Andrew Abbott understands what will be at stake when he takes the mound for Virginia tomorrow afternoon in Columbia, SC. Pitching under the pressure of an NCAA Tournament is why he came to UVa. Getting this opportunity is in large part why he’s back with the Wahoos this season.
The Cavaliers will go with their left-handed ace on the mound to start Friday’s Columbia Regional opener against South Carolina, the No. 2 seed and host for the four-team double-elimination bracket. It will be Virginia’s first appearance in a regional since 2017, when Abbott was a senior at Halifax County High School.
“Unfortunately, I was part of the teams that weren’t in the postseason,” he said Thursday, shortly after he was officially announced as the starter for the 3-seeded Hoos. “This just means a big step for me right now, just to finally return UVa baseball back to where it is. It means a lot, just saying that I get the ball tomorrow.”
Abbott (8-5, 2.63 ERA) has spent his fourth college season as the top starter on weekends and the past two months setting the tone on Friday nights as the UVa worked its way back into a postseason spot. He’s 5-0 with a 0.79 ERA in his last five starts and will take a streak of 24.2 scoreless innings into tomorrow’s matchup with South Carolina. Abbott is second in the country with 136 strikeouts entering regional weekend, while his rate of 13.75 strikeouts per nine innings ranks 14th nationally.
As UVa third baseman Zack Gelof plainly stated on Thursday: “We have one of the best pitchers in the country on the mound tomorrow.”
Abbott will be opposed by South Carolina junior right-hander Brett Kerry (5-1, 1.90 ERA), who moved into the Friday starter role for the Gamecocks earlier this month after spending much of his college career pitching out of the bullpen. Kerry is 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA in two starts since moving to the rotation, including a complete game shutout against Kentucky in his first time out as a starter.
Since early April, Virginia is 7-1 in games Abbott has started. After scoring a total of 14 runs in the lefty’s first six starts, the Hoos have averaged 10.9 runs in those last eight games. That includes a season-high 18 in Blacksburg in late April, 17 two weeks later in the Cavaliers’ combined no-hitter against Wake Forest and 14 against top seed Notre Dame last Friday at the ACC Tournament.
On Friday, he will be tasked with extending the program’s nine-game winning streak in NCAA regional openers. That streak dates back to 2009, when Robert Morey famously outdueled Stephen Strasburg by throwing six shutout innings in a 5-1 win against San Diego State to open the Irvine Regional, and stretches through Derek Casey’s seven-inning performance in a 6-3 win against Dallas Baptist in Fort Worth in 2017.
The Hoos used nine different starters in those nine regional-opening victories. Eight of those pitchers earned the win in those starts. Seven gave the Cavaliers quality starts, including each of the last five, a streak that goes back to then-freshman lefty Brandon Waddell’s seven innings of one-run ball against Army in 2013. Artie Lewicki got the 2014 team’s run to Omaha started with seven shutout innings against Bucknell; in 2011, Will Roberts threw a complete game four-hit shutout and struck out 14 against Navy.
Starting with that 2009 team that reached a super regional for the first time in program history, six of those last nine UVa postseason teams have advanced beyond the tournament’s first weekend. The exceptions are the three that failed to follow up on wins in Game 1. Brian O’Connor’s teams in 2012, 2016, and 2017 were all eliminated after going 1-2 in their respective regionals.
On Thursday, the head coach stressed the importance of not just winning a regional opener, but the second game as well. The team in each regional that starts 2-0 needs to win just one more game on the weekend to advance; losing either of those first two games means a team must go 3-0 over the regional’s last two days to escape elimination.
“A loss in either game puts you in the exact same situation,” O’Connor said. “But we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. We’re focused on South Carolina tomorrow, that’s got a great club. We’re going to need to play really fantastic baseball.”
On Friday, Abbott will face a South Carolina lineup that’s hitting just .250 as a team, but ranks 14th in the country with 78 home runs on the season. The Gamecocks have four everyday players with at least 11 homers, led by Liberty Christian Academy product Wes Clarke’s 22 long balls, the most in the country.
Abbott talked today about sticking to the same routine and same gameplan that have been so successful down the stretch this season. After walking five hitters in 5.2 innings against Louisville on April 16th, he has issued just six total walks in his last five starts. He’ll need to again limit those free passes to minimize any potential damage against the Gamecocks’ power-laden lineup on Friday.
He will also need to channel any excitement that comes with pitching in an NCAA Tournament for the first time in his four-year college career. That lack of experience doesn’t concern O’Connor, who pointed to Abbott’s summer working as the closer for USA Baseball’s collegiate national team in 2019.
Abbott says he is focused on not making the moment too big.
“It’s just another game to me, because you can’t compound the pressure,” he said. “There’s already a lot of pressure in postseason ball, so there’s no real reason to add anything that you don’t need.”
“I believe this time of year, you welcome the pressure,” O’Connor added. “This is what you want. This is where winners emerge. You really find out what people are made of this time of year, and I have no doubt that Andrew Abbott will be at his best.”
JOIN CAVSCORNER TODAY!
If you are not already a member of CavsCorner, come join us and see what all of the buzz is about.
Click HERE to subscribe and get all of the latest news and join hundreds of other UVa fans in talking about Cavalier football, basketball, and recruiting. You won't be disappointed!
