Hokie ClubPITTSBURGH – Receiving home runs from David Lewis and David McCann during the sixth inning on Friday night, the Virginia Tech baseball team made a mid-game run at Pitt despite having to settle for 9-5 defeat during the team’s ACC series opener at Charles L. Cost Field.
Virginia Tech (27-19, 11-14 ACC) scored solitary runs during the second and third innings before finding itself on the wrong side of the game’s 5-2 score line at the end of the fifth inning. Surging the Hokies back into the contest, Lewis delivered the one-out, solo homer during the sixth inning that crept the Hokies within 5-3, two batters before McCann halved the deficit with his solo homer struck to center field.
Pitt (22-21, 7-15 ACC) rallied for three runs during the bottom of the seventh inning to cement its late-game lead. Ryan Zuckerman homered to lead off the eighth inning to widen the Panthers’ advantage to 9-4.
Brett Renfrow struck out six of the first nine batters he faced for Virginia Tech, though had trouble putting away Pitt deeper into his outing. The Panthers tied the game during the fourth inning on Jake Kendro’s RBI single while pulling in front on David Pedanou’s infield single to third base.