15 games into the 2021 Virginia baseball season, freshman Jake Gelof had played in five and started two. 38 games into the campaign he had appeared in 13 outings, starting four.

Starting with game 39, a 6-5 Cavalier win over Liberty, and for the following 79 consecutive games, Gelof has been listed as a starter on the UVA lineup card.

After breaking through from a mop-up and pinch-hitting role in the first half of the 2021 season to getting into the starting lineup, it took a couple of weeks for Gelof to hit his stride. The then rookie first baseman was hitting a pedestrian .167, going 4 for 24, had a couple extra-base hits, posted a .292 slugging percentage, and had fanned nine times. Numbers that today are incomprehensible when talking about Gelof.     

Gelof, however, ended his inaugural season with a .252 batting average, went 28 for 111 from the plate, bumped his slugging percentage up .176 percentage points and more than doubled his early season on-base percentage from .160 up to .336: a 52% jump. 

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