The Virginia baseball team practiced in Greenville, North Carolina, on Thursday afternoon ahead of its opening game of the NCAA Tournament against Coastal Carolina on Friday. After practice, Virginia coach Brian O’Connor announced that junior Nate Savino will get the start against the Chanticleers.

O’Connor noted the importance of the experience Savino has pitching in big games for the Cavaliers, including their trip to the College World Series last season. He explained that “when you’re playing a terrific opponent like Coastal [Carolina] and you’re in the NCAA Tournament you know you want to go with a guy that’s had a tremendous amount of experience.” In three appearances during last year’s NCAA Tournament, Savino pitched nine total innings and allowed just three runs.

O’Connor went on to mention the danger the Chanticleers pose on offense saying, “Coastal Carolina has always been multi-dimensional offensively. … They can handle the bat. They can run and steal bases. They can hit the ball out of the ballpark. And those are always dangerous offensive clubs to face.” O’Connor will go with Savino on Friday evening with the hope that he can provide a solid enough outing to get a win to start off the Hoos’ 2022 NCAA Tournament.

Savino had the most starts of any Virginia pitcher this year with 14, accumulating 71.2 innings of work and a 5-6 record. However, he has been somewhat inconsistent over the course of the season as exemplified by his complete game shutout of Duke in mid-March and then back-to-back outings a few weeks later against Georgia Tech and Miami in which he allowed 11 total earned runs in nine innings.

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