Hokie ClubThe series: Tech continues its 120th season of baseball this weekend with a three-game ACC series against No. 1 North Carolina in Blacksburg at English Field.
It’s the first time the No. 1 team in the nation visits English Field since Virginia did so during the 2011 season and it will be the fourth time overall.
Facing the Tar Heels: The Hokies have faced North Carolina a total of 85 times in their history with the Tar Heels holding a 60-23-2 record in the series and are 22-10 in Blacksburg.
Since Tech joined the ACC, the team is just 1-20 against the Tar Heels with the only win a 6-3 victory at English Field on March 24, 2007. Tech has faced UNC in a series once before when the Tar Heels were No. 1 (they’ve been ranked every time the teams have faced each other since 2005) back in 2009. UNC won both games of a two-game set.
A winning start in the ACC: Before this season, Tech has only once held a better conference record after 15 games than this year’s team. The 2010 squad was 8-7 at the midway point, while this year’s squad stands at 7-8.
After 18 games, Tech has been at .500 just once, in 2010, when the Hokies were 9-9, and the most wins after that was eight in 2009.
Hokies walk-off seven times: Under Hughes, Tech has registered 13 walk-off victories in seven years, which included seven last season.
Tech registered its first of the year on Tuesday when Tyler Horan smacked a two-run home run in the 10th frame to lift the Hokies to a 7-5 victory over Longwood. Horan became just the third player under Hughes to hit a walk-off home run, joining Andrew Rash and Austin Wates.
Rash hit a solo home run in game 1 of a doubleheader against Yale (3/4/12) lifting the Hokies to a 6-5 win. Wates did the same - a solo home run - but in the 10th of a 5-4 win over No. 10 Virginia (5/14/09). Of the 13 walk-off wins, four have been in extra innings.
Speaking of extra innings: The Hokies have now gone extra innings four times this season already, owning a 3-1 record. It marks the most games and wins since they went 3-1 in four extra-inning games in 2007. In 2006, the team played in five extra-inning games and went 3-2.
Links: Follow live stats all weekend long on hokiesports.com and get game updates via twitter @VT_Baseball. As always, the games are available on All-Access, with this weekend's audio links above, or if in the area, they can be heard on SuperSports 101.7 FM.