CHARLOTTESVILLE — They each ended their Saturday night at the ballpark similarly and began Sunday’s matinee against Louisville in the exact same spot.
“He just puts his head down and works every day,” Virginia junior catcher Kyle Teel said about Hoos sophomore shortstop Griff O’Ferrall.
Said O’Ferrall of Teel: “He’s been great in every at bat and every game.”
With the exception of Saturday, of course, when Teel and O’Ferrall combined to go 0-for-8 with six strikeouts.
Those are not the kind of results the Cavaliers’ leadoff hitter, O’Ferrall, and cleanup man, Teel, have become accustomed to during an otherwise sparkling campaign in which the two UVa standouts are battling each other for this season’s ACC batting crown.
Teel said the two haven’t spoken about the chase yet, “but I will say this, me and Griff both went 0-for [on Saturday] and we were together in the cage and we were having a little hitting sess[ion] off the machine,” after the game.
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They each wanted to get back on track as quickly as possible to help the Hoos continue picking up victories with the end of the regular season rapidly approaching. Their hitless Saturday dropped both of their averages to .415 and a tie for the conference lead in the category heading in to Sunday’s series finale against the Cardinals.
“We’re glued together when we put in work,” Teel said, “and we have similar approaches, and I think that’s something that’ll happen, but what we’re focused on is taking it day by day, pitch by pitch and doing what we need to do.”
O’Ferrall said: “We don’t talk about the stats part so much, but we definitely push each other.”
Heading into the final series of the season — UVa is at Georgia Tech for three games Thursday through Saturday — Teel’s .415 mark paces the conference while O’Ferrall’s .407 clip is second and on his teammate’s heels.
Edgington earns honor
Virginia pitcher Brian Edgington was voted ACC Pitcher of the Week, the league announced on Monday afternoon. He’s the first UVa pitcher to earn the honor this season.
On Sunday, Edgington threw six innings of two-hit ball while striking out eight to help the Hoos knock off Louisville and complete a series sweep of the Cardinals.
The veteran right-hander retired 18 of the 20 hitters he faced to pick up his seventh win of the campaign and lower his season ERA to 3.33.
Hoos hold in poll
The Cavaliers stayed put at No. 21 in the latest D1Baseball Top 25 released on Monday. In addition to winning all three games against Louisville, the Cavaliers beat Radford last Wednesday and were 4-0 last week.
