There’s something in the air this spring for Virginia Tech (18-4, 8-1 ACC). The ‘Hammering Hokies’ are atop the ACC Coastal division - and off to their best conference start in program history with the most wins in the ACC, following a weekend sweep of the Boston College Eagles (11-11, 2-7 ACC).
Rising to No. 13 in the country, per D1Baseball, Tech is now a consensus top 25 team in the nation, polling at No. 17 on Perfect Game, No. 20 on Baseball America, and No. 21 on College Baseball Central.
Virginia Tech, led by seventh-year head coach John Szefc entered the weekend series on a three game win streak, after taking the last two games at Louisville and coming back at home against ETSU on Tuesday.
On Friday, the Hokies and Eagles played a double-header, with Saturday’s game being moved due to forecasted inclement weather conditions.
The series opener was a back and forth game, in which Tech used a strong final three innings to come back from a 6-4 deficit, winning 9-6.
Freshman Brett Renfrow, the usual Friday starter, was shaky for the second-straight week, going 4.2 innings while allowing four earned runs on five hits and two walks, and striking out six batters on 82 total pitches. This led to a no decision for the Manassas, Virginia native.
Brady Kirtner, Tech’s long reliever, also struggled out of the bullpen, recording zero outs while allowing three hits, a walk, and two runs.
It would be the combined efforts of David Shoemaker, Andrew Sentilinger (W, 1-0), and Jordan Little (S, 2) that held off Boston College in the final third of the game and pitched the Hokies to a win.
At the plate, Tech’s catcher tandem of Henry Cooke and David McCann got the Hokies going early, each ripping RBI singles in the second inning.
In the fifth, sophomore shortstop Clay Grady tripled to right-center, bringing home Sam Tackett. Then. Christian Martin brought Grady home on a sac-fly.
Trailing by two runs in the seventh, Chris Cannizzaro laced a double to close the gap to one run.
The top of the ninth inning would call for a huge Hokies rally, and Tech delivered as Christian Martin came up big with his fourth home rin of the 2024 season - a three-run shot that was crushed, with Eddie Micheletti Jr. tacking on an RBI-double to seal the deal, putting Tech up by three runs.
The second leg of the double-header was controlled by Virginia Tech from the get-go, as the Hokies tallied four runs in the opening four frames. Although Boston College attempted to comeback in the bottom of the eighth via a Kyle Wolff double that scored two, almost three if not for a sweet relay from Cannizzaro (LF) to Grady (SS) to Cooke at the dish to prevent that third run.
The Hokies would end up sweeping the double-header, and taking home another series victory with a 4-3 win, remaining undefeated in series on the season.
Wolff accounted for all three of the Eagles runs in game two, totaling five runs batted in on Friday.
Henry Cooke blasted his fifth home run off the year, while third baseman Carson Demartini and Grady batted runs in via sac-flies.
Ben Watson scored a run on a groundout as well. The Division III transfer outfielder has excelled for Tech all season, extending his hit streak to 18 games this weekend.
On the mound, Wyatt Parliament excelled, moving to 3-0 on the season as he tossed five innings of one-run baseball, giving up just three hits, and one walk, while notching six strikeouts.
Little collected his second save of the day, and his third of the season in what was a pretty impressive day for the East Carolina transfer.
On Sunday, Virginia Tech completed the series sweep - it’s second in ACC play (Notre Dame), coming out on top 12-6, via a seven-run seventh inning.
Griffin Stieg threw 101 pitches in 4.1 IP on Sunday, getting six Eagles on strikes while allowing seven baserunners (four hits, three walks), and two earned runs.
Three Hokie relievers (Matthew Siverling, Jacob Stretch, Grant Manning) gave up runs out of the pen. The notable performance in relief was Brady Kirtner, who bounced back from a tough day on Friday to collect his third win of the season with three scoreless innings during which he allowed no hits, one walk, and struck out two BC hitters.
DeMartini went yard for the first time of the weekend in the series finale. This was his team-leading 13th home run of the season as he’s continued to look like a top college MLB Draft prospect all year.
Chris Cannizzaro kicked off the seven-run seventh with a two-run shot to right, ironically scoring DeMartini as well.
Cooke tripled in two runs, before the situation got out of control for BC, allowing several runs with wild pitches and sac-flies.
The Hokies are hot, off to their best start since the 2022 Super Regional team, and are only looking to get hotter.
Tech plays host to 8-15 Marshall on Tuesday, prior to welcoming the Pittsburgh Panthers (11-9, 1-8 ACC) to town for a three-game clash that kicks off on Thursday, due to the Easter holiday weekend.
