Three-game series against Penn State awaits surging Cavaliers

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Virginia (8-0) will host Penn State (3-4) for a three-game series at Disharoon Park beginning Friday. First pitch for the series opener is slated for 3 p.m. and both Saturday and Sunday’s contests will begin at 1 p.m. All three games will be carried on ACCNX.

GAME COVERAGE

ACCNX is available to authenticated subscribers of the ACC Network through the ESPN app and ESPN.com. In addition, Friday and Sunday’s contest can be heard locally in Charlottesville on WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM or anywhere on WINA.com. Links to live stats are available on VirginiaSports.com. Fans can get in-game updates on the team’s official twitter page (@UVABaseball).

WEEKEND PROMOTIONS

Friday

• Concessions offer – $2 hot dog, $2 soda, $2 popcorn

Saturday

• Inflatable obstacle course and slide in the right field plaza

Sunday

• Inflatable obstacle course and slide in the right field plaza
• Youth (eighth grade and under) get in for free on ALL Sundays

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS

Friday – 3 p.m.

Penn State:  RHP Travis Luensmann (0-1, 4.35 ERA, 10.1 IP, 5 BB, 15 SO)

Virginia: LHP Nate Savino (1-0, 2.45 ERA, 7.1 IP, 1 BB, 16 SO)

Saturday – 1 p.m.

Penn State: LHP Kellan Tulio (1-0, 1.64 ERA, 11.0 IP, 3 BB, 9 SO)

Virginia: LHP Brian Gursky (2-0, 1.69 ERA, 10.2 IP, 5 BB, 17 SO)

Sunday – 1 p.m.

Penn State: TBA

Virginia: LHP Brandon Neeck (1-0, 0.96 ERA, 9.1 IP, 3 BB, 12 SO)

LEADING OFF

• Virginia is 8-0 to start the season for the ninth time in program history and the sixth time under head coach Brian O’Connor (2008, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2021).
• Entering the weekend UVA is one of 15 undefeated teams in the country and one of four in the ACC.
• The Cavaliers have posted double-digit run efforts in each of the last five games, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by a UVA offense since 2010. Virginia has scored 10 or more runs in six consecutive games three times in program history – 1889, 1893 & 2006.
• Dating back to last season, Virginia has won its last seven games at home, including all five this season.
• Virginia begins the series as the national leader in strikeouts (116), strikeouts per nine innings (14.5) and shutouts (4)

AMONG THE NATION’S ELITE

• UVA is nationally ranked by Baseball America (5), Collegiate Baseball Newspaper (12), USA Today/Coaches (22) and the NCBWA (23).
• Virginia pitchers lead the country in strikeouts per nine innings (14.9) and have fanned 10 or more batters in all but one game this season.
• On offense, UVA ranks seventh in runs scored (102), 8th in batting average (.350), 8th on-base percentage (8th) and 10th in home runs (14),
• In addition to the top ranks in the nation in strikeouts, strikeouts per nine innings and shutouts, the UVA pitching staff ranks sixth in the NCAA in ERA (1.38), 6th in hits allowed per nine innings (5.12), and 10th in WHIP.

FROM THE BUMP

• All three UVA starting pitchers, Nate Savino, Brian Gursky and Brandon Neeck earned a win their respective outings against Cornell last weekend.
• Virginia pitchers have combined to strikeout 10 or more batters in seven of the eight games this season.
• Last Friday, Savino struck out the final eight batters he faced and racked up a career-high 11 strikeouts in his first win of the season. The 11 strikeouts are the most by a Cavalier hurler this season and the most since Andrew Abbott fanned 10 against Tennessee in the College World Series last season.
• Gursky collected his second win of the season after he pitched 5.2 innings, allowed no earned runs and struck out a career-high nine batters in the middle game against Cornell. He completed the rare “immaculate inning” in the second, striking out all three batters by using nine pitches.
• Neeck pitched five innings of one-run baseball and struck out eight batters. Neeck struck out the first three batters he faced on 11 pitches and has allowed one run in 9.1 innings pitched this season.

AGAINST PENN STATE

• Virginia will square off against Penn State for the first time since 2004, the first year the Cavaliers were under the direction of head coach Brian O’Connor.
• The Cavaliers won the first five games of O’Connor’s coaching career including a 7-1 victory over the Nittany Lions on Feb. 21, 2004. Penn State came back and handed O’Connor and the Cavaliers their first loss of the 2004 campaign the next day.
• Virginia owns a 12-10 all-time record against Penn State in a series that was first played in 1894, a 14-4 UVA victory.
• After playing a Big Ten only schedule in 2021 and an abbreviated 2020 slate, Virginia will be Penn State’s first series against an ACC opponent since 2019 when Duke took two out of three against the Nittany Lions in Bradenton, Fla.

OFF THE CHARTS

• Second-year Jake Gelof comes into the weekend as the national leader in batting average (.636) and slugging percentage (1.682). He ranks in the top 10 in RBI (2nd), on-base percentage (5th), total bases (5th), triples (6th) and home runs (6th).
• On Tuesday against William & Mary, Gelof was a home run short of a cycle in consecutive games and went 3-for-4 with 4 RBI and two runs scored.
• Gelof leads the team with five home runs in eight games. In 38 games played as a true freshman last season he hit four.
• Since being inserted as a regular starter in the Cavalier lineup midway through last season UVA is 24-8.

8-0 in Starts UVA History

2009 – 19-0*       1924 – 9-0

2013 – 14-0         2022 – 8-0

2017 – 11-0         1951 – 8-0

2008 – 11-0         1908 – 8-0

2015 – 10-0

*School Record

CAVALIER NOTABLES

• In addition to his 5.2 shutout innings on the mound, two-way player Devin Ortiz was 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored against William & Mary on Tuesday. His two-run single in the bottom of the first to give UVA the initial lead was his 100th hit of his career.
• Prior to Tuesday’s game, Ortiz was named the College Baseball Foundation’s John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Week.
• Griff O’Ferrall, Gelof, Ortiz and Kyle Teel have each reached base in all eight games. Dating back to last season, Teel has reached base safely in 34-straight games.
• Alex Tappen and Casey Saucke carry six game hit streaks into the weekend series against Penn State.