#8 UVA baseball opens ACC Tournament on Thursday

The UVA baseball team will open play in the 2016 ACC Baseball Championship at 11 a.m. Thursday (May 26) against Clemson at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C. After winning 12 of their final 15 league games, the Cavaliers (36-18) ascended to the No. 3 seed in the tournament.

Virginia and the sixth-seeded Tigers are joined by No. 2 seed Louisville, No. 7 seed Duke and No. 10 seed Wake Forest in Pool B. The Blue Devils and Demon Deacons play at 11 a.m. Tuesday in a first-round game to advance into pool play. UVA will play the winner of the Duke-Wake Forest game at 3 p.m. Friday and Louisville at 7 p.m. Saturday in pool play.

Pool A consists of No. 1 seed Miami, No. 4 seed Florida State and No. 5 seed Florida State, as well as No. 8 seed Boston College and No. 9 seed Georgia Tech, which will play at 3 p.m. Tuesday in the second first-round game.

With its appearance this year, Virginia has competed in each of the 43 ACC tournaments.

Under the pool-play format, each team will play one game against each of the other three opponents in its pool Wednesday through Saturday (May 25-28). The two teams with the best records within their respective pools will advance to the title game on Sunday (May 29), with the winner earning the ACC’s automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.

Virginia enters tournament play with a 36-18 record, including a 19-11 mark in ACC play and has won 11 of its last 12 games. With the win, UVA head coach Brian O’Connor recorded his 594th career win, matching Dennis Womack (1981-2003) for the program record.

Ticket packages and single-game tickets are available for the championship by calling 919-956-BULL or visiting http://theacc.co/BASE16tix.

Regional Sports Networks from across the conference footprint and across the nation will carry all 14 games on Tuesday through Saturday. Sunday’s noon championship game will televised nationally by ESPN2. All games will also be available on ESPN3 (subject to blackout).

In addition, the games on Tuesday through Saturday will be broadcast locally on WINA 1070-AM and 98.9-FM and also via satellite radio on Sirius 106/XM 193, while Sunday’s championship will be on SiriusXM College Sports National Channel 84.