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No. 23 Virginia Opens ACC Road Slate on Friday at Cal

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –  The No. 23 Virginia baseball team (10-5, 1-2 ACC) heads west for a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series at Cal (8-8, 1-2 ACC) this weekend. The series opener is slated for a 9 p.m. ET first pitch on Friday (March 14) followed by a 5 p.m. ET start time on Saturday (March 15) and a 4 p.m. ET start on Sunday (March 16).

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

Probable Starting Pitchers:
Friday – 9 p.m.
Virginia: RHP Jay Woolfolk (1-0, 2.37 ERA, 19.0 IP, 5 BB, 25 SO)
Cal: RHP Austin Turkington (2-2, 4.15 ERA, 17.1 IP, 7 BB, 22 SO)

Saturday – 5 p.m.
Virginia: LHP Tomas Valincius (2-0, 3.48 ERA, 20.2 IP, 3 BB, 28 SO)
Cal: RHP Gavin Eddy (1-1, 0.96 ERA, 17.1 IP, 7 BB, 22 SO)

Sunday – 4 p.m.
Virginia: LHP Evan Blanco (0-0, 4.15 ERA), 4.1 IP, 2 BB, 5 SO)
Cal: RHP Ethan Foley (2-0, 3.68 ERA, 14.2 IP, 4 BB, 13 SO)

LEADING OFF

  • Following a thrilling walk-off win to start the four-game road swing, the Virginia Cavaliers head west for a three-game weekend set with the Cal Golden Bears.
  • Friday’s contest against Cal will be the first regular season game in the state of California for the Virginia baseball team in the Brian O’Connor era. UVA previously played postseason games in California during the 2008 Fullerton Regional, 2009 Irvine Regional and the 2015 Lake Elsinore Regional. In the three regionals, UVA went a combined 7-2.
  • UVA heads west after finishing an eight-game homestand with a record of 6-2, which was highlighted by a 22-run outburst by the Cavaliers in the Saturday game of the ACC opening series against Boston College.

AGAINST THE GOLDEN BEARS

  • The Cavaliers and Golden Bears have only met on the baseball diamond two previous times with both meetings coming during the 2011 College World Series.
  • In the opening game of the 2011 College World Series, UVA downed Cal by a score of 4-1. Virginia got 6.1 shutdown innings from Danny Hultzen and plated a pair of runs in the seventh and eighth innings for the victory.
  • Four days later, Virginia eliminated Cal with an 8-1 victory. Tyler Wilson only surrendered one run over 7.2 innings pitched for the Cavaliers while all nine starters recorded a base knock in the game.

RANKING THE HOOS

  • Entering the weekend, UVA’s arms ranked 35th nationally and fifth in the ACC with an ERA of 3.62. The staff’s strikeouts-per-nine of 10.9 ranks 23rd in the country. Offensively, the bats came alive during the homestand resulting in the Cavaliers jumping to 47th nationally in team batting average while hitting at a .309 clip.
  • Individually, freshman phenom Tomas Valincius ranks 48th nationally and ninth in the ACC with 28 strikeouts over his first four starts of the season. Valincius also ranks third among all freshmen across the country in strikeouts. In the back end of the bullpen, Ryan Osinski’s two saves place him 63rd nationally and sixth in the league.
  • In the batter’s box, Henry Ford and Eric Becker are averaging 1.60 hits per game, which is seventh best in the conference. Not to be outdone, Henry Godbout is proving to be one of the hardest to strikeout, with a K rate of 15.3 to rank 38th nationally and third in the ACC.

ON THE MOUND

  • Jay Woolfolk will get the ball to open the series for UVA. The righthander fanned a combined 14 batters over the course of 11.1 innings in his two starts during the homestand.
  • Over the first four starts of his collegiate career, Tomas Valincius has racked up 28 strikeouts. The 28 Ks rank Valincius 48th nationally and ninth in the ACC. Valincius also sits third among all freshmen across the country in strikeouts. To go along with his strikeouts, Valincius has only surrendered a trio of walks, giving the lefty a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 9.33, which ranks him ninth in the ACC.
  • To close out the weekend, Preseason All-American Evan Blanco will make his return to the rotation. In three outings this season, Blanco is 0-0 with a 4.15 ERA in 4.1 innings pitched. He finished the 2024 season with an 8-3 record with 99 strikeouts in 99.1 innings pitched.

HOOS IN THE BOX

  • The Cavalier duo of Godbout and Aidan Teel have reached base safely in all 15 games this season. Godbout enters the weekend on a 35-game streak that dates to last season.
  • After being held hitless in the opening two games of the season, Ford brings a 13-game hit streak to the Bay Area.
  • Chris Arroyo leads all Cavalier batters with five home runs and 18 RBIs.

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