Virginia Tech's return to the NCAA Tournament after a four-year absence didn't go the way the Hokies hoped Friday night in Los Angeles, falling to Cal Poly 6-2 in its regional opener.
Griffin Naess was the story of the night for the Mustangs. The Cal Poly righty went seven innings, allowing just two runs on five hits while walking three and striking out nine. He was sharp early and only got sharper as the game went on, and Virginia Tech's lineup, which finished with 14 strikeouts on the night, never really had an answer for him.
Logan Eisenreich took the loss for the Hokies, dropping to 2-3 on the season after lasting just 3.2 innings. He allowed seven hits and four earned runs while issuing four walks and hitting two batters, running into trouble almost every inning.
Cal Poly did the most damage in the second, plating two runs on an RBI groundout from Gavin Spiridonoff and an RBI single up the middle from Dante Vachini.
Virginia Tech answered immediately when Nick Locurto singled to right to score Ethan Ball and make it 2-1, giving the Hokies a brief window of life, but they couldn't push the tying run across despite having the bases loaded with nobody out in that same frame, as a pop-up and a double play ended the threat.
From there, Cal Poly slowly pulled away as they scored in five consecutive innings. Cam Hoiland led off the third with a solo home run to left to push the lead back to two, and in the fourth, Casey Murray Jr. singled to third to plate Ryan Tayman and make it 4-1. Alejandro Garza added a sacrifice groundout in the fifth to score Vachini, and Murray came through again in the sixth with an RBI single through the left side to score Hoiland and push the lead to 6-1.
Murray finished the night with four hits and two RBI, the best individual performance at the plate for either team. Hoiland scored twice and drove in one, while Vachini went 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI out of the nine-hole.
Virginia Tech's only other run came in the seventh on an unearned score; Pete Daniel crossed the plate when Owen Petrich grounded into a double play, making it 6-2. Daniel was one of the few Hokies who showed up offensively, going 2-for-3 with a walk, but the lineup as a whole managed just six hits and stranded eight runners.
Ethan Grim, Brody Roe, Luke Craytor and Brendan Yagesh all came out of the bullpen and combined to allow two more runs over 5.1 innings, keeping the Hokies from falling any further behind, but they were offered no offensive support to work with.
Cal Poly out-hit Virginia Tech 13-6 and drew five walks, making the Hokie pitching staff work all night long. Brady Estes and Nick Bonn finished things off in relief for the Mustangs, with Bonn, coming off Big West Tournament MVP, picking up the save.
Virginia Tech now drops into the elimination bracket and will face No. 1 overall seed UCLA on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. Win or the season is over for the Hokies.
