth seed for the 12th time in program history and first time since 2017. The Cavaliers have been a top-four seed in the tournament in back-to-back seasons.
• In ACC Tournament play, Virginia is 8-10 all-time against Florida State and 6-7 against Georgia Tech. The last time the Cavaliers played Florida State in the ACC Tournament in 2022. UVA defeated Georgia Tech, 15-1 (7 innings) in pool play last season.
• 2024 will mark O’Connor’s 20th ACC Tournament leading the Cavaliers. UVA is 30-26 in the ACC Tournament play under O’Connor with titles in 2009 and 2011.

AGAINST GEORGIA TECH

• Virginia will open up ACC pool play against Georgia Tech for the second-straight season. The Cavaliers ended the 2023 season with a three-game sweep against the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta before a 15-1 run-rule victory in seven innings of the ACC Pool Play opener.
• Wednesday will mark the 14th meeting between UVA and Georgia Tech in ACC postseason play. UVA has won the last three ACC Tournament meetings, 2013 (8-2), 2015 (11-0, 7 inn.) and 2023 (15-1, 7 inn.).
• UVA will play Georgia Tech for the fourth time this season. The Yellow Jackets took two out of three against the Cavaliers in Charlottesville (April 19-21). The Yellow Jackets won the rubber match on Sunday, 17-12.
• Under O’Connor, the Cavaliers are 40-24-1 against Georgia Tech and including postseason play have one seven of the nine meetings.

PLAYER NOTABLES

• Griff O’Ferrall is statistically the toughest batter in the ACC to strikeout. He has struck out 20 times in 247 at bats. He has started every game of his collegiate career (177) all but one of which he’s batted leadoff for the Cavaliers.
• O’Ferrall, who led the ACC and broke the UVA single season record last season with 108 hits, currently ranks third in the ACC with 81. He has a team-best, 25 multi-hit efforts including three in his last five games.
• Henry Godbout is UVA’s hottest hitter of the last 10 games, batting .432 (16-for-37) with three homers, 10 RBI and 10 runs scored. He batted .389 over his first 28 games of the season before sitting out 10 games in the middle of April with an injury. His production has not skipped a beat.
• Three Cavaliers will bring reached base streaks of 20+ games into the postseason. Ethan Anderson has reached base in 26-straight, the longest active streak on the team and longest of his career. Eric Becker (25 games) and Jacob Ference (23 games) each have reached base safely in 20 or more consecutive games.
• Amongst NCAA DI freshmen, Henry Ford ranks t-2nd in RBI, fifth in home runs (17), t-3rd in hits (75), and t-7th in runs (55).
• In addition to ranking second in the ACC in home runs, Harrison Didawick has scored 70 runs, the second-most of any player in the ACC. Six more runs scored and he will tie Griff O’Ferrall’s single season record of 76 set last year.
• Bobby Whalen sports the ACC’s fourth-best batting average (.388) and also owns the team’s top average in ACC play (.360).
• Jacob Ference homered twice in the series against NC State. A total of 13 of his 17 homers this season have come against ACC foes.