OMAHA, Neb. (VirginiaSports.com) – Virginia (35-26) and No. 2 national seed Texas (48-16) will square off in an elimination game on Thursday (June 24) at the Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Neb. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. EST on ESPN2.
Game Coverage: The entire Men’s College World Series will also be streamed on ESPN.com and the ESPN app. In addition, Thursday’s contest can be heard locally in Charlottesville on WINA (1070 AM/98.9 FM) and anywhere on WINA.com. Links for the broadcasts and in-game live stats are available on VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also follow the Virginia baseball official twitter account (@UVABaseball [twitter.com]) for in-game updates.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Thursday – 7 p.m. EST
Texas: LHP Pete Hansen (9-1, 1.79 ERA, 85.1 IP, 21 BB, 74 SO)
Virginia: RHP Mike Vasil (7-5, 4.82 ERA, 74.2 IP, 17 BB, 65 SO)
LEADING OFF
• Thursday will be Virginia’s seventh elimination game of the NCAA Tournament. The Cavaliers won four-straight elimination games in the Columbia regional and the final two games of the super regional against Dallas Baptist.
• Virginia will be the home team on Thursday night. The Cavaliers are 5-1 when designated the home team in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
• The Cavaliers have started 1-1 in the College World Series for the second time in five trips. The Cavaliers reached the CWS finals in 2014 and 2015 after winning its first two games.
• Two of the last four national champions have went 1-1 to begin the College World Series – (Coastal Carolina – 2016; Oregon State – 2018).
• The winner of Thursday’s game will play Mississippi State on Friday (June 25) and will need to defeat the Bulldogs twice, once on Friday and again on Saturday to advance to the CWS Final.
FIRST MEETING
• Texas and Virginia will meet for the first time on Thursday. The Cavaliers are 14-12 all-time and 5-7 under head coach Brian O’Connor against the current members of the Big 12.
• The Cavaliers have played a member of the Big 12 in each of the last three seasons – TCU (2019), Oklahoma (2020) and Texas (2021).
• In the College World Series Virginia is 9-9 against SEC opponents and 4-0 against opponents from all other conferences.
• Texas is UVA’s first non-SEC opponent in the College World Series since June 17, 2014, a 3-2 win over TCU in 15 innings.
ON THE MOUND
• Righthander Mike Vasil is expected to make his 16th start of the season on Thursday night. His 31 career starts are the most on the staff.
• Vasil is seeking his eighth win of the year and first since clinching the Boston College series on May 21. The Cavaliers haven’t had two pitchers with eight or more wins in a season since Connor Jones (11) and Adam Haseley (9) in 2016.
• Six of Vasil’s seven wins on the season have either clinched a series (UConn, Georgia Tech, Duke and BC) or helped UVA avoid a sweep (UNC & FSU).
• The Cavaliers have produced two shutouts in the NCAA postseason, both occurring in the last four games. Virginia has combined for six shutouts this season, tied for the most in the ACC. The shutout against Tennessee was the Cavaliers’ fourth in College World Series play and first since game two of the 2015 College World Series finals.
• The Cavalier bullpen snapped a streak of 11.2 innings of scoreless relief, allowing a total of four runs against Mississsippi State on Tuesday. Prior to Tuesday, the UVA bullpen had surrendered only eight runs in 38.2 innings.
• Righthander Matt Wyatt, who earned his first save of his career on Sunday, has not allowed a run in his last 13.2 innings pitched.
• Griff McGarry was credited with his second-straight quality start on Tuesday vs. MSU. Of the 20 quality starts by Cavalier pitchers this season it marked only the third that resulted in a loss. Prior to Tuesday, UVA had won its its previous 13 games when its starting pitcher was produced a quality start.
PLAYER NOTES/TRENDS
• The Cavaliers are 13-8 in one-run games and have played five one-run affairs in the NCAA Tournament.
• Tuesday marked only the fourth time Virginia has lost when scoring first. Virginia is 12-4 when scoring first in 2021.
• As a team, Virginia is hitting .357 (25-for-70) in the two College World Series games, the highest of all eight teams in the field.
• Leadoff man Zack Gelof is 6-for-8 (.750) with three runs scored, two doubles and two RBI. He leads all CWS hitters with six hits and has reached base a total of eight times in two games.
• Centerfielder Chris Newell hit his second home run of the NCAA tournament an opposite field solo shot in the eighth inning to make it a one run game against Mississippi Stat on Tuesday. He’s has five hits in the CWS, second only to his teammate Zack Gelof.
• Freshman Kyle Teel has reached base safely in 25-straight games. Against Mississippi State, Teel went 3-for-5 with an RBI, his first three-hit game of the season. He has one four-hit game and 20 two-hit performances this season.
