Virginia Wraps Up Road Swing at VCU

Courtesy UVA Sports Media Relations

Virginia (26-20) will conclude a four-game road stretch at VCU (30-14) on Tuesday night. The game will be played at The Diamond in Richmond with a first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m.

GAME COVERAGE: The contest will air live on ESPN+, a video streaming subscription service offered on WatchESPN and the ESPN app that is available for an additional monthly fee. The game can be heard locally in Charlottesville on WINA 1070 AM/98.9 FM and anywhere on WINA.com. Links to both the broadcasts and live stats are available on VirginiaSports.com. Fan can receive in-game updates by following @UVABaseball on Twitter.

Probable Pitching Matchup

Virginia: TBA

VCU: RHP Connor Gillispie (3-0, 1.76 ERA, 61.1 IP, 15 BB, 85 SO)

Leading Off

• Virginia enters the game winners of nine-straight midweek games and an overall record of 16-6 against non-conference opponents.
• Virginia owns a 9-2 mark against schools from the Commonwealth in 2019.
• Tuesday’s game will put the finishing touches on Virginia’s third, four-game road trip of the season. The Cavaliers have not played more than four consecutive road games in the regular season since 2016.
• Virginia is 6-8 in true road games this season and 6-11 in games played away from Disharoon Park.
• The Cavaliers own a 43-22 advantage in the all-time series against VCU that was first played in 1979.

Against VCU

• Tuesday’s matchup will be the first of two meetings against VCU this season. The home and home season series finishes up in Charlottesville on May 14.
• The two teams split the season series last year with each school winning their respective home game. The Rams scored the first seven runs in a 11-3 win at the Diamond last season. The Cavaliers earned the split with a 2-0 shutout in Charlottesville. Five pitchers combined for the two-hitter and Cameron Comer’s two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
• Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor is 19-3 against VCU in his career. Two of the three losses against the Rams have come at The Diamond.

Close Calls

• Virginia lost a pair of one-run games this past weekend at North Carolina. Sunday’s 5-4 defeat marked the third time this season the Cavaliers have lost a rubber match of an ACC series by one run.
• All but one of Virginia’s 11, one-run games this season have occurred in conference play.
• The Cavaliers are 4-7 overall in one-run games and 2-3 in games decided by two runs.
• Against North Carolina this weekend Virginia held the lead three times in the two, one-run losses on the weekend.
• In Saturday’s 5-4, walk-off loss, the Cavaliers out-hit the Tar Heels, 11-9. It marked only the third time this season Virginia lost a game despite out-hitting its opponent.

Moving Runners

• With four sacrifice flies in five games last week, Virginia moved to a tie for sixth in the country with 29 on the season. UC Santa Barbara leads the country with 34 in 39 games.
• The Cavaliers are ranked second in the ACC in sacrifice hits with 28, trailing ACC-leader Notre Dame who as recorded 32 on the season.
• Senior Jack Weiller has five sacrifice flies to his credit, tied for the third most in the ACC.

On the Defensive

• Virginia made an uncharacteristic, four errors in the North Carolina series. Coming into Chapel Hill, the Cavaliers had committed just two in their previous nine games.
• The Cavalier infield combination of Nate Eikhoff (1B), Nic Kent (2B), Tanner Morris (SS) and Zack Gelof (3B) have started each of the last 39 games together. Morris, Gelof and Eikhoff have started every single game at the same position this season.
• Virginia comes into the game with a .979 fielding percentage, the third-best in the ACC.

Player Tidbits

• Nate Eikhoff started his 101st straight game on Sunday vs. North Carolina, the longest active start streak on the team.
• Catcher Logan Michaels enters the weekend ranked in 49th on the country’s toughest to strikeout list (11.3 AB/K). He carries a 10-game reached base streak into Tuesday’s game.
• Zack Gelof swiped his 13th bag of the season on Saturday moving into 10th place in the ACC. One more would tie Jarrett Parker for the third most ever in a single season by a UVA freshman.
• Tanner Morris comes into Tuesday night’s game tied for fifth in the country and tops in the ACC with 20 doubles. His .344 batting average leads the team and ranks sixth in the league. His 62 hits through 46 games, tops his freshman year season total of 59.
• In Sunday’s series finale at North Carolina, Cameron Simmons became third different Cavalier to bat in the lead-off spot. It marked the third time in his career he’s led off. Tanner Morris (23 games) and Zack Gelof (21 games) have spent time in the top spot of the lineup. The Cavaliers have used 32 different lineup combinations in 46 games.
• Chesdin Harrington kept the Cavaliers in game two of this past weekend’s series with North Carolina. He tossed a career-high five innings of relief, allowed three hits and struck out three batters. Defensively he was responsible seven of the 15 outs he was on the mound for (three strikeouts, four assists and one putout).