Game Notes: Virginia hosts George Mason in mid-week action at The Dish

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 11 Virginia (31-10) will be home on Wednesday to host George Mason (14-24) in a non-conference matchup at Disharoon Park. The contest is slated to air live on ACC Network and scheduled for a 6 p.m. first pitch.

GAME COVERAGE:  For information and a list of ACC Network carriers visit: GetACCN.com. Authenticated subscribers of ACC Network can stream the game on ESPN.com and the ESPN app. Additionally the contest can be heard locally in Charlottesville on WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM) or anywhere on WINA.com. Links to live stats can be found on VirginiaSports.com. Fans can get in-game updates on the team’s official twitter page (@UVABaseball).

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS

George Mason: TBA

Virginia: LHP Matthew Buchanan (2-1, 2.21 ERA, 20.1 IP, 5 BB, 29 SO)

LEADING OFF

• The cancelation of Tuesday’s midweek game means the Cavaliers will play 14-straight games at Disharoon Park before closing out the regular season at Louisville (May 19-21).
• Separated by just 100 miles, Virginia and George Mason will meet for the first times since 2010.
• The Cavaliers come into Wednesday with four-straight wins after a weekend sweep of North Carolina, its second ACC sweep of the season.
• UVA is 23-2 at home this season and owns has won 77 percent of its games at Disharoon Park since the facility opened in 2002.
• Despite a 4-1 week, Virginia remained at No. 11 in this week’s D1Baseball.com top-25. The Cavaliers are ranked has high as No. 5 (Baseball America) and as low as No. 16 (Collegiate Baseball Newspaper) among the major polls.

CAVALIER MILESTONES

• Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor moved up to 8^thall-time on the ACC’s all-time wins list. He surpassed former North Carolina head coach Mike Roberts on Sunday with his 781^stwin.
• Outfielder Alex Tappen, who has started all 41 games this season, reached the 200 games played plateau on Saturday. An appearance on Wednesday would be his 202^ndof his career, tying him with Jared King (2009-13) for the 10^thmost in school history.

AGAINST GEORGE MASON

• Virginia is 26-12 against the Patriots in an all-time series that dates back to 1978.
• The Cavaliers have won five-straight games against the George Mason, including a 7-2 victory in the 2004 Charlottesville Regional. The Cavalier team featured then-sophomore Ryan Zimmerman who will have his number 11 retired on Saturday at Disharoon Park. Zimmerman went 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored in the contest.
• The last time the two teams met, Virginia was ranked No. 2 in the country and peppered the Patriots with 15 hits in a 10-3 victory on April 1, 2010.’

WALK-OFF

• Devin Ortiz hit a walk-off grand slam in the tenth inning on Saturday to help Virginia clinch its first series victory over North Carolina since 2016. The walk-off home run was his second of his career. He broke a 3-3 tie in the 10^thof the 2021 NCAA Columbia Regional Championship game against ODU to send UVA to the Super Regionals.
• The walk-off grand slam was the only one hit by a Cavalier in the last 22 years.
• Since 2000, there have been seven Virginia walk-off homers. Ortiz is the only Cavalier to hit two walk-off home runs in that span.

FIRST YEAR IMPACT

• In the three-game set against North Carolina six true freshman recorded a hit and reliever Jay Woolfolk logged 3.2 scoreless innings over two appearances.
• Shortstop Griff O’Ferrall led the rookies at the plate by batting .357 (5-for-14) with a home run and four runs scored. His solo home run on Friday night in the seventh inning broke a 2-2 tie in an eventual 4-2 victory.
• Outfielder Colin Tuft hit his first home run of the season in Saturday’s contest and was 4-for-8 in two weekend starts.
• Ethan Anderson started all three games at DH and matched a season-high with three hits in the series finale.
• Anthony Stephan came on as a pinch-hitter in the 10^thinning on Saturday and led off the seven-run inning with a base hit to left field.

EYE-POPPING OFFENSIVE NUMBERS

• Virginia is the No. 3 scoring offense in the country, averaging 9.6 runs per game. The Cavaliers have totaled 392 runs in 41 games, the fourth most of any team in the country.
• The Cavaliers have scored 10 or more runs in a game 20 times this season, including 18 of the 25 games at Disharoon Park in 2022.
• Virginia has scored five or more runs in a single inning 21 times this season. The seven runs in the 10^thon Saturday marked the ninth time UVA has scored seven or more in a single frame.
• UVA ranks in the top-10 nationally in batting average (4^th), hits (5^th), sacrifice flies (6^th) on-base percentage (7^th) and walks (7^th).

ON THE MOUND

• Freshman Matthew Buchanan is scheduled to make his fourth start of the season. The lefthander has appeared in 11 games, most recently a week ago against Georgetown. Four of his five runs allowed all year long came against the Hoyas.
• As a staff, Virginia sports a 3.38 ERA, the eighth-lowest in the country and the lowest in the ACC. In addition, the Cavalier hurlers are allowing only 7.14 hits per game which are the sixth fewest of any team in the country.
• UVA has struck out 445 batters this season the sixth-most in the country. UVA is averaging 11.0 strikeouts per nine innings are the eighth most in the nation.
• Virginia has seven shutouts this season, one behind national leader Vanderbilt. Virginia is one of five teams in the country with seven or more shutouts (Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Stanford, Central Michigan).

CAVALIER NOTABLES

• Kyle Teel hit .450 (9-for-20) with a double, six runs and five RBI in five games last week. Seven of his nine hits came in the three-game series against UNC.
• Jake Gelof hit his 15^thhome run of the season, a solo shot on Saturday against UNC. He tied UVA Baseball Hall of Famer Mark Reynolds’ 2002 single-season mark.
• In Tappen and Gelof, Virginia has two of the best run producers in the country. No other team has two players over the 55-RBI mark. Gelof’s 62 rank are the third most in the country while Tappen’s 55, rank 8^th.