This past weekend, the Virginia Tech Hokies invited UNCG to English Field for their second weekend series of the season. UNCG was the preseason favorite in the SoCon and beat Wake Forest in their midweek, so this was no assignment to scoff at. The Hokies won the series 2-1 and were strongly supported by the starting pitching. Let's dive into the game by game recaps.
Game 1 : UNCG 6, Virginia Tech 2
The Hokies opened the weekend on Saturday by falling to the Spartans 6-2. Brett Renfrow got his second start of the season and went 4.1 innings, striking out five batters and surrendering only two earned runs. Andrew Setlinger, Jacob Exum, Branden Yagesh, and Marcel Kulik combined for the next 4.2 innings of work to the end of the game. Yagesh gave up two earned runs and Setlinger gave up one.
At the plate, the Hokies struggled vastly in game 1, scoring just two runs on eight hits. Sam Tackett had a tape measure shot in the second inning that gave the Hokies an initial lead before falling behind and failing to keep up with the Spartans.
Starting for UNCG in game 1 was Sam Murchison. Murchison had a fantastic outing against a good Virginia Tech offense, allowing just two runs in seveninnings and allowing just two free bases. After his outing, Mayson Dear came in for a six-out save opportunity and succeeded, going scoreless over two innings to secure the first game for the Spartans.
Getting on base was not much of a problem for the Spartans, as they had 14 guys get on base. The biggest of those to get on base was Case Kermode, who had a 2-RBI hit to left in the top of the ninth to put the game on ice.
The only big takeaway I have from this game is on Brett Renfrow.
In his freshman season, Renfrow did a fantastic job of pounding the strike zone and limiting walks, which is far from what we’ve seen in 2025. So far in this year, Renfrow has walked seven batters in 8.1 innings, which is a dangerously high clip that will absolutely need to change before ACC play.
Game 2: Virginia Tech 6, UNCG 2
In the second game, the Hokies punched back against the Spartans with a 6-2 win of their own. True freshman Jake Marciano got his first career start in this one and showed why he earned it. The young hurler pitched 5 innings and struck out 7 batters on his way to a scoreless outing. He was relieved in the final four innings by Preston Crowl and Matheiu Curtis. Crowl surrendered the only 2 UNCG runs of the game in his outing.
At the plate, the Hokies turned it around from game 1, scoring six runs on 11 hits. Treyson Hughes had a fantastic day, going 3-4 with a double and one RBI. David Lewis also stood out, going 3-4 as well with a double, triple, and two RBIs.
Jay Miller got the start for UNCG for the second game, and the Hokies took advantage of him. He was good for the most part, but two innings clouded his performance, which was enough for the Hokies. Hunter Shuey was called upon for relief. He gave up 2 hits and was pulled without recording an out. Rob Ready, a preseason all conference selection in the SoCon, pitched 2.2 scoreless innings to finish the game.
Hitting wise, the Spartans were shut down, scoring just 2 runs on 4 hits. Brantley Truitt is the only player who had a multi hit day for UNCG. They also had trouble working free bases, earning just 4 of them all game long.
The biggest takeaway from this game is again from the starting pitcher. Marciano is very highly spoken about by the coaches and he showed why on Sunday. He sits at about 90-92 with his fastball, but with a longer delivery, that ball looks like 94-95 to a batter. Marciano has two appearances in his career, where he has pitched eight scoreless innings while walking only one batter and striking out 13. That’s a very promising start to his collegiate career.
Game 3: Virginia Tech 8, UNCG 3
In the rubber match, the Hokies were clicking on all cylinders in the 8-3 win. True freshman Logan Eisenreich got handed the ball on the mound, pitching 4.2 innings and striking out eight batters on his way to surrendering just two runs. In the second inning, Eisenreich faced his first adversity of the season, where he gave up two runs and then proceeded to bounce back in the 3rd and 4th with scoreless innings.
He was relieved by Yagesh, Grant Manning, Exum, and Luke Craytor for the final 4.1 innings. Manning pitched three innings and allowed just one run, a dramatic turnaround from his first 2 appearances of the season. Luke Craytor was credited with his second save of the season.
The Hokies put on an offensive clinic, having six batters with multi-hit days. Among those multi-hit days is Jared Davis. The JUCO transfer went 4-5 with a double and two RBIs from the leadoff position.
David McCann hit a moonshot solo home run that felt like the one that iced the game, making it 6-2 with a lot of Hokies momentum.
For the Spartans, preseason all conference pitcher Grant Aycock got the nod on the bump and the Hokies pounced on him. In the first inning, the Hokies were swinging early and often, scoring a run in the bottom of the first and only making Aycock throw eight pitches. He gave up a three-run second inning before things really spiraled from there. He was able to pitch into the fifth but did not find much success in his season debut.
Offensively for them, the Hokies really shut them down. They had a few guys with multi-hit days, but the pitching staff for the Hokies did not allow a single extra base hit. I would like to highlight Luke Jenkins, who went 2-3 with a walk and scored two of the Spartans’ three runs.
The biggest takeaway from this game is the emergence of Jared Davis. He is now slashing .478/.556/.565 and has not struck out a single time all year long. With the bat, he also has elite range from the second base spot that allows him to make web-gem plays on the defensive side.
There has also been concern about Eisenreich’s walks, which has been an early issue. While he’s been able to strand most of the guys he walks, he still has given up six walks in 8.2 innings, which can be a slight cause for concern. He does fall behind in counts a lot because he tends to pitch a lot of guys backwards.
I do think this is something that the coaching staff will work on, because he does not have the command of his fastball to be able to do that at the college level at this point in his career.
Weekend Recap
Over the weekend, the Hokies faced some adversity. They lost the first game with their ace on the mound to a good team and it was more than possible that the Hokies would lose the series. Fortunately for them, two freshman phenoms in Jake Marciano and Logan Eisenreich had some spectacular outings, likely solidifying their spots in the weekend rotation.
Hitting wise, the offense has been solid, but leaves a major concern. The defending ACC batting champion, Ben Watson, has been struggling early on. Watson, through six games now is hitting at a lowly clip of .179. The Hokies offense has been solid over the start of the season, but if it can get the boost of a Ben Watson turn around, they will really have the ACC on watch with the rest of the lineup hitting the way it has been, especially Sam Tackett and Jared Davis.
