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Virginia Tech Baseball Goes 3-2 on Florida Trip

Connor Coward Marshall 1 1
It’s Spring Break for Virginia Tech students, and while not all of us can afford a week-long trip to Florida, the Hokies baseball team got to spend some time in the Sunshine State this week. Welcome to the latest edition of the Hokies Baseball Notebook.

Virginia Tech Goes 3-2 in Stetson Tournament

VT Falls to #19 Stetson

Virginia Tech made the trip down to DeLand, Florida this week for the Westin Lake Mary Stetson Invitational. The Hokies started things off with a matchup against the host Stetson Hatters, who were ranked No. 19 in the country at the time. The game lacked much offense from both teams. The Hokies started things off in the top of the third when Cam Irvine scored on an RBI single from Nick Owens. Stetson retaliated with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth and the score didn’t change the rest of the game. Hokies starter Connor Coward tossed eight innings and gave up just two runs on five hits. Coward also struck out six batters in his outing. Cam Irvine had one of only two hits for Virginia Tech, going 1-for-3 and scoring the only Hokies run in the game.

VT Falls to Purdue

Things got a little wilder in Saturday’s game against Purdue. The Boilermakers struck early, scoring in the top of the second inning. They added four more runs in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead. Virginia Tech finally had a runner cross the plate when Sam Fragale scored on an RBI single by Irvine. With a 5-1 lead in the seventh inning, Purdue scored four more runs to make it 9-1. Tech scored again in the bottom of the seventh, but a three-run homer by Purdue’s Jacson McGowan made it 12-2 in the top of the ninth inning. A late three-run rally was not enough for the Hokies to overcome the deficit, and they lost the game 12-5.

Hokies Get in the Winning Column

On Sunday, Virginia Tech played the first of two games against Central Michigan this week. The Chippewas were the first to cross the plate, doing so three times in the bottom of the third inning. The Hokies came back slowly, scoring one run in each of the next three innings. An RBI single from Tom Stoffel that scored Darion Jacoby in the top of the ninth was the tiebreaker, and the Hokies won the game 4-3. Stoffel went 3-for-5 for Tech in the win, scoring one run and driving in two more. Jack Owens, Sam Fragale, and Darion Jacoby each had two hits and scored one run in Sunday’s game. Nic Enright picked up the win for the Hokies, pitching 4.2 innings while giving up no runs and striking out seven.

VT Blows Out Wagner

The Hokies had a day off on Monday before returning to action against Wagner on Tuesday afternoon. The Seahawks scored two runs in the top of the first, but the Hokies answered with five of their own in the bottom half of the frame. A three-run second inning followed by five runs in the third and fifth innings gave the Hokies an 18-7 victory over Wagner. Virginia Tech had 18 hits on the day while five Hokies batters had multi-hit games. Irvine went 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs. Nick Owens was a perfect 4-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs. Jack Owens went 3-for-4, crossing the plate four times. Tom Stoffel, and Michael Fernandez each had two hits in Tuesday’s game. Freshman Ryan Okuda got the start, pitching 4.1 innings while giving up four runs on five hits. Paul Hall, Jr. picked up the win for Tech, tossing three innings and giving up one run on three hits.

VT Finishes Trip With Another Win Over Central Michigan

The offense didn’t stop there for Tech. The Hokies faced Central Michigan again on Wednesday and defeated the Chippewas 7-4. Tech scored two runs in the bottom of the third followed by one run in the fifth. Central Michigan took the lead with a four-run sixth inning, but the Hokies scored four more in the bottom of the frame and never looked back. JD Mundy went 2-for-3 for Tech on Wednesday, scoring two runs and driving in two more. Mundy had a solo home run to left center in the bottom of the third inning. Graham Seitz came in to pitch in the seventh inning and earned the win, tossing two innings and giving up two runs on three hits.

Freshmen Still Impressing

Earlier this season, we highlighted some of the freshmen on this year’s team who had seen playing time. After this weekend’s tournament in Florida, some of them are still playing well. Cam Irvine had eight hits for the Hokies in the past five games, including his four-hit, two-RBI performance against Wagner. After starting the season as a backup, Irvine has started in seven straight games for Tech. Darion Jacoby, who scored the winning run in the Radford game last week, only started one game this weekend. He went 2-for-4 with a run scored in the first game against Central Michigan. Ian Seymour pitched five innings in the game against Purdue giving up four earned runs while striking out three batters.

Hokies Still Rank High in Sacrifices

After the first couple of games of the season, Virginia Tech ranked second in the country in sacrifice flies. While they’re no longer that high on the list, they’re currently tied for 20th with eight on the season. But that’s not all. The Hokies currently have 10 overall sacrifice hits, tied for 19th in the country. Two other Virginia schools, James Madison and UVA, are also in the top 30. JMU has 13 and UVA has 11.

ACC Play Starts Friday

This weekend’s tournament was the last of three tournaments that the Hokies played to begin the season. The only non-tournament game the team has played so far was last Tuesday’s home opener against Radford. With the end of those tournaments comes the beginning of ACC play. The Hokies open their conference schedule with a home weekend series against Pitt. From this point forward they’ll have a three-game ACC series every weekend. The upcoming series against Pitt brings up another tidbit.

Schedule Changed for Pitt Series

The Hokies’ series with Pitt was supposed to be played Friday through Sunday. Due to the weather forecast for this upcoming weekend, the team has made some changes. The Hokies will play their first game against the Panthers on Friday at noon. Saturday’s game has been changed to a doubleheader with the first pitch at noon. The second game of the doubleheader will begin approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.

Photo Credit: Dave Knachel/Virginia Tech Athletics

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