03-26-2025, 11:44 PM
Big weekend coming up as Stanford tries to bounce back from the first-ever sweep at Sunken Diamond at the hands of the Dirty Golden Bears. The Cardinal are on the road at UVa for games Thursday (4:00pm PDT on ACCN), Friday (3:00pm on ACCNX), & Saturday (10:00am on ESPN2). Stanford (16-6, 5-4 in the ACC, 6-1 on the road) is tied for 6th in the ACC with Kal & Duke. UVa (12-11, 3-6 ACC, 6-6 at home) is tied for 13th. The 'Hoos were picked to finish first in the ACC in the preseason coaches poll after a trip to the CWS last season, where they went 0-2 vs. ACC foes UNC & FSU.
Stanford tumbled from #14 to #20 in the current rankings. Other ACC teams in the top 25 are: #4 FSU, #6 Clemson, #16 Wake Forest, #18 Louisville, #21 UNC, and Georgia Tech, entering at #25. UVa dropped out of the top 25 after being swept at home by Duke last weekend.
It appears that UVa has 5 starters back from last seasons CWS team along with 2 current starters who played significant roles last year. Henry Ford (RF) & Henry Godbout (2B) both were named to a couple 1st &/or 2nd team preseason All-America teams. I'm not as sure about their pitching with respect to last season, but Jay Woolfolk (likely Thursday starter) started one of the CWS games.
In ACC hitting stats, Stanford is 6th (.304/.391/.495) & UVa is 7th (.291/.390/.431). Stanford has an edge in HRs, 32-19. The 'Hoos could cause problems on the bases - 10 players have combined for 27 steals in 35 attempts. (Stanford is doing a good SF Giants imitation, bringing up the rear by a significant margin with 4/15 steals.) Stanford has thrown out only 4 runners on 18 attempts. This could become a big issue as the season goes on - 5 ACC teams have more than 40 SBs.
In pitching stats, Stanford (13th in the ACC with a 5.19 ERA) trails UVa (8th, 4.63). Hopefully Stanford might benefit from some shaky UVa fielding. The 'Hoos are 14th in the ACC in fielding (.969, 25 errors, 30 unearned runs), whereas Stanford is 2nd (.979, 17 errors, 9 unearned runs).
UVa has obviously underperformed expectations so far this season. Hopefully they won't get back on track this weekend.
Stanford tumbled from #14 to #20 in the current rankings. Other ACC teams in the top 25 are: #4 FSU, #6 Clemson, #16 Wake Forest, #18 Louisville, #21 UNC, and Georgia Tech, entering at #25. UVa dropped out of the top 25 after being swept at home by Duke last weekend.
It appears that UVa has 5 starters back from last seasons CWS team along with 2 current starters who played significant roles last year. Henry Ford (RF) & Henry Godbout (2B) both were named to a couple 1st &/or 2nd team preseason All-America teams. I'm not as sure about their pitching with respect to last season, but Jay Woolfolk (likely Thursday starter) started one of the CWS games.
In ACC hitting stats, Stanford is 6th (.304/.391/.495) & UVa is 7th (.291/.390/.431). Stanford has an edge in HRs, 32-19. The 'Hoos could cause problems on the bases - 10 players have combined for 27 steals in 35 attempts. (Stanford is doing a good SF Giants imitation, bringing up the rear by a significant margin with 4/15 steals.) Stanford has thrown out only 4 runners on 18 attempts. This could become a big issue as the season goes on - 5 ACC teams have more than 40 SBs.
In pitching stats, Stanford (13th in the ACC with a 5.19 ERA) trails UVa (8th, 4.63). Hopefully Stanford might benefit from some shaky UVa fielding. The 'Hoos are 14th in the ACC in fielding (.969, 25 errors, 30 unearned runs), whereas Stanford is 2nd (.979, 17 errors, 9 unearned runs).
UVa has obviously underperformed expectations so far this season. Hopefully they won't get back on track this weekend.