CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 15 Virginia (23-6, 7-5 ACC) will host its second top-10 opponent of the season when No. 10 North Carolina comes to Disharoon Park for a three-game ACC series. The opener is scheduled for Thursday (April 4) at 7 p.m. on ACC Network.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Watch: ACC Network (Thurs.) | ACCNX (Fri. & Sat.)
Listen: WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM/WINA.com/Virginia Sports App) – Thurs. & Fri. only
Live Stats: VirginiaSports.com
Probable Starting Pitchers
Thursday – 7 p.m.
North Carolina: LHP Folger Boaz (3-1, 4.67 ERA, 34.2 IP, 16 BB, 32 SO)
Virginia: RHP Cullen McKay (2-1, 5.27 ERA, 27.1 IP, 20 BB, 37 SO)
Friday – 6 p.m.
North Carolina: RHP Jason DeCaro (1-0, 3.63 ERA, 24.2 IP, 17 BB, 31 SO)
Virginia: LHP Evan Blanco (2-1, 4.05 ERA, 33.1 IP, 10 BB, 33 SO)
Saturday – 1 p.m.
North Carolina: LHP Shea Sprague (1-1, 4.55 ERA, 27.2 IP, 5 BB, 23 SO)
Virginia: RHP Kevin Jaxel (4-0, 7.40 ERA, 20.2 IP, 14 BB, 17 SO)
LEADING OFF
- Tenth-ranked North Carolina will be Virginia’s fourth nationally ranked opponent of the season. It marks the first time since 2015 (No. 9 Miami; No. 7/5 Louisville) that UVA has hosted two top-10 teams at Disharoon Park in the regular season.
- It marks the second-straight year that both North Carolina and Virginia are ranked inside the top-20 when playing one another. Last season UVA came in at No. 17 and North Carolina was No. 14 according to D1Baseball.
- North Carolina (25 wins) and Virginia (23 wins) are two of 13 schools in the country with 23 or more wins. A total of four ACC teams have reached the 23-win mark – Clemson (25 wins), Florida State (24 wins) UNC and Virginia.
- Virginia is 14-2 at home this season and has won 51 of its last 58 games at Disharoon Park.
- The Virginia offense leads the country in hits (369) and doubles (87) while sporting the nation’s second-best team batting average (.345).
- This weekend’s matchup features the top two scoring offenses in the ACC. Virginia leads all ACC schools with an average of 10.1 runs per game while North Carolina is plates 9.1 runs per game. UVA sophomore Harrison Didawick leads the league in runs scored (41) and UNC’s Vance Honeycutt has the second most in the ACC.
AGAINST NORTH CAROLINA
- North Carolina is the only opponent that Virginia has played 300 games against. The all-time series dates back to 1891 with the Tar Heels holding a 190-118-4 advantage.
- Head coach Brian O’Connor owns a 32-32 mark against North Carolina since arriving at UVA in 2004.
- Virginia…