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#1 UVa. baseball travels to ODU Tuesday

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uva-logo-new2odu logoThe No. 1-ranked UVa. baseball team wraps up its April schedule on Tuesday (April 29) with a 7 p.m. game against Old Dominion in Norfolk, Va. The neutral-site game will be played at Harbor Park, home of the Norfolk Tides, the triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles.

The Tuesday game marks the Cavaliers’ final contest before a break for final exams. UVa will not play again until May 7 at home against Liberty.

Broadcast Information
wina 1070-AM and WINA.com will carry the live radio broadcast. The audio broadcast also will be streamed online on VirginiaSports.com (available through a Cavaliers Live subscription). Links to ODU’s live stats are available on VirginiaSports.com.

The audio broadcast also can be accessed through the Virginia Sports app, which is available through iTunes.

Virginia in the Latest National Rankings
Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA, Perfect Game, USA Today Coaches – 1

Odds and Ends
Virginia ranks second nationally in fielding (.985) and fifth in ERA (2.18).
• UVa has won 10 straight ACC series (dating to 2013) and 10 consecutive ACC home series (dating to 2012).
• UVa has hit 11 home runs in the last eight games (13 in first 37 games).
• UVa and Louisiana-Lafayette are the lone teams to not have a losing weekend this year.
• Nineteen of the Cavaliers’ 37 wins have come when scoring five runs or fewer.
• UVa is 11-3 in one-run games, including 9-2 in ACC play.

Virginia-Old Dominion Series
ODU leads the series with UVa, 29-26-2, although the Cavaliers have won the last four matchups. UVa is making its first trip to Norfolk since May 16, 2006, an 11-10 UVa win, and playing its first game at Harbor Park. The Cavaliers posted a 7-1 win over the Monarchs on April 1 at Davenport Field in Charlottesville.

April 1: Virginia 7, Old Dominion 1
Virginia scored seven runs in the sixth inning in a 7-1 win over ODU on April 1 in Charlottesville. Freshman starting pitcher Alec Bettinger worked a career-high six innings, allowing just three hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Bettinger combined with Austin Young and Kevin Doherty to scatter six hits. Daniel Pinero picked up the big hit of the game, a two-out, two-run single that triggered the seven-run sixth.

Virginia Against In-State Foes
Under the current coaching staff (since 2004), the Cavaliers have a 102-16-1 record against in-state opponents, including a 12-1 mark this year. UVa was 9-3 last year against foes from the commonwealth of Virginia in 2013.

UVA-Norfolk Connections
Virginia has one player who hails from the Tidewater area, freshman pitcher Connor Jones from Chesapeake (Great Bridge HS). Former Cavalier David Adams currently is currently playing with the norfolk tides. UVa alums Ryan Zimmerman (Washington Nationals) and Mark Reynolds (Milwaukee Brewers) also hail from the Tidewater vicinity.

Scouting Old Dominion
Old Dominion is 26-18 after dropping two of three games last weekend at Middle Tennessee. The Monarchs are led in hitting by P.J. Higgins at .326, while Nick Walker (.317), Taylor Ostrich (.313) and Josiah Burney (.306) all are above .300; as a team, ODU is batting .280.

Much like UVa, ODU is very solid on the mound and in the field as well. The Monarchs have a solid 3.46 team ERA as well as .975 team fielding percentage. ODU stands No. 29 in the latest RPI figures, according to BoydsWorld.com.

Up Next
Virginia plays its final five regular-season home games when it comes out of the exam break. After playing host to Liberty (May 7), the Cavaliers remain home May 9-11 with their final home ACC series against Georgia Tech and take on VCU on May 13. UVa wraps up the regular season May 16-18 at Wake Forest.

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