Cavalier Corner is the publication just for UVa sports fans!
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JUNE 2023 21 corner at Disharoon Park. Since the 2019 season, a Gelof has started at third base in all but three games — a span of 250 games. He took that opportunity and sprinted. Jake went on to an incredible second- year campaign in 2022, one in which he broke the program's single-season RBI record. He batted .377 with 21 home runs and 81 RBI, a season that one would think to be impossible to replicate. Not for Gelof. He has gone on to break his own single-season RBI record with 84 in the first 55 games of 2023 with the postseason still to play. Virginia has been playing base- ball for 135 years. Only UVA Baseball Hall of Famer Phil Gosselin, who went on to play 10 years in the major leagues, put forth the con- sistency that Gelof has in two seasons. Gos- selin drove in 64 runs in 2009 and followed it up with 61 in 2010. Prior to Gelof, he had been the only Cavalier with 60 or more RBI in two different seasons. When looking at the top RBI producers in college baseball the last two seasons, only three players have 160 or more RBI, and Gelof is the only one with a pair of 80-RBI campaigns. His production has not gone unnoticed from national pundits, scouts and the hun- dreds of Cavalier fans that form a line to get an autograph and picture after Sunday home games. Gelof is a semifinalist for both the Dick Howser Trophy and the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award, two of the most prestigious awards in college baseball for back-to-back seasons. He garnered first-team All-ACC honors twice in his career, a feat only accom- plished by 11 players in program history. With all the records, accolades and gaudy numbers coming from Gelof, there is only one thing on his mind. "Our goal, we talk about it all the time, is to get to Omaha and win that national cham- pionship," Gelof said. "That's what I have my mind on. At the end of the day, if that's [re- cords and home runs] helping us get there, then that's what I'm trying to do."