CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – To open the road portion of the 2026 slate, the Virginia baseball team (4-0) will travel to Central Florida for a weekend tournament hosted by the Stetson Hatters.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Watch: Hatter Vision (Saturday Only)
Listen: N/A
Live Stats: VirginiaSports.com
Probable Starting Pitchers:
Friday – Noon
Monmouth: RHP Ryan Mealy (0-0, 1.80 ERA, 5.0 IP, 2 BB, 5 SO)
Virginia: LHP Henry Zatkowski (0-0, 15.00 ERA, 3.0 IP, 5 BB, 6 SO)
Saturday – 5 p.m.
Stetson: RHP Ethan Phillips (0-1, 1.80 ERA, 5.0 IP, 4 BB, 3 SO)
Virginia: LHP Henry Zatkowski (0-0, 15.00 ERA, 3.0 IP, 5 BB, 6 SO)
Sunday – 10 a.m.
North Dakota State: LHP Jonah Walker (0-0, 2.25 ERA, 4.0 IP, 0 BB, 4 SO)
Virginia: TBA
LEADING OFF
- For the first road trip of the 2026 season, Virginia heads south for a weekend tournament hosted by the Stetson Hatters. The Cavaliers will open the weekend with a game against Monmouth on Friday, before hosting Stetson on Saturday, and will close the trip with a contest against North Dakota State. UVA is 9-1 all-time against the Hawks of Monmouth and 1-1 against Stetson. North Dakota State and Virginia have never met on the baseball diamond.
- Dating back to the start of the 2021 season, the Cavaliers are 36-6 in February.
- A 31-run outburst in the series finale highlighted the opening weekend sweep of Wagner. Saturday’s 31 runs set a new program record.
- UVA’s 69 runs on opening weekend are the most ever by Virginia over the opening three games of a season in program history. The previous high was 59 runs over the opening three games in 1889.
ON THE MOUND
- Newcomer Henry Zatkowski will get the ball on Friday for the Cavaliers. The Lefty appeared in 21 games for Duke last season, compiling a 5-2 record with a 4.83 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 59.2 innings.
- On Saturday, Max Stammel will take the mound against Stetson. The other Duke lefty in rotation had an ERA of 4.09 in 18 appearances for the Blue Devils in 2025.
- To close out the weekend, To Be Announced will be handed the rock on Sunday. To Be Announced is a highly touted hurler from an undisclosed location.
RANKING THE HOOS
- After a historic start to the 2026 campaign, Virginia ranks top 25 nationally in multiple categories including batting average (.353/22nd), double plays per game (1.25/22nd), hit by pitch (12/18th), hits (54/18th), strikeouts per nine (14.0/10th), on base percentage (.517/9th) and scoring (18.5).
- UVA is one of two schools in the country to be ranked top 10 in scoring and Ks per nine. ACC foe Georgia Tech is the only other in the top 10.
BREAKING IN THE NEW VIDEO BOARD
- To go along with the debuts on Davenport Field, a new state-of-the-art video board also made its debut on opening weekend and it had plenty to display.
- Over the course of the opening weekend, UVA plated 69 runners in three games. The most ever in a three-game stretch to start a season. The previous high was set in 1889, when the baseball team representing the University of Virginia scored 59 runs in the first three games ever played.
- The weekend was capped off by a 31-8 victory in the Saturday nightcap. The 31 runs broke the previous program for most runs in a game, which was when the Hoos dropped 29 runs on Niagara in 2007.
- Crozet native Noah Murray broke the run record with a three-run blast in the eighth inning. With the home run, Murray became the 15th Cavalier to score five times in the same time.
- Chris Pollard became just the third head coach in program history to win his first three games. The other two coaches were H.H. Lannigan in 1918 and Brian O’Connor in 2004.
A NEW ERA OF VIRGINIA BASEBALL
- Director of Athletics Carla Williams announced the hiring of Chris Pollard as the University of Virginia’s Head Baseball Coach on June 10, 2025.
- Pollard arrives in Charlottesville after spending the last 13 seasons at Duke, leading the Blue Devils to a 420-296 record, seven NCAA tournament berths, four Super Regional appearances and two ACC Baseball Tournament championships. His 420 wins are the most by a head coach in Duke baseball history.
HOO ARE THESE CAVALIERS?!
- After a successful run at Duke, Pollard has brought his entire Blue Devil coaching staff with him from Durham, including Brady Kirkpatrick (pitching), Derek Simmons (Infielders), Eric Tyler (Hitting), Brian Sakowski (Director of Recruiting) and John Natoli (Director of Player Development).
- To complement the staff, Pollard also brought in Casey Scott (Director of Operations), Bailey Hill (Athletic Training) and 2025 UVA Bullpen mainstay West Arrington (Assistant Director of Operations & Player Development).
- On the field, 27 new Cavaliers arrived on Grounds in the fall to make up a top ten transfer class and a top 10 high school recruiting class.
PRESEASON HONORS
- Headlined by consensus Preseason All-American AJ Gracia, a total of four Cavaliers landed on Preseason All-American teams.
- Eric Becker was named to two teams, while Joe Tiroly and Lucas Hartman each landed on one team.
- Along with Preseason All-American accolades, Gracia and Becker were each named to the Golden Spikes Watch List. Becker also found himself on the Baseball America Preseason Player of the Year Watch List, while Hartman was added to the Stopper of the Year Watch List.
- Virginia is ranked in four of the five major national polls, with the Cavaliers checking in at 14 for Baseball America and Perfect Game. In a poll of the Atlantic Coast Conference coaches, the Virginia baseball team was picked to finish seventh in the league.