CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – For the first weekend of league play, the Virginia baseball team (11-2) will travel to No. 8 North Carolina (12-1-1) for a three-game weekend series at Boshamer Stadium.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Watch: ACCNX
Listen: WINA (98.9 FM/1090 AM)
Live Stats: VirginiaSports.com
Probable Starting Pitchers:
Friday – 4 PM
Virginia: LHP Henry Zatkowski (1-0, 6.92 ERA, 13.0 IP, 9 BB, 17 SO)
North Carolina: RHP Jason DeCaro (3-0, 1.00 ERA, 18.0 IP, 4 BB, 19 SO)
Saturday – 2 PM
Virginia: LHP Max Stammel (0-0, 4.22 ERA, 10.2 IP, 7 BB, 12 SO)
North Carolina: RHP Ryan Lynch (1-0, 2.81 ERA, 16.0 IP, 4 BB, 17 SO)
Sunday – 1 PM
Virginia: RHP John Paone (1 - 0, 2.31 ERA, 11.2 IP, 2 BB, 15 SO)
North Carolina: LHP Folger Boaz (2-0, 3.07 ERA, 14.2 IP, 3 BB, 14 SO)
LEADING OFF
- For the first time since the 2021 season, the Virginia Cavaliers will open ACC play with the North Carolina Tar Heels. The two squads have faced off more than 300 times, with UNC leading the all-time series 192-120-4. Due to ACC expansion, 2025 marked the first non-COVID season in which UVA and UNC did not play each other since 1944-45.
- The Cavaliers and Tar Heels played each other four times, with each squad winning twice. UVA won the top 15 series at Disharoon Park in early April, while North Carolina handed Virginia its first loss in the 2024 Men's College World Series.
- The last time that the two squads played in Chapel Hill, UVA took two of three from UNC in a battle between two top 20 teams.
- Entering the midweek contests, Virginia is averaging 10.8 runs per game, which ranks eighth in the country and fifth in the league behind Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State and Pittsburgh. The high-octane offense has been supercharged by 24 home runs this season, which are the 10th most in the nation.
ON THE MOUND
- Henry Zatkowski will get the ball to start the weekend. The lefty is 1-0 with a 6.92 ERA in seven innings with a team-high 17 strikeouts. Zatkowski turned in UVA’s first quality start of the season by allowing two runs in six innings of work with a career-high eight strikeouts.
- Max Stammel will go on Saturday. Over the first three starts of the season, Stammel is 0-0 with a 4.22 ERA in 10.2 innings with 12 strikeouts.
- To close out the weekend, freshman John Paone will be handed the rock. The right-hander from Massachusetts is 1-0 with a
- 2.31 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 11.2 innings of work. In his last outing, Paone punched out four in six shutout innings against VCU.
- Out of the bullpen, grad student Lucas Hartman is tied for seventh in the nation with seven appearances, while Tyler Kapa’s pair of saves is good enough for 29th nationally.
RANKING THE HOOS
- After a historic start to the 2026 campaign, Virginia ranks top 30 nationally in multiple categories including walks (97/4th), hits (132/29th), home runs (24/10th), home runs per game (1.85/13th), on-base percentage (.439/26th), runs (141/5th), scoring (10.8/8th) and slugging percentage (.519/29th).
SPRING CLEANING
- On the third weekend of the season, Virginia swept the VCU Rams in a three-game series that saw the first two games played at Disharoon Park with the finale at The Diamond in Richmond.
- UVA took the series opener by a score of 5-3 and was powered by a career-high eight-strikeout performance by Henry Zatkowski and a leadoff home run from Eric Becker.
- Saturday’s game two saw UVA win its first walk of the season as the Cavaliers won 7-6 in 11 innings. AJ Gracia homered while Eric Becker was in the middle of the game-tying play in the ninth and the walk-off in the 11th.
- Sunday’s series finale included eight innings of one-run ball from the freshman trio of John Paone, Noah Yoder and Jayden Stroman. Gracia, Sam Harris and Zach Jackson all homered to secure the sweep.
FUN IN THE SUN
- For the first road trip of the 2026 season, Virginia headed south for a round robin tournament hosted by Stetson. The Hoos dismantled the Monmouth Hawks on Friday before falling in walk-off fashion to Stetson on Saturday. UVA rode late-inning heroics to a victory over North Dakota State in the weekend finale on Sunday.
- On Friday, the Hoos smashed seven home runs en route to a 21-8 win over Monmouth. The seven dingers were the most by UVA in a game since hitting eight against George Washington in 2024.
- In the weekend opener against Monmouth, the UVA trio of Noah Murray, Sam Harris and AJ Gracia each hit multiple home runs, becoming the first trio of Cavaliers to hit multiple home runs in the same game this century.
BREAKING IN THE NEW VIDEO BOARD
- To accompany the debuts on Davenport Field, a new state-of-the-art video board also made its debut on opening weekend, displaying plenty of content.
- 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.