Virginia Set for Road Series at No. 24 Georgia Tech

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –  After prevailing in a pair of home midweeks, the Virginia baseball team (22-15, 9-9 ACC) will head south for a three-game weekend series at No. 24 Georgia Tech (29-12, 14-7 ACC) starting at on Friday (April 25).

First pitch for the series opener is slated for 6 p.m. followed by a 4 p.m. start time on Saturday (April 26) and a 1 p.m. start on Sunday (April 27).

HOW TO FOLLOW
Watch: ACCNX
Listen: WINA (98.9/1070 AM/WINA) | Virginia Sports TV YouTube Channel (Saturday)
Live Stats: VirginiaSports.com

Probable Starting Pitchers:
Friday – 6 p.m.
Virginia: RHP Jay Woolfolk (2-2, 4.34 ERA, 45.2 IP, 16 BB, 55 SO)
Georgia Tech: RHP Tate McKee (5-1, 3.46 ERA, 52 IP, 19 BB, 59 SO)
Saturday – 4 p.m.
Virginia: LHP Bradley Hodges (1-1, 1.17 ERA, 15.1 IP, 7 BB, 24 SO)
Georgia Tech: RHP Brady Jones (4-1, 4.54 ERA, 39.2 IP, 26 BB, 45 SO)
Sunday – 1 p.m.
Virginia: LHP Tomas Valincius (4-1, 5.12 ERA, 45.2 IP, 10 BB, 53 SO)
Georgia Tech: TBA

LEADING OFF

• Cavalier shortstop Eric Becker was named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List for the nation’s best shortstop. Becker currently leads the Cavaliers in batting average (.372), doubles (18), runs scored (43), slugging percentage (.608) and on-base percentage (.451). The shortstop is one of four Cavaliers to start all 37 games for Virginia this season.
• Virginia is coming off a series win over Pitt in which the Cavaliers outscored the Panthers 32-12 in the three-game set.
• March 29’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, 13 of UVA’s 22 wins on the season are of the comeback variety, including the midweek run-rule victory over Georgetown on Tuesday.
• Virginia has only played eight true road games this season and has a record of 4-4 in those contests.
• UVA is 12-4 on the season when junior Aidan Teel is batting leadoff for the Cavaliers.
• Since the start of the Stanford series on March 27, the Cavaliers are 10-4 overall and are averaging 9.6 runs per game over the 14-game stretch.
• 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 YELLOW JACKETS

• In a series that dates back to 1924, Virginia and Georgia Tech have met 149 previous times, with the Yellow Jackets leading the series 79-68-2. 
• Despite leading trailing in the all-time series, UVA is 41-24-1 against Georgia Tech in the Brian O’Connor era.
• The two squads split the four meetings during the 2024 season as the Yellow Jackets took two of three at Disharoon Park in mid-April before the Cavaliers eliminated GT from the ACC Tournament with a 13-0 victory in seven innings on May 22.
• The last time that the two ACC foes faced off in Atlanta, Virginia swept Georgia Tech in 2023.

 RANKING THE HOOS

• Entering the weekend, UVA’s arms ranked 33rd nationally and seventh in the ACC with an average of 9.8 strikeouts per nine innings. Along with the strikeouts, Virginia has turned 31 double plays on the year, which ranks third in the ACC.  As a team, UVA is batting .301, good enough for 46th nationally and fifth in the league.

 ON THE MOUND

• Jay Woolfolk will get the ball on Friday for UVA. The righthander leads all Cavalier pitchers with 55 strikeouts on the season. His 55 Ks ranks him 15th in the ACC. Woolfolk is averaging 10.84 strikeouts per nine innings to place 10th in the league.
• Junior Bradley Hodges is slated to make the first weekend start of his career on Saturday. 
• Last time out, Hodges set career-highs in innings pitched (5 IP) and strikeouts (7 Ks) in a 13-0 win over the VCU Rams on April 8.
• To close out the weekend, Virginia will turn to Tomas Valincius. The freshman has struck out six or more in five of his nine starts this season. Entering the weekend, Valincius owns a Strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5.20 to rank first in the league and 29th nationally. His K-to-BB ratio is the best among freshmen nationally.

 PLAYER NOTABLES

• Henry Ford ranks ninth in ACC with a batting average of .368. The sophomore also is averaging 1.51 hits per game to rank fifth in the league and 61st nationally.
• Aidan Teel’s 14 doubles ranks the junior with the eighth-most two-baggers in the league and 71st nationally.
• Elsewhere in the lineup, Henry Godbout and James Nunnallee are proving to be the two of the hardest outs in the conference. Nunnallee has a strikeout rate of 11.8 to rank first in the ACC, while Godbout enters the midweek with a K rate of 11.5 to place him second in the league.
• Along with the likes of Ford and Teel, Eric Becker ranks among the league’s best when it comes to batting. The sophomore ranks second in the league with 18 doubles, eighth with 55 hits and eighth with a .372 batting average.