Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. – Austin Wates hit two homers and drove in five runs, and Matt Blow had a career-high four hits, as No. 16 Virginia Tech posted a 12-0 baseball win over Savannah State at English Field on Saturday evening.
The win – Tech’s sixth shutout of the season – improved the Hokies to 33-15 on the season. The 33 wins are the most for the Hokies in their four seasons under Coach Pete Hughes and the most overall since registering 34 in 2003. Savannah State is 24-22 overall following the loss.
Early on, the game settled into a pitcher’s duel between Tech’s Justin Wright and Savannah State’s Michael Allegretti. Wright struggled with his control, but overcame three walks, two hit batsmen and two wild pitches to post five scoreless innings. The junior southpaw stranded Tiger base runners in scoring position in four of his five innings, thanks in large part to nine strikeouts. Allegretti, meanwhile, allowed just two base runners, both on singles, during his first four frames.
Blow finally broke up the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth inning. The redshirt junior designated hitter smacked his fourth homer of the season, a solo shot off of Allegretti to right field. The Hokies broke the game open an inning later when Wates hit a three-run homer off of Allegretti and third baseman Brent Zimmerman added a two-run triple off of reliever Joseph Jackson for a 6-0 Tech lead.
Wates added his second homer of the game and seventh of the season in the seventh inning with a man aboard. The Hokies also got a two-run single from second baseman Michael Seaborn and an RBI single from Blow during the inning to extend their lead to 11-0. Seaborn closed out the game’s scoring with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Freshman left-hander Joe Mantiply took over for Wright to start the sixth inning and pitched three scoreless innings. Mantiply allowed a pair of singles, while striking out five batters. Submariner Ben Rowen worked the ninth, retiring the Tigers in order to preserve the shutout. Wright earned the win, his sixth against three losses, while Allegretti (6-5) took the loss.
Blow posted his first collegiate four-hit game to lead Tech’s 15-hit attack. He was 4-for-4 with two runs batted in and two runs scored. Zimmerman had three hits and two RBIs in five trips to the plate, while Wates went 2-for-5 with two runs scored to go with the five that he drove in. Freshman Andrew Rash and sophomore Buddy Sosnoskie chipped in a pair of hits each. Savannah State finished with just five hits, all singles.
The two teams are slated to meet at English Field again on Sunday afternoon at 1.