Virginia Tech baseball will hope to carry last Sunday’s win over now-No. 4 Georgia Tech into the upcoming weekend when it heads to Charlottesville for a three-game set with No. 14 Virginia.
Despite losing longtime coach Brian O’Connor to Mississippi State, the Cavaliers (14-3, 2-1 ACC) have been mightily successful to start the season. That’s not awfully surprising, though, with former Duke head coach Chris Pollard — and a litany of Blue Devils transfers — taking over.
UVa thrashed then-No. 8 North Carolina in the first two games of last week’s series by a combined score of 22-5, before losing 8-7 in a 12-inning Game 3. Though unranked going into Chapel Hill, Virginia has shot up to No. 14 in the latest D1Baseball rankings.
It has another high-profile win at Charlotte, who’s No. 24 in the RPI, though the 49ers took the first game of that midweek series 14-0. The Cavaliers’ only other loss came 6-5 to Stetson on Feb. 21.
Virginia is 10th in the country in runs per game with 10.5 while the Hokies (8-7, 1-2 ACC) average 5.3. Tech’s run differential sits at minus-three while Virginia’s plus-5.1 is 18th in the nation. Still, even with their series at North Carolina, the Cavaliers’ strength of schedule isn’t nearly that of Tech’s.
Have the Hokies played particularly well against strong competition? No, but last Sunday’s win over the Yellow Jackets gave them something to build upon, and there’s still time to improve their 1-5 record vs. ranked teams — though UVa will likely be the last one they play until at least April 24 vs. NC State.
The Cavaliers’ offense has marginally outshined their defense this year, but they’ve excelled on both ends. Duke transfers have been key across the board.
Junior AJ Gracia, a projected first-round pick in the MLB Draft, is atop that list. The outfielder walked the Hokies off with an 11th-inning home run last season as a member of the Blue Devils, capping off a two-hit Game 1. He finished the series with six knocks.
So far this season, Gracia is slashing .361/.524/.721 — adding up to a 1.245 OPS — with a team-high six homers. He has 17 walks to six strikeouts, all while ranking just fourth on the team in hits.
Senior left fielder Harrison Didawick has the most on the team with 24. He’s a swing-happy contact hitter, but that’s worked for him with a .348 batting average. His six steals pace UVa.
Junior shortstop Eric Becker had glowing freshman and sophomore seasons, so it was a major boost for the Cavaliers when he opted not to join O’Connor in Starkville. Becker will be drafted earlier than later this June, and it’s no surprise why.
The lefty is a double machine — he has eight in 16 games so far this year — who bats .338, though his walk-to-strikeout ratio is 1:3. It’s typically hung around 1:2 across his career.
Duke transfer and junior first baseman Sam Harris has also starred at the plate, posting a 1.183 OPS with five homers and 20 RBI. Designated hitter Antonio Perrotta (.346/.500/.462), second baseman Joe Tiroly (.303/.405/.439) — the reigning MAAC Player of the Year — and freshman right fielder Zach Jackson (.308/.471/.577) are other names to watch.
Duke transfer and third baseman Noah Murray was a rising star last season but is batting just .175 this year. Two-way player Kyle Johnson — a designated hitter who’s has taken a back seat to Perrotta thus far — has a 1.046 OPS in 24 at-bats.
Virginia’s rotation is supposed to be entirely made up of former Blue Devils left-handers, but Johnson is dealing with a nagging injury. O’Connor has expressed a desire to ramp him up soon, but for now, the Cavaliers’ starters are Duke transfers Henry Zatkowski and Max Stammel, along with freshman John Paone.
Zatkowski, the team’s Friday starter, has mostly settled since a rocky debut against Wagner in which he gave up five earned runs in three innings. He allowed five hits and three runs to North Carolina last Friday. The sophomore lefty was a pound-the-zone specialist last year for Duke but has already nearly eclipsed his 12-walk total from that season with 10. He walked seven in his first two starts but has only yielded three since.
Stammel and Paone both have a 3.24 ERA and just six earned runs through four starts. Paone, UVa’s Sunday arm, was ranked the No. 1 right-handed pitcher in the state of Massachusetts by Perfect Game last season. He allowed just one earned run to the Tar Heels last weekend before tailing off in the fifth inning for two more. Stammel, a left-handed sophomore, shut North Carolina down through six frames, giving up nothing but a solo home run.
UVa’s bullpen is paced by right-handed graduate arms Lucas Hartman and Tyler Kapa, who’ve been excellent this year with 1.31 and 1.74 ERA’s, respectively. Hartman has 23 strikeouts to five walks, and four of the seven runs Virginia has allowed while he’s on the mound have been unearned.
Every Cavaliers bullpen arm with seven or more appearances — Hartman and Kapa, along with Kevin Jaxel and freshmen Jayden Stroman and Noah Yoder — has an ERA of 3.72 or lower.
It will be another uber-challenging weekend for the Hokies, who last beat the UVa in Charlottesville in 2022.
Virginia Tech and Virginia’s Friday matchup begins at 4 p.m. ET, while the Saturday and Sunday games start at 1 p.m. The series will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.