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UVA Baseball Announces Starting Pitchers for Opening Weekend

Matthew Newton|
Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Virginia baseball has announced its starting pitching rotation for the opening weekend of the 2025 college baseball season this upcoming weekend in Puerto Rico. As the Cavaliers get the 2025 campaign underway at the Puerto Rico Challenge, Brian O'Connor has named senior righty Jay Woolfolk (Friday vs. Michigan), sophomore righty Bryson Moore (Saturday vs. Villanova), and freshman lefty Tomas Valincius (Sunday vs. Rice) as the three starting pitchers for this weekend's trio of games.

Jay Woolfolk is in his fourth season with Virginia baseball and is ranked seventh in program history with 82 career appearances, but this is just his second full season with the Cavaliers since he made the decision to set aside his football career and focus on baseball full-time. After struggling with consistency for most of the 2024 season, Woolfolk exploded in postseason play, earning Most Outstanding Player honors at the 2024 Charlottesville Regional after pitching a career-high eight innings and allowing just two runs and striking out seven batters against Mississippi State to send the Cavaliers to the Super Regional. The Chesterfield, Virginia native then followed that up with another win at supers, tossing 6.1 innings, giving up three runs, and striking out seven batters to help the Hoos get back to the College World Series. Woolfolk went 4-2 in 24 appearances and seven starts last season and is 9-3 with a 4.30 ERA for his college baseball career.

Fellow Virginia native Bryson Moore (Fairfax, VA) gets the nod on day 2 against Villanova coming off of an excellent true freshman campaign that saw him post a 1.38 ERA in 13.0 innings of work and a 2-0 record in seven appearances, including four starts. Moore gave up just two earned runs all season and recorded 10 strikeouts.

Finally, true freshman southpaw Tomas Valincius (Lockport, IL) will start in his collegiate debut on Sunday against Rice. Valincius, who was the 2024 Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year in Tennessee and was ranked the No. 13 left-handed pitcher in the country and the No. 4 overall player in the state of Illinois according to Perfect Game, could have gone straight to the MLB Draft but decided to come to college at Virginia instead. When asked about Valincius, UVA head coach Brian O'Connor said, "He's as good as you get to college baseball that doesn't choose to sign out of high school and he will make an enormous impact on our pitching staff right away the first weekend."

One question that will be asked by those who follow UVA baseball is where is Evan Blanco? The junior lefty was Virginia's ace all last season and will likely be that again in 2025, but it was reported earlier this week by Aaron Fitt of D1Baseball that Blanco "hit a snag in his preseason throwing program and is still building up, so he will not pitch this weekend. He's expected to pitch in game action next week."

With Blanco out, Virginia will roll with Woolfolk, Moore, and Valincius this weekend in Puerto Rico. See below for the full schedule of UVA baseball games this weekend at the Puerto Rico Challenge:

Puerto Rico Challenge Schedule
Game 1: Virginia vs. Michigan, Friday at 1pm ET on ESPN+
Game 2: Virginia vs. Villanova, Saturday at 7pm ET on ESPN+
Game 3: Virginia vs. Rice, Sunday at 4pm ET on ESPN+

More Virginia Baseball News

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Virginia Baseball Voted Preseason Favorites to Win the ACC

UVA Baseball Ranked No. 2 in D1Baseball Preseason Top 25

Virginia Baseball Ranked Top Five in Perfect Game Preseason Top 25

Virginia Baseball 2025 Schedule Announced

Virginia Baseball Named 6th-Best Program in College Baseball by D1Baseball

Published
Matt Newton
MATTHEW NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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