Postseason college baseball has arrived and the road to Omaha officially begins this weekend with the regional round of the 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament. Virginia (41-15) earned the No. 12 overall seed in the field of 64 and is one of four teams in the country hosting a regional for the second year in a row.
Joining the Cavaliers for the Charlottesville Regional at Disharoon Park this weekend is Mississippi State (38-21), St. John's (37-16-1), and Penn (24-23). Virginia will open the regional against Penn on Friday at noon (ESPN+), while Mississippi State and St. John's will face off in the second game on Friday at 7pm (ESPN+).
The four teams will play a double-elimination tournament until just one team is left standing as the Charlottesville Regional Champion and advancing to the Super Regional, where that team will face the winner of the Fayetteville Regional, which features No. 5 seed Arkansas, Louisiana Tech, Kansas State, and Southeast Missouri State.
See the full schedule and bracket for the Charlottesville Regional below:
Charlottesville Regional Schedule
Game 1: Friday at 12pm - Virginia vs. Penn (ESPN+)
Game 2: Friday at 7pm - Mississippi State vs. St. John's (ESPN+)
Game 3: Saturday at 12pm - Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 4: Saturday at 6pm - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
Game 5: Sunday at 12pm - Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4
Game 6: Sunday at 6pm - Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5
Game 7: Monday TBD - if necessary
UVA head coach Brian O'Connor announced on Thursday that Elon transfer and graduate righty Joe Savino will get the start for the Cavaliers on Friday against Penn. That decision makes sense, as Savino has solidified himself as the No. 2 starter behind Evan Blanco, who will get the start in the likely matchup against Mississippi State in the winner's bracket game on Saturday night, should both teams win their first games on Friday. Savino leads the UVA pitching staff with a 3.18 ERA and a 2-2 record in seven starts, posting 15 strikeouts, nine walks, and eight earned runs in 22.2 innings pitched this season.
Opposing Savino for the Quakers will likely be Penn's ace Cole Zaffiro. A senior righty, Zaffiro is 5-4 in 12 starts this season and has a 4.98 ERA and 86 strikeouts to 31 walks in 68.2 innings pitched.
Read on for a full scouting report on Penn and the other teams UVA could see this weekend at the Charlottesville Regional.
Starting with Virginia's opening game opponent, Penn comes into the NCAA Tournament with a 24-23 overall record, an 11-10 Ivy League record, an 11-16 record on the road, and a 3-1 record at neutral sites. Despite their pedestrian record, the Quakers have shown that they play their best baseball at the biggest moments, winning three-straight games when facing elimination to win their second-straight Ivy League Tournament Championship. Penn also isn't afraid of the moment in the NCAA Tournament, winning its first two games at the Auburn Regional last year before dropping back-to-back games to Southern Miss.
Many of the key players from last year's NCAA Tournament team are back for the Quakers, led by the unanimous 2024 Ivy League Player of the Year and Most Outstanding Player of the Ivy League Tournament Wyatt Henseler. A senior third baseman, Henseler is the Ivy League's all-time leader in career home runs (54), career RBI (188), single-season home runs (22), and single-season runs scored (63). Another player to watch is the starting pitcher Virginia is most likely to see on Friday, senior righty Cole Zaffiro. An All-Ivy League Second-Team selection, Zaffiro is closing in on Penn's all-time strikeouts record, standing at 222 K's for his career, just five off of the program record.
A potent offense that regularly produces extra base hits, Penn ranks 34th in the country in doubles and 91st in triples, in addition to ranking 82nd in team on-base percentage (.398) and 95th in team batting average (.289).
This will be Penn's second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and seventh in program history.
The last time the Cavaliers and Bulldogs crossed paths was in the 2021 College World Series. Mississippi State got the better of Virginia in a 6-5 thriller and went on to win its first-ever National Championship. This will be Mississippi State's 40th trip to the NCAA Tournament, where the Bulldogs have won 16 regional titles. This marks the first time the Diamond Dawgs have played a regional away from Starkville since 2018. Mississippi State has some good history at Disharoon Park, having beaten UVA twice in the 2013 Charlottesville Super Regional to advance to the College World Series.
Many people were surprised that Mississippi State did not earn the right to host a regional this weekend, as the Bulldogs went 38-21 overall and 17-13 in the ultra-competitive SEC. It certainly makes this a tough draw for Virginia to host one of the stronger two-seeds in Mississippi State, who earned series wins over Georgia, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Auburn, and Missouri. Mississippi State won games against Ole Miss and Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament, but then suffered a pair of one-run losses to Vanderbilt and Tennessee.
Mississippi State's success this season has stemmed primarily from its pitching staff, which ranks eighth in strikeouts (601 total K's, 10.5 K's per nine innings), eighth in WHIP (1.26), eighth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.92), and 12th in team ERA (4.15).
Leading that staff is a pair of ace starters in Khal Stephen and Jurrangelo Cijntje. An All-SEC First-Team selection this season, Stephen led the SEC in innings pitched and boasts a 3.38 ERA, an 8-3 record, and a 1.02 WHIP. A righty transfer from Purdue, Stephen will get the start against St. John's on Friday, which means that ambidextrous and switch-pitching phenom Jurrangelo Cijntje would likely get the start if/when Mississippi State faces Virginia. Cijntje is sixth in the SEC with a 3.55 ERA and has recorded 108 strikeouts this season. Mississippi State's bullpen is deep as well, with Cam Schuelke (4-3, 4.46 ERA) and Tyler Davis (5-1, 1.35 ERA) leading the way.
Only three Bulldog batters are hitting above .500, but Mississippi State hasn't needed much scoring production from its offense thanks to its potent pitching staff. Shortstop David Mershon was named First-Team All-SEC after posting a .326 batting average to go along with 63 hits, 36 RBI, and 25 stolen bases on 28 attempts, third-most in the SEC. Outfielder Dakota Jordan was Second-Team All-SEC and leads the Bulldogs with 17 home runs and 61 RBI and a .363 batting average that ranks seventh in the SEC.
The Red Storm returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018 and 38th time in program history after knocking off Georgetown, Xavier, and then Georgetown again to claim its 10th Big East Championship. St. John's is 37-16-1 this season, going 14-7 in the Big East, 12-10 on the road, and 3-0 in neutral settings.
St. John's is led by Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player Jimmy Keenan, who leads the team in batting average (.341), home runs (11), hits (70), RBI (55), and OPS (1.025) and who hit two game-winning home runs in the Big East Tournament. Joining Keenan in leading the St. John's offense is Blake Mayberry (.337, 61 hits, 39 runs) and Garrett Scavelli (.330, 64 hits, 42 runs, 5 home runs).
St. John's has a high-quality pitching staff, ranked 16th in college baseball with a 4.26 team ERA and led by starters Mario Pesca and Xavier Kolhosser. An All-Big East First-Team selection, the righty Pesca ranks 36th in the country with a 2.94 ERA to go along with 1.36 WHIP and a 6-1 record in 14 starts. Fellow righty starter Xavier Kolhosser has a 3.61 ERA, a 1.35 WHIP, and a 9-2 record in 11 starts, tied for 16th-most wins in the country.
Virginia owns a 13-4 all-time record against St. John's and the two teams have split their four NCAA Tournament meetings 2-2. The Red Storm defeated the Cavaliers 5-3 in the 2005 Corvallis Regional and 6-5 in the Charlottesville Regional in 2010, but Virginia won the next game over St. John's 5-3 in the regional final to advance to the 2010 Super Regionals. The Cavaliers and Red Storm met again in the Charlottesville Regional the following year, with UVA winning 10-2 en route to another appearance in the College World Series.
Keys to the Weekend for Virginia
Production from one of the nation's best offenses
Virginia ranks second in the country in team batting average (.341), third in scoring offense (9.7 runs per game), fourth in hits (691), and tied for ninth in home runs (113). Of course, the quality of pitching those UVA batters will see will elevate significantly in the NCAA Tournament, especially with two of the best pitching staffs in college baseball coming to Charlottesville in Mississippi State and St. John's. Virginia's bats will have to produce at a high level if the Cavaliers want to be the last team standing at the end of the weekend.
Elusive consistency for the UVA pitching staff
It's no secret that the Achilles' heel of the 2024 Virginia baseball team is its pitching staff. The Cavaliers have given up double-digit runs in 12 games this season and have lost three games in which their own offense scored double-digit runs. Evan Blanco has been the only consistent starter all season long, though Elon transfer Joe Savino has emerged as a quality No. 2 recently. Strong and long starts from both of them will be paramount, but not nearly as important as getting some big outs from the UVA bullpen late in close games this weekend. Brian O'Connor indicated that Jay Woolfolk is currently expected to be Virginia's third starter and it could be the former Cavalier quarterback who makes or breaks UVA's season.
Lean on experience and home-field advantage
Last season, Virginia hosted all the way through to the College World Series and went 5-1 in those games. The Cavaliers are 26-7 at home this season and will have to lean on that home-field advantage and the support of what should be electric and packed crowds at the Dish to win a very competitive regional.
Even more important is the experience of those many key contributors from last year's UVA team that made the College World Series. Players like Griff O'Ferrall, Ethan Anderson, Casey Saucke, and Harrison Didawick know what it takes to win at this time of year and that experience could provide a critical advantage for the Hoos this weekend.
- Virginia is making its fourth-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and 21st in program history.
- UVA is one of four teams in the country to be hosting a regional for the second-consecutive year.
- Brian O'Connor has led the Cavaliers to the NCAA Tournament in 18 of his 21 seasons serving as the program's head coach.
- Virginia is seeking its second-consecutive trip to the College World Series, third in the last four years, and seventh in program history.
- Each of UVA's previous six trips to Omaha have come since 2009, tied for second-most in the country over the span.
- Virginia has advanced to the Super Regionals eight times in its 20 NCAA Tournament appearances.
- UVA is 41-26 in NCAA Tournament regional games and 67-47 in overall NCAA Tournament games.
- Virginia is 31-18 at home in the NCAA Tournament.
