The Virginia Cavaliers set to open the 2021 University World Series in Omaha on Sunday against the No.3 seed of the Tennessee Volunteers. On the mound for UVA will be the staff ace, southpaw Andrew Abbott. Below are the game notes courtesy of VirginiaSports:
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia – Virginia (35-25) will face third-seeded Tennessee (50-16) in their opening game of the NCAA Men’s College World Series on Sunday, June 20. The first pitch at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb. is set at 2 p.m. EST on ESPN2
Game Coverage: The entire College Men’s World Series will also air on ESPN.com and the ESPN app. Additionally, Sunday’s contest can be heard locally in Charlottesville on WINA (1070 AM / 98.9 FM) and anywhere on WINA.com. Links for live streams and game stats are available at VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also follow Virginia Baseball’s official Twitter account (@UVABaseball) for in-game updates.
• Virginia is in its fifth University World Series and its first since 2015, the same year it won the first ACC National Championship since 1955.
• The five College World Series trips (2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2021) have been entrusted to Head Coach Brian O’Connor.
• The Cavaliers are the first team since 2008 to drop out of the first game of the regional and super regional rounds and advance to the College World Series.
• Going to Omaha, Virginia went 6-0 in the playoffs, which includes four straight wins to win the Columbia regional title.
• Brian O’Connor is aiming for his 750th career victory. His 0.702 winning percentage is the second highest of any active NCAA DI coach.
• Sunday will mark the first ever meeting between Tennessee and Virginia. The Cavaliers are 15-15 against SEC Schools in the O’Connor era (2004-present).
• Virginia is the only remaining seed and the lowest seed to reach the College World Series in 2021. Five of the seven teams were No. 1 seeds in their respective regional championships.
• The last third-ranked team in their region to win the national championship was Virginia in 2015.
• Of the seven other CWS teams, Virginia only faced Vanderbilt and Mississippi State in an NCAA tournament.
• June 5 vs. Jacksonville – UVA playoff record, 21 hits – Zack Gelof / Kyle Teel had four hits each, tying UVA playoff record
• Jun 6 in South Carolina – Matt Wyatt – 5.0 IP, 0 R, 8 SW – Career high in IP and strikeouts, first start since March 24 against Liberty (allowed 4 points in 0.2 IP)
• June 7 vs. Old Dominion – Brandon Neeck 5.2 IP, 16 strikeouts (UVA playoff record). Had 19 career innings pitched and had never pitched more than 2.1 innings in a game prior to the outing. Neeck and Griff McGarry combined 24 strikeouts, the third most in a nine-innings game in NCAA history.
• June 8 vs. Old Dominion – Devin Ortiz – 4.0 IP, 0 R, 6 SW (all career highs). Ortiz made his first career start on the mound and only his third pitching appearance of the 2021 season. He stayed in the game as a designated hitter and hit a home run in the 10th, the first home run of the UVA playoff history and the first of any kind by an UVA hitter since 2013.
• Jun 13 v DBU – Griff McGarry – 7.0 IP, 2H, 0K, 10 SW – McGarry hit a no-strike in the 7th inning and entered the game 0-5 with a 7.53 ERA. The quality start was the first for a UVA pitcher in the 2021 playoffs.
• June 14 vs. DBU – Kyle Teel’s late seventh grand slam was the first in UVA playoff history and wiped out a 2-1 deficit. Matt Wyatt surpassed a career high earlier in the tournament with 5.2 relief innings and tied a career record with eight strikeouts.
• Virginia is 13-7 in point games this year and is 2-2 in the NCAA tournament in point business. Columbia’s regional loss to South Carolina ended an eight-game winning streak.
• The Cavaliers have 14 wins from behind in 2021 and are lagging behind in three of their six NCAA tournament wins, including the deciding Super Regional game last Monday.
• Virginia has scored 13 straight games and totaled 21 home runs during that span. Virginia has hit 20 home runs in her first 39 games of the year.
• Of the eight schools remaining in the NCAA tournament, only Brian O’Connor and Tim Corbin of Vanderbilt have national championships under their belt.
• O’Connor is 54-34 all-time in the NCAA tournament. The 54 wins are fifth among ACC coaches. His 0.614 winning percentage in the NCAA tournament is the fourth highest of any CCA coach.
• O’Connor is one of five coaches to have reached the NCAA tournament in each of his first 14 years at the helm.
• In college baseball history, O’Connor is one of two coaches to win a national championship (Virginia – 2015), play on a college world series team (Creighton – 1991) and be an assistant coach. in a team of the University World Series (Notre Dame – 2002)
• The Cavaliers are 9-7 in all 16 games Andrew Abbott has started this season. Four of the seven losses were point games, another was a 2-0 loss to Florida State. In both of her NCAA starts, Virginia fell to South Carolina 4-3 and DBU, 6-5.
• Abbott is the ninth Golden Spikes Award semifinalist in program history, the fourth largest college baseball program. UVA has been represented for eight different years, tied for third in the NCAA. He also won All-America honors from the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, NCBWA, Baseball America and the ABCA.
• Abbott had his 31-innings scoreless streak interrupted in the region’s opener against South Carolina with a Wes Clarke home run in the first inning on the opposite court. The southpaw pitched 5.2 innings and walked away with the game tied with the green light runner on second base. After the home run, Abbott struck out 13 of the next 14 hitters, including 10 consecutive after Clark’s long ball.
• Abbott starts the weekend with 152 strikeouts, the third highest in the country. The 152K are the second in a single season in UVA history, 13 behind Danny Hultzen’s 165 in 2011.
• Abbott has the second lowest ERA (3.02) in the ACC among qualified pitchers and is at the top of the league in strikeouts this season. He ranks second for wins (8) and second for innings pitched 100.2. He is the first Cavalier pitcher to eclipse the 100 innings mark since Connor Jones pitched 103.2 in 2016.
• Reliever Blake Bales was one of 10 finalists for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year award. He is one of three players from Virginia to be a finalist for the award and the first since Branden Kline in 2011. Kline and Kevin Arico, finalist in 2009, are in the UVA Baseball Hall of Fame.
• Closer Stephen Schoch tied for ninth all-time on Virginia’s career saves list after shutting down South Carolina in a playoff game. He pitched 2.1 white innings and struck out five in his eighth stoppage of the year. It was the fifth time he had recorded a save by pitching more than one end.
• Youngster Kyle Teel enters CWS with a 23-game streak with the longest base streak achieved by a Cavalier this season and the longest since Zack Gelof started his career in 28 straight games in 2019.
• Zack Gelof and his brother Jake each scored in the regional opener against South Carolina. It was the second time in three games that the duo had won a home run in the same game. Jake Gelof then hit two home runs in the regional, including a 415-foot explosion against Jacksonville.
• Jake Gelof has hit his four home runs this season in the last 12 games.
• Alex Tappen saw his 15-game hitting streak cut short in the Super Regional Final against DBU. This is a Cavalier’s longest streak this season. He kept the streak alive even though he didn’t start in five of the 15 games. He drew in the contest and he reached base in 17 straight games.
• Tappen’s six home runs this season have been played in the last 12 games, including three in the NCAA tournament and two in the ACC tournament.
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