Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – Scoring its lone runs of Saturday’s ballgame on a two-run home run by Jared Davis, the Virginia Tech baseball team righted the ship with its 2-0 victory against Mercer as the Hokies chalked their third shutout of the season at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park.
Virginia Tech (28-22) had been lying three hits through five-plus scoreless innings when Davis hammered the eventual game-winning homer, clearing the left field wall by enough feet to keep Drew Johnson’s glove out of contention. The two-run cushion was all relievers Cameron LeJeune and Grant Manning needed to fend off the Bears as the Hokies relied on clean defending and timely strikeouts to collect the final six outs without allowing a run.
Six days after contesting the longest game during the program’s ACC era (five hours, 45 minutes), Virginia Tech put away Mercer (31-21) on Saturday through two hours and 13 minutes of game time – the Hokies’ shortest nine-inning game since April 28, 2023, against North Carolina.
Base runners were at a premium throughout Saturday’s affair as both pitching staffs retired the minimum number of batters through 11 of the teams’ 17 combined defensive innings. Virginia Tech batted into two double plays and brought no more than three batters to the plate during six of its eight offensive innings while the Hokies’ arms faced the minimum number of Bears on five occasions.
Sophomore right-hander Brett Renfrow started for Virginia Tech and picked up six consecutive game-opening outs before leaving healthy after 16 pitches thrown (14 strikes). Preston Crowl matched his career long for innings pitched, allowing one hit through three innings on the mound while LeJeune toed the next three and one-third innings for the Hokies, taking them into the ninth inning.
Crowl was tested during the top of the third inning when Mercer loaded the bases behind Johnson’s leadoff single. After winning a 12-pitch battle with designated hitter Eli Stephens (inducing a fly ball for the second out), Crowl issued back-to-back walks to Ely Brown and Brant Baughcum before forcing Ty Dalley into a pop-up above home plate, where Henry Cooke snagged the final out.
In relief of Crowl during the sixth inning, LeJeune stranded runners at the corners with his swinging strikeout of Parker Lester – a result that validated Virginia Tech’s two-out intentional walk of cleanup shortstop Bradley Frye. Despite LeJeune allowing leadoff singles from the seventh through ninth innings, the Hokies’ defense was there to help him out of trouble, including a 4-3 double play turned by Ethan Gibson that cleared the bases during the eighth inning.
Manning inherited a runner at second base from LeJeune with one out during the top of the ninth inning, though cooly shut the door on the Bears to stamp his fourth save of the season. After fanning Titan Kamaka on six pitches for the second out, Manning made Johnson fly out to Hudson Lutterman, applying the finishing strokes on the Hokies’ efficient pitching performance.
Ben Watson doubled during his first at-bat of the ballgame, extending his hitting streak to 15 consecutive games.