No. 12 Virginia visits No. 10 Louisville in final ACC series of regular season

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 12 Virginia will travel to No. 10 Louisville for its final Atlantic Coast Conference series of the season. The series will open on Thursday with a 6 p.m. matchup on ACCNX. Friday and Saturday’s games will both air on ACC Network at 4 p.m. and noon, respectively.

GAME COVERAGE:  ACCNX is available to authenticated subscribers of ACC Network via ESPN.com and the ESPN app. For more information on ACC Network and a list of providers visit GetACCN.com. In addition, all three games can be heard locally in Charlottesville on WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM) and 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

Thursday – 6 p.m.

Virginia: LHP Brian Gursky (7-0, 2.98 ERA, 57.1 IP, 26 BB, 68 SO)

Louisville: RHP Jared Poland (3-2, 3.38 ERA, 53.1 IP, 21 BB, 68 SO)

Friday – 4 p.m.

Virginia: LHP Nate Savino (4-5, 4.21 ERA, 62.0 IP, 26 BB, 67 SO)

Louisville: LHP Carter Lohman (1-1, 3.45 ERA, 15.2 IP, 11 BB, 13 SO)

Saturday – noon              

Virginia: LHP Jake Berry (5-2. 4.20, 49.1 IP, 20 BB, 62 SO)

Louisville: TBA

LEADING OFF

• With a road non-conference bout against ODU canceled due to weather, Virginia (37-13, 16-11 ACC) will play its first road game since April 19 (VCU). The Cavaliers are 6-8 in contests away from Disharoon Park this season.
• The Cavaliers are one of eight schools to clinch a berth into next week’s ACC Tournament in Charlotte. If the season ended today, Virginia would be the No. 5 seed behind Miami, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame and Louisville.
• This weekend’s matchup features the top two active winningest coaches in Division I college baseball. UVA head coach Brian O’Connor is 787-332-1 (.703) in 19 seasons at the helm while Louisville’s Dan McDonnell is 682-281-1 (.708) in 16 seasons with the Cardinals.
• Louisville (36-15-1, 16-10-1) is Virginia’s third top-10 opponent this season and fourth ranked inside the top-25.
• The matchup of Virginia and Louisville is one of three top-25 series across the Division I Baseball landscape – No. 9 Miami at No. 14 Notre Dame, No. 23 UCLA at No. 2 Oregon State are the two others.
• Virginia is one of two schools (Tennessee) to be ranked in the top-15 in the country in batting average (7th – .316) and ERA (12th – 3.73).
• Virginia held steadfast at No. 12 in the D1Baseball.com Top-25 polls despite a series win over Clemson last weekend. Of the six major college polls, the Cavaliers highest ranking comes from USA Today/Coaches poll at No. 10. UVA enters play on Friday with an RPI of 16, one of five ACC teams with a top-16 RPI ranking.

AGAINST LOUISVILLE

• The trip to Louisville will be the first since the 2018 season in which Virginia prevailed in comeback fashion to record its first ever series win in four tries against the Cardinals. All three games in the series were decided by one run.
• Trailing 1-0 in the top of the ninth, then-freshman Alex Tappen delivered a two-out double on a 1-2 pitch from Reid Detmers to tie the game. The Cavaliers went ahead on an RBI single up the middle from Brendan Rivoli. Current Chicago White Sox reliever Bennett Sousa induced a 1-2-3 double play to get out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth and stranded a pair in the ninth to earn the victory on the mound.
• Virginia has won five of the last eight meetings against Louisville. In an all-time series that dates back to 2015, the Cardinals hold an 11-8 advantage.
• The Cavaliers won six of the last seven ACC series of the season last year en route to the program’s fifth College World Series. Their only series loss came against Louisville at home. Virginia won 14 of its last 21 conference games to finish the season 18-18 against league foes.
• The Cavaliers erased a six-run deficit in last year’s series opener and included a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth by Devin Ortiz. The Cavaliers won in walk-off fashion in the 10th capitalizing on a Louisville defensive miscue that allowed Logan Michaels to score the game-winning run.

RECORD CHASING

• As a team, Virginia has hit 67 home runs, tied for the most in school history. The 1988 Cavaliers hit 67 in 52 games.

UVA – Most Home Runs in Single Season
1.	67	2022
	67	1988
3.	62	1996
4.	61	2017
	61	2010

• Jake Gelof tied Jon Benick (2001) for the second-most home runs in single season in the nightcap against Clemson last Sunday. The 18 are two more than any other player in the Brian O’Connor era (2004-present) and trail Brian Buchanan (22 in 1994) for the most in program history.
• Gelof is also having a historic season driving in runs. He became the second player in UVA history to eclipse the 70-RBI mark with the two-run homer against Clemson. He only trails Pavin Smith by six who drove in 77 in 2017 for the school record.
• With 16 RBI in the last 12 games, Tappen has shot up the single-season RBI list and now is tied for fifth with the UVA home run king, Brian Buchanan, who collected 66 in his 1994campaign.

 

MOST RBI IN A SINGLE SEASON UVA HISTORY

		RBI	GAMES
1.	Pavin Smith (2017)	77	59
2.	Jake Gelof (2022)	67	46
3.	Kenny Towns (2015)	67	68
	Joe Koshansky (2004)	67	59
5.	Alex Tappen (2022)	65	46
	Brian Buchanan (1994)	66	54

 

Single Season RBI Duos – UVA History

2022 – Jake Gelof (61), Alex Tappen (66) – 137

2017 – Pavin Smith (77), Cam Simmons (56) – 133

2015 – Kenny Towns (67), Matt Thaiss (64) – 131

2009 – Jarrett Parker (65), Phil Gosselin (64) – 129

2010 – Steven Proscia (65), Phil Gosselin (61) – 126

• Wednesday marked the 210th game of Tappen’s career, the eighth most in games played in program history.
• With Chris Newell’s 10th home run of the season coming on May 1 against Virginia Tech, the Cavaliers have three players with double-digit home runs for the first time since 2010. The Cavaliers have never had four reach double digits in the same season.

Three UVA players w/ 10+ HRs – Same Season

2022 – Jake Gelof (18), Alex Tappen (13), Chris Newell (10)

2010 – Phil Gosselin (11), Jarrett Parker (10), Steven Proscia (10)

2002 – Mark Reynolds (15), Dan Street (12), Robert Word (11)

• Tappen’s home run against Longwood was the 26th of his career, moving him into the top-10 all-time at UVA.

MOST CAREER HOMERS ALL-TIME AT UVA

6.	Pavin Smith (2015-17)	28
	Steven Proscia (2009-11)	28
	Bill Narleski (1984-87)	28
9.	Ryan Gilleland (1995-98)	27
10.	Alex Tappen (2018-22)	26
	Jarrett Parker (2008-10)	26
	Joe Koshansky (2001-04)	26

 

ON THE MOUND

• For the second-straight weekend, Brian Gursky will start the series off for the Cavaliers. Prior to his Friday night start against Clemson, he has started the middle game in all but two series this season. Gursky ranks sixth in the ACC in wins and seventh in both in ERA (2.98) and strikeouts per nine innings (10.67).
• Virginia is 10-1 in games Gursky has started this season and the Cavalier offense is outscoring its opponents 129-41.
• Junior Nate Savino is seeking his first win since March 25, an 8-2 series opening win over Wake Forest. His outing against Clemson lasted just 1.1 innings and featured three runs on four hits and three walks. In 10 starts in 2021, the lefthander didn’t walk more than two batters. He’s issued three more free passes in six starts this season.
• Jake Berry is scheduled to make his eighth-straight ACC start this Saturday. The southpaw threw 84 pitches in 3.2 inning but allowed only one run to keep UVA in the rubber match against Clemson. Berry has pitched into the fifth inning three times in his last eight starts, all Virginia victories.
• Virginia comes into the weekend with the lowest ERA (3.72) in the ACC and the 12th-lowest in the country. The Cavaliers have allowed 7.50 hits per game the seventh fewest of any staff in the nation.
• UVA pitchers have 10.8 batters per nine innings, the eighth-highest ration in the NCAA.
• Virginia is one of 27 pitching staffs in the country with 500 or more strikeouts. The Cavaliers 534 punchouts are the ninth most in program history. Including this season, UVA has struck out 500-plus batters 11 times including a school-record 687 batters last season.
• Virginia has seven shutouts this season, one behind national leader Vanderbilt. Virginia is one of seven teams in the country with seven or more shutouts (Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Stanford, Central Michigan, Omaha).

CAVALIERS AT THE PLATE

• Virginia is the No. 5 scoring offense in the country, averaging 9.2 runs per game. The Cavaliers have totaled 461 runs in 50 games, the ninth most nationally. The 461 runs are the sixth most in a single season in program history.
• The Cavaliers have scored 10 or more runs in a game 23 times this season.
• Virginia has scored five or more runs in a single inning 26 times this season. The seven runs in the fourth inning of game one against Clemson marked the 10th time UVA has scored seven or more in a single frame.
• UVA ranks in the top-10 nationally in batting average (3rd), on-base percentage (5th) and hits (8th).

CAVALIER NOTABLES

• Thursday’s opener will be Jake Gelof’s 75th consecutive start dating back to last season. The Cavaliers are 53-21 in the last 74 games.
• Freshman Ethan Anderson hit a go-ahead home run in the rubber match against Clemson to cap a four-game stretch where he went 7 for 16 with four runs scored, two doubles, two triples a home run and seven RBI.
• Tappen has been UVA’s most dangerous hitter in ACC play, batting .364 with nine home runs and 38 RBI in 27 league games.

ACC Standings and Final Weekend Schedule