UVA baseball team recognizing standout performances with ‘The Jacket’

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Prior to the start of this season, third baseman Jake Gelof, who’s part of the team’s six-player leadership group, felt the team should have something to recognize individual performances throughout the season.

The team came up with the idea of getting an old-school UVA jacket to give to their standout player.

When Jake Gelof was presented with the record-breaking home run ball he hit out of the park earlier in the season, he also earned “The Jacket.”

“It’s cool looking. It’s awesome,” Gelof said.

The jacket is old school with a retro cavalier logo. UVA Operations Assistant Bryce Rosenberg is the keeper of The Jacket. He bought it on eBay for $50.

“When I got [The Jacket] earlier in the year, I remember wearing it to class. It was cold outside and everyone was high-fiving me. That was the rule at first. You had to wear it to class no matter how bad it smelled after wearing it after the games. It’s definitely a cool jacket,” Kyle Teel said.

Coach Brian O’Connor says that The Jacket doesn’t necessarily go to the star of the game, but to the player that had the biggest impact on the win.

“It’s a little swag that you get to carry around with yourself. It shows the team that this is the type of performances that we need out of guys in big moments, these guys stepped up,” Connelly Early said. “It pushes everyone to go out there and do something crazy for us.”

Ethan Anderson earned the honor after hitting a momentum changing 3-run home run against Duke in Super Regional Game 2.

“It says extra large on it, I think it’s a youth extra large. I think it makes me look a little bigger when I put it on. It’s a little hot when you put it on and it’s 80 degrees, but it’s worth it,” Anderson said.

UVA players have received The Jacket 48 times this season.

Coach O’Connor has gotten The Jacket twice, first when he earned his 800th Cavalier win in March, and then again in the regionals when the team agreed Virginia’s 8-3 win over East Carolina was a total team effort.

Do you have a story idea? Send us your news tip here.

Copyright 2023 WVIR. All rights reserved.