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Cavaliers Head to NC State For Weekend Series

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –  The Virginia baseball team (16-11, 6-6 ACC) returns to Atlantic Coast Conference play on Friday (April 4) for a three-game series at NC State (19-10, 5-4 ACC). First pitch for the series opener is slated for 6 p.m. followed by 3 p.m. start times on Saturday (April 5) and Sunday (April 6).

HOW TO FOLLOW
Watch: ACCNX (Friday & Saturday) | ACC Network (Sunday)
Listen: WINA (98.9/1070 AM/WINA)
Live Stats: VirginiaSports.com

Probable Starting Pitchers:
Friday – 6 p.m.
Virginia: RHP Jay Woolfolk (2-2, 4.67 ERA, 34.2 IP, 12 BB, 44 SO)
NC State: LHP Dominic Fritton (4-2, 2.16 ERA, 41.2 IP, 17 BB, 59 SO)

Saturday – 3 p.m.
Virginia: LHP Evan Blanco (1-1, 5.56 ERA, 11.1 IP, 4 BB, 11 SO)
NC State: RHP Heath Andrews (2-1, 4.11 ERA, 35 IP, 15 BB, 29 SO)

Sunday – 3 p.m.
Virginia: LHP Tomas Valincius (2-1, 5.34 ERA, 28.2 IP, 5 BB, 37 SO)
NC State: LHP Ryan Marohan (3-3, 4.23 ERA, 38.1 IP, 12 BB, 53 SO)

 LEADING OFF

  • Virginia is riding a four-game win after sweeping then-No. 20 Stanford on the weekend before dispatching Old Dominion in an 11-5 midweek contest on Tuesday.
  • Saturday’s win over Stanford was coach Brian O’Connor’s 900th career victory. With the win, O’Connor became the 15th active head coach in Division I with 900 career wins.
  • Entering the weekend, 10 of UVA’s 15 wins on the season are of the comeback variety including all three games of the Stanford series.
  • Virginia has only played four true road games and enters the weekend with a record of 2-2.
  • UVA is 6-0 on the season when junior Aidan Teel is batting leadoff for the Cavaliers.
  • A total of 10 former Hoos found themselves on MLB Opening Day rosters, which ranks second in the country only behind Vanderbilt (11).

AGAINST THE WOLFPACK

  • Virginia and NC State have met 205 previous times on the baseball diamond with the Wolfpack leading the all-time series 80-124-1. 
  • In the 2024 weekend series, NC State took two of three from the Cavaliers at Disharoon Park.
  • The last time Virginia and NC State met in Raleigh, the Hoos took two of three games against the Woolpack in Raleigh for the first time ever in 2023. The series was the first time that UVA had won back-to-back games in Raleigh since 1969.

RANKING THE HOOS

  • Entering the weekend, UVA’s arms ranked 34th nationally and eighth in the ACC with an average of 10.0 strikeouts per nine innings. Virginia has also turned 19 double plays this season, which ranks fifth in the ACC.
  • Individually, Henry Ford ranks 14th in ACC with a batting average of .364 and 12th with 39 total base knocks. Aidan Teel’s team-leading 11 doubles ranks the junior with the sixth-most two-baggers in the league and 56th nationally. Teel has been hit by a team-high 10 times over the opening 27 games of the season, which ranks the junior fifth in the ACC and 86th in the country.
  • Elsewhere in the lineup, Henry Godbout and James Nunnallee are proving to be two of the hardest outs in the country. Godbout has a strikeout rate of 12.6 to rank 37th nationally while Godbout enters the weekend with a K rate of 11 to place him 72nd in the country.
  • On the mound, Jay Woolfolk’s 44 strikeouts rank him 60th in the country and 10th in all of the ACC. Tomas Valincius enters the weekend with 41 Ks on the season against only six walks to give the freshman lefty a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 6.83 to rank 20th nationally.

ON THE MOUND

  • Jay Woolfolk will get the ball to open the series for UVA. The right-hander brings a K-per-9 rate of 11.42 into the weekend. Woolfolk’s K-per-9 ranks him 76th nationally. In the 2024 series between the Cavaliers and the Wolfpack, Woolfolk made two appearances out of the bullpen for a total of 2.1 innings and surrendered one run. 
  • In the middle game, UVA will turn to Preseason All-American Evan Blanco. The junior went a season-long five innings in the series finale against Stanford with a season-best five strikeouts. In his 2024 start against NC State, Blanco allowed one earned run over 4.2 innings pitched with eight strikeouts.
  • Tomas Valincius will get the nod in the middle game. The freshman has struck out six or more batters in four of his seven starts this season.

O’Connor’s 900th Win

  • Brian O’Connor reached his 900th Career win on March 29, a 9-8 victory over No. 20 Stanford at Disharoon Park
  • Now in his 22nd season, O’Connor is the eighth baseball coach in ACC history to accumulate 900 wins at an ACC institution. His .702 winning percentage is the highest of any active coach in DI baseball (min. 10 years).
  • All of his career wins have come at Virginia. He became the program’s all-time wins leader on May 28, 2016, with his 595th win, a 7-2 victory over Louisville in the ACC Tournament.

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