Virginia Places Program-Record Nine Players on All-ACC Baseball Teams

Matt Newton | May 21, 2024

Ethan Anderson and Griff O'Ferrall during the Virginia baseball game against Liberty at Disharoon Park. / Virginia Athletics

In a season marked by record-breaking offensive numbers, it's only fitting that Virginia has a program-record nine players named to the 2024 All-ACC Baseball Teams, which were announced by the conference on Monday. The group was headlined by Ethan Anderson and Griff O'Ferrall, who were both selected to the All-ACC First Team.

PROGRAM RECORD9️⃣ Cavaliers garner postseason recognition from @ACCBaseball! #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/lYrFYt80dh

— Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) May 20, 2024

Griff O'Ferrall was named the conference's top shortstop for the second-consecutive season, becoming the 12th Cavalier in program history to earn multiple First-Team All-ACC selections and joining Mark Meleski (1980-1981) and Dean Pallotta (1973-1974) as the only UVA shortstops to earn back-to-back All-ACC First Team nods. O'Ferrall batted .328 with 45 RBI, 17 doubles, and four home runs and was the toughest player to strike out in the ACC this season.

Joining O'Ferrall on the All-ACC First Team was Ethan Anderson, who is an All-ACC selection for the second season in a row after being named to the Third Team in 2023. This season, Anderson was third in the ACC with 19 doubles and batted .329 with seven home runs and 36 RBI and reached base in the last 26 games of the regular season.

Read more: Virginia Baseball Bracketology Update & Rankings Roundup Before ACC Tournament

Virginia had three players selected to the All-ACC Second Team, headlined by sophomore Harrison Didawick, whose 22 home runs are one shy of Jake Gelof's single-season program record from last season. Didawick is batting .306 with 65 RBI and 70 runs scored, second-most in the ACC. Salisbury transfer Jacob Ference earned a Second-Team selection in his first season playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference, batting .367 with 11 doubles, 40 RBI, and 17 home runs, with 13 of those long balls coming against ACC opponents. His .769 slugging percentage ranks fourth in the ACC. Casey Saucke scored a spot on the All-ACC Second Team after notching several career-highs with a .355 batting average, 11 home runs, 57 RBI, 51 runs, and 78 hits, which ranks fourth in the ACC.

The sole UVA pitcher to earn All-ACC honors was Evan Blanco, who was selected to the Third Team after going 6-3 in 14 starts and posting a 3.79 ERA with 76 strikeouts in 73.2 innings. Blanco ranks top 10 among ACC pitchers in strikeout-to-walk ratio, strikeouts, and wins. Joining Blanco on the All-ACC Third Team is Henry Godbout, who batted .376 with 39 RBI, 17 doubles, and six home runs and is the fifth-toughest batter in the ACC to strike out.

Virginia had two players selected to the ACC All-Freshman Team, highlighted by one of the greatest hitting seasons from a Cavalier freshman in program history. Charlottesville native Henry Ford broke the UVA freshman records for home runs and RBI with 17 long balls and 63 RBI, which ranks No. 2 among freshmen in the country. Ford hit three home runs against North Carolina on April 6th, becoming only the fifth Cavalier and first since 2002 to hit three home runs in a single game.

Joining Ford on the Freshman Team was Eric Becker, who logged 34 starts and batted .354 with eight home runs, six doubles, and 41 RBI in his first season of college baseball.

See the full season awards and All-ACC teams for the 2024 ACC Baseball season below.

Virginia is the No. 4 overall seed in the 2024 ACC Baseball Championship and the top seed in Pool D along with No. 5 seed Florida State and No. 9 seed Georgia Tech. UVA will take on Georgia Tech on Wednesday at 11am and Florida State on Friday at 11am in pool play at Truist Field in Charlotte, North Carolina. Both games will be televised on the ACC Network.

2024 ACC Season Awards & All-Conference Teams
Player of the Year: James Tibbs III, OF, Florida State
Pitcher of the Year: Chase Burns, SP, Wake Forest
Freshman of the Year: Drew Burress, OF, Georgia Tech
Defensive Player of the Year: Vance Honeycut, OF, North Carolina
Coach of the Year: Scott Forbes, North Carolina

All-ACC Teams
First Team
Aidan Knaak, SP, Clemson*
Charlie Beilenson, RP, Duke
Ben Miller, 3B, Duke
Zac Morris, 2B, Duke
Jonathan Santucci, SP, Duke
Jamie Arnold, SP, Florida State
James Tibbs III, OF, Florida State
Drew Burress, OF, Georgia Tech
Gage Ziehl, SP, Miami*
Casey Cook, OF, North Carolina*
Vance Honeycutt, OF, North Carolina
Jacob Cozart, C, NC State
Ethan Anderson, DH/UT, Virginia
Griff O’Ferrall, SS, Virginia
Chase Burns, SP, Wake Forest
Nick Kurtz, 1B, Wake Forest

Second Team
Blake Wright, 2B, Clemson
Alex Stone, C, Duke*
Cam Smith, 3B, Florida State
Matthew Ellis, DH/UT, Georgia Tech
Payton Green, SS, Georgia Tech
Evan Webster, SP, Louisville
Daniel Cuvet, 3B, Miami*
Jason DeCaro, SP, North Carolina
Parks Harber, 1B, North Carolina
Shea Sprague, SP, North Carolina
Alex Makarewicz, 3B, NC State*
Phil Fox, RP, Pittsburgh
Harrison Didawick, OF, Virginia
Jacob Ference, C, Virginia
Casey Saucke, OF, Virginia
Ben Watson, OF, Virginia Tech

Third Team
John West, SP, Boston College*
Cam Cannarella, OF, Clemson
AJ Gracia, OF, Duke
Marco Dinges, DH/UT, Florida State
Jaime Ferrer, OF, Florida State
Gavin Kilen, SS, Louisville
Matthew Mattthijs, RP, North Carolina*
Dalton Pence, RP, North Carolina
Luke Stevenson, C, North Carolina
Sam Highfill, SP, NC State
Garrett Pennington, 1B, NC State
Evan Blanco, SP, Virginia
Henry Godbout, 2B, Virginia
Chris Cannizzaro, OF, Virginia Tech
Brett Renfrow, SP, Virginia Tech
Marek Houston, SS, Wake Forest*
Seaver King, 3B, Wake Forest

*Designates At-Large Selection
% 17 players on the Third Team due to a tie in the voting

All-ACC Freshman Team
Aidan Knaak, SP, Clemson
AJ Gracia, OF, Duke
Kyle Johnson, OF/SP, Duke
Drew Burress, OF, Georgia Tech
Zion Rose, C, Louisville
Daniel Cuvet, 3B, Miami
Jason DeCaro, SP, North Carolina
Gavin Gallaher, 3B, North Carolina
Luke Stevenson, C, North Carolina
Luke Nixon, SS, NC State
Eric Becker, INF, Virginia
Henry Ford, INF, Virginia
Brett Renfrow, SP, Virginia Tech