Home Game Notes: Virginia baseball hosts Radford on Wednesday
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Game Notes: Virginia baseball hosts Radford on Wednesday

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virginia baseballVirginia (18-14) will be home at Disharoon Park on Wednesday evening (April 11) to host Radford (12-18) in a non-conference matchup. The game will be broadcast live on ACC Network extra with first pitch slated for 6 p.m.

Game Coverage

ACC Network Extra is a dedicated digital channel for ACC sports which is available to authenticated subscribers of ESPN3 through WatchESPN and the ESPN app at no additional charge.

The game can also be heard locally on 1070 AM / 98.9 AM and on WINA.com. Links for the radio broadcast as well as the game’s live stats feed are available on VirginiaSports.com. Fans can follow in-game updates on the team’s official twitter page (@UVABaseball).

Clear Bag Policy

Consistent with what is already in place at Scott Stadium, John Paul Jones Arena and Klöckner Stadium fans attending games at Disharoon Park this season must adhere to the department’s clear bag policy and entrance procedures. Details of the of the policy can be found here: www.virginiasports.com/facilities/clear_bag_Davenport_Klockner.html

Probable Starting Pitchers

  • Radford: LHP Andrew Nardi (2-2, 5.55 ERA, 16.1 IP, 16 BB, 14 SO)
  • Virginia: RHP Bobby Nicholson (2-1, 1.35 ERA, 26.2 IP, 9 BB, 26 SO)

Leading Off

  • Virginia and Radford will meet for the first time since 2016. The Cavaliers own a 19-4-1 advantage in the all-time series.
  • The Cavaliers come into the contest having won three of their last four games.
  • At home this season, Virginia is 5-1 in midweek contests and 12-5 overall.
  • Under Head Coach Brian O’Connor, Virginia is 7-1 against the Highlanders, the only loss coming in 2013 (9-8).
  • The Cavaliers are 12-5 against non-conference opponents this season and 7-3 against teams from the Commonwealth

Flair for the Dramatic

  • Virginia clinched its second ACC series of the seasonon Sundaywith a 6-5, walk-off win against Virginia Tech. It marked the third time for the Cavaliers in 2018 that a conference series has been decided on the last at bat.
  • Eight of the team’s 18 wins on the season have been in come-from-behind fashion, four in the seventh-inning or later.
  • The Cavaliers have been involved in 12, one-run games in which they own a 7-5 record.

ACC/National Rankings

  • Junior Andy Weber is tied for the ACC lead in hits with 48 and is second in the league in batting average (.372).
  • As a staff, Virginia pitchers rank second in the country in strikeouts per nine innings (10.8). The 345 strikeouts as a team are also the second-most in all of Division I baseball.
  • At the plate, Virginia is the only team in the ACC to have less than 200 strikeouts as a team.

Player Notes/Trends

  • Freshman Brendan Rivoli hit for the series cycle in the three games against Virginia Tech. Serving primarily as the designated hitter, he finished the series 5-for-11 with two doubles, a triple and a home run.
  • Sophomore Cayman Richardson has hit safely in the last seven games, including a four-hit performance in the series opener against Virginia Tech. His batting average has gone up 65 points in that span.
  • Besides leading the team in nearly every offensive category, Andy Weber has reached base safely in 18-straight games, three-shy of Nate Eikhoff’s streak put together earlier this season. Weber has reached base safely in all but two games and has a hit in 28 of the 32 games this season.
  • Freshman Tanner Morris has jumpstarted the Virginia offense from the lead-off spot with a hit in five of his last seven first inning at bats. He has been the Cavalier lead-off man in all but one of the last 19 games. Morris scored a team-high five runs in three games against Virginia Tech and went 7-for-14 at the plate.
  • First years Alex Tappen and Brendan Rivoli each hit their first career home runs over the weekend against Virginia Tech. Seven different players are responsible for the 13 long balls hit by the Cavaliers this season.

Noting Radford

  • The Highlanders snapped a five-game losing streak by taking two out of three at Longwood this past weekend. Both games of theirSundaydoubleheader needed 10 innings to complete. Radford left 29 batters on base in the twinbill, 13 in game one and 16 in game two.
  • Andrew Szamski comes into the game on a nine-game hit streak and leads the team with a .387 batting average.
  • Andrew Nardi, Radford’s probable starting pitcher, will make his first start of the 2018 season. He was the team’s primaryTuesdaystarter a year ago, getting the starting nod in nine of his 12 appearances.

Contributors

Contributors

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