Baseball: No. 13 Hoos kick off 11-game homestand Tuesday against Liberty

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 13 Virginia returns home to Disharoon Park to kick-off an 11-game homestand beginning with midweek contests against Liberty on Tuesday and Towson on Wednesday. First pitch for both non-conference matchups are scheduled for 6 p.m.

HOW TO FOLLOW (Both Games)

TV: ACCNX

RADIO: WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM/WINA.com)

LIVE STATS: VirginiaSports.com

MIDWEEK PROMOS

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday – All Tacos at the concession stand are $3

Wednesday: $2 Hot dogs at the concession stand, while supplies last.

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP

Tuesday – 6 p.m.
Liberty: LHP Trey Cooper (1-2, 5.65 ERA, 14.1 IP, 15 BB, 18 SO)
Virginia: LHP Connelly Early (8-1, 3.05 ERA, 41.1 IP, 13 BB, 49 SO) 

Wednesday – 6 p.m.
Towson: TBA
Virginia: TBA

LEADING OFF

• The 11-game stint at home is the longest of the season for Virginia and is a homestand that includes six games against current top-25 teams in No. 20 Duke (April 28-30) and No. 21 Louisville May (12-14).
• Virginia (32-9) is 20-0 this season against non-conference opponents and has won 24-straight games against non-conference foes dating back to last season. The Cavaliers are the only team in the country without a loss in non-conference play in 2023.
• Virginia boasts a 23-2 mark at home this season and is one of seven teams nationally with 23 or more home victories.
• Virginia’s 32 wins this season are tied for the third most in the country. Only 12 teams nationally have eclipsed the 30-win mark, UVA was the first team to do so with a 16-4 win over Mount St. Mary’s on April 12.
• UVA’s .780 winning percentage is the seventh-highest of any program in the country. UVA is one of nine teams nationally without double-digit losses.
• With a team ERA of 3.58, the sixth lowest in the nation, Virginia is the only school in the country to rank in the top-15 in both batting average (2nd) and ERA (6th).
• The Cavaliers enter midweek play ranked No. 1 in the country in hits (489), No. 2 in team batting average (.334) and No. 6 in scoring (9.2 rpg).

Most Home Wins NCAA D-I
Arkansas – 25
Texas Tech – 25
Tennessee – 24
South Carolina – 24
ECU – 24
UVA – 23
Florida – 23

LAST TIME AGAINST THE FLAMES

• Back on April 4, the Cavaliers came through in the clutch scoring all four of its runs with two outs in a 4-1 win over Liberty in Lynchburg. UVA scored the game’s first four runs and broke a scoreless tie in the fifth with a three-spot in the fifth.
• The Cavaliers used a season-high, seven pitchers in the contest and limited Liberty to just an eighth inning run. Jay Woolfolk needed just 15 pitches in the ninth inning to register the save.
• Virginia improves to 42-22-1 all-time against Liberty and 18-3 under Brian O’Connor. UVA has won the last three decisions against Liberty and 13 of the last 15 matchups.
• The Cavaliers are looking for their first season sweep of the Flames (19-20) since the 2017 season.

TOWSON RETURNS TO THE DISH

• Wednesday will mark the third-straight season Towson (12-28) has visited Disharoon Park. The Cavaliers are 22-2 against the Tigers in an all-time series that was first played in 1982, a 19-6 victory for UVA in Charlottesville.
• The Cavaliers have won 17-straight games against Towson dating back to 2009 and are 20-1 against the Tigers under head coach Brian O’Connor.
• Virginia scored the 10 runs between its two turns at the plate in the first and second innings in an eventual 15-3 victory at Disharoon Park. Justin Rubin hit his first career home run in the contest and posted a career-high three hits in a 3-for-4, two run, two-RBI effort at the plate.

OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER

• There are 38 players in D-I baseball batting over the .400 mark, two of them are in the Cavalier lineup – Kyle Teel (.417) and Griff O’Ferrall (.411). UVA is one of four schools with multiple players batting .400 (Nebraska – 2, Sam Houston– 2, Wofford – 2).
• No other duo in the country has more hits combined than Teel (67) and O’Ferrall (66). Teel leads the ACC and ranks fifth in the country in hits.
• Virginia is No. 1 in the country in doubles with 114, seven more than the next highest school (VMI). UVA has recorded a double in 38 of 41 games this year including a season-high eight against Navy in the season opener.
• Virginia has struck out 262 times as a team this season, the fewest of any team in the ACC.
• Virginia has the fourth largest scoring/run differential in the country.

 Highest DI Scoring Margin/Run Differential

1.	Wake Forest	+6.1
2	South Carolina	+5.7
	LSU	+5.7
4	Virginia	+5.2
5.	Campbell	+4.9

ON THE MOUND

• In addition to the sixth-lowest team ERA in the country, the UVA pitching staff also has produced the country’s seventh-best strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.18) and the 17th-best WHIP (1.30).
• Of the 410 strikeouts (13th most in NCAA) recorded by Cavalier pitching, 138 have come looking, the most of any staff in the country.
• Tuesday’s starting pitcher Connelly Early is tied with Wake Forest’s Rhett Lowder for the most wins (8) by an ACC pitcher. Grant Rogers (McNeese St.) holds the national lead with nine. Only three Cavalier pitchers have won nine games since 2016 – Connor Jones (11-1 in 2016), Andrew Abbott (9-6 in 2021) and Adam Haseley (9-3 in 2016).
• Early enters Tuesday’s contest with a record of 19-7 with 11 wins coming at Army between the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

GELOF CHASING MORE HISTORY

• Despite being limited to one RBI in three games at Notre Dame, Jake Gelof maintains his national RBI lead with 67. He has yet to be held without an RBI in three-straight games this season.
• Already the program’s single-season record holder in RBI with 81 last season, he’s looking to become the first Cavalier with two seasons of 70 or more RBI. Currently only Gelof and UVA Baseball Hall of Famer Phil Gosselin are the only two Cavaliers to have two seasons of 60 or more RBI.

 Most RBI in Single Season in UVA History

1.		81 – Jake Gelof – 2022
2.		77 – Pavin Smith – 2017
3.		71 – Alex Tappen – 2022
4.		68 – Jake Gelof – 2023
5.		67 – Kenny Towns – 2015
		67 – Joe Koshansky – 2004

• In addition to hi is three RBI shy of entering the program’s all-time top-5. The sophomore set the program’s single season RBI record last season, driving in 81 runs.

Most Career RBI in UVA History

1.	Steven Proscia (2009-11)	182
2.	Pavin Smith (2015-17)	178
3.	Sean Doolittle (2005-07)	167
4.	Ryan Gilleland (1995-98)	166
	Bill Narleski (1984-87)	166
6.	Jake Gelof (2021-present)	163

PLAYER NOTABLES

• Casey Saucke is UVA’s hottest hitter, batting .556 (10 for 18) with seven runs scored, a home run and three RBI over the last five games. His two-run, go-ahead shot to the opposite field in game two of Sunday’s doubleheader was his fourth long ball of the season.
• Kyle Teel leads the ACC in batting average (.417), doubles (17) and hits (68) and hits per game (1.74). He has reached base safely in each of the first 38 games of the season. Teel, ranked fifth in the country in hits, trails the national leader Jonah Cox (Oral Roberts) by five entering the midweek.
• Shortstop Griff O’Ferrall has scored a run in 18 of his last 19 games and ranks second in the ACC with 52 runs scored. O’Ferrall has started the last 99 games at shortstop for the Cavaliers, every game of his college career.