Cavaliers Head To Virginia Tech For Regular Season Finale

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –  To close out the regular season, the Virginia baseball team (30-16, 14-10 ACC) will travel to Virginia Tech (29-22, 11-16 ACC) for a three-game series that starts on Thursday (May 15) as part of the Smithfield Commonwealth Clash.

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

Probable Starting Pitchers:
Thursday – 6 p.m.
Virginia: RHP Jay Woolfolk (3-2, 4.55 ERA, 55.1 IP, 22 BB, 67 SO)
Virginia Tech: RHP Brett Renfrow (3-5, 3.45 ERA, 62.2 IP, 30 BB, 71 SO)

Friday – 3 p.m.
Virginia: LHP Bradley Hodges (2-1, 3.91 ERA, 25.1 IP, 13 BB, 34 SO)
Virginia Tech: LHP Jake Marciano (4-2, 6.02 ERA, 52.1 IP, 17 BB, 64 SO)

Saturday – 1 p.m.
Virginia: LHP Tomas Valincius (5-1, 4.97 ERA, 58 IP, 16 BB, 64 SO)
Virginia Tech: TBA

SMITHFIELD COMMONWEALTH CLASH

• This weekend’s series is part of the Smithfield Commonwealth Clash. Originally called the Commonwealth Challenge (2005-2007), this has been a part of the UVA-Virginia Tech rivalry since 2014. It is an all-sports, points-based program with the Commonwealth Clash trophy presented to the winning school each year for its dominance in head-to-head competitions.
• The Cavaliers lead the Clash 13-6.

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 doubles (20), runs scored (51), RBIs (44), total bases (112) and slugging percentage (.612). The shortstop is one of four Cavaliers to start all 46 games for Virginia this season.
• Entering the final weekend of the regular season, Virginia is riding a six-game win streak after sweeping the Miami Hurricanes on Senior Weekend. The six-game heater is the longest winning streak for the Hoos since winning nine straight to open the 2024 season.
• UVA also enters the weekend having homered in 17 straight games dating back to April 6 at NC State. The 17-game streak is the longest by the Hoos in the Brian O’Connor era.
• 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, 17 of UVA’s 30 wins on the season are of the comeback variety, including Saturday’s instant classic walk-off win against Miami.
• UVA is 20-5 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 18-5 overall with a 14-2 record at home and are averaging 9.4 runs per game over the 23-game stretch.

NOTING THE CLASH

• Thursday’s series opener will be the 204th meeting between the two schools. Virginia Tech is one of three schools that UVA has played 200 games against – North Carolina (314 games), NC State (208 games).
• Virginia leads the all-time series 111-92, which was first played in 1900, a 12-0 UVA win in Charlottesville.
• The Cavaliers have won 14 of 19 all-time series since Virginia Tech joined the league in 2005.
• In the Brian O’Connor era, Virginia is 40-18 all-time against the Hokies.

RANKING THE HOOS

• Entering the midweek, UVA’s arms ranked 27th nationally and sixth in the ACC with an average of 9.8 strikeouts per nine innings. Along with the strikeouts, Virginia has turned 38 double plays on the year, which ranks third in the ACC.  As a team, UVA is batting .307, good enough for 27th nationally and third in the league.

ON THE MOUND

• Jay Woolfolk will get the ball on Thursday for UVA. The righthander leads all Cavalier pitchers with 67 strikeouts on the season. Woolfolk is averaging 10.90 strikeouts per nine innings to place seventh in the league.
• Bradley Hodges is slated to take the mound on Friday. In his last road start, Hodges went a career-long seven innings and tied his career-high in strikeouts with seven to help UVA secure the series win over Georgia Tech.
• To close out the weekend, Virginia will turn to freshman Tomas Valincius on Saturday. The freshman ranks fourth in the conference with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4.00, having fanned 64 opposing batters this season against 16 walks.

PLAYER NOTABLES

• Eric Becker ranks among the league’s best when it comes to batting. The sophomore ranks first in the league with 20 doubles, eighth with 1.43 hits per game, and eighth with a .361 batting average.
• Henry Ford ranks sixth in ACC with a batting average of .368. The sophomore is also averaging 1.52 hits per game to rank second in the league and 41st nationally.
• Aidan Teel’s 15 doubles rank the junior with the fifth-most two-baggers in the league.
• Elsewhere in the lineup, Henry Godbout and James Nunnallee are proving to be two of the hardest outs in the conference. Nunnallee has a strikeout rate of 12.5 to rank first in the ACC, while Godbout enters the weekend with a K rate of 11.4 to place him second in the league.

NO HURRICANE WARNING NEEDED

• On Senior Weekend, the Cavaliers swept the Miami Hurricanes for Virginia’s second ACC sweep of the season. 
• In potentially his final home start of his career, senior Jay Woolfolk tossed six innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts in the series opener. Harrison Didawick and Luke Hanson paced the offense with a pair of home runs.
• In the second game, UVA erased a four-run deficit to walk off the Hurricanes. The walk-off was Virginia’s fourth of the season and second off the bat of Aidan Teel.
• In the series finale, Henry Ford homered twice to lift the Hoos over the Canes. It was Ford’s second multi-home run game of the season and fifth of his career.