Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – A four-run fourth inning and a quality start from senior pitcher Connor Coward helped the Virginia Tech baseball team to an ACC season-opening win over visiting Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon at English Field at Union Park to register its fourth straight win.
Coward tossed seven frames and struck out a career-high 12 batters, which included striking out the side in both the first and sixth innings. He scattered four hits and three walks and allowed just one run.
Pittsburgh (10-3, 0-1 ACC) got that run in the third as Connor Perry crossed the plate on a two-out RBI single by Alex Amos to give his team a 1-0 lead. Perry would be the only Panther to touch third base in the game as Tech pitchers shut the Pittsburgh offense down the rest of the game.
Tech (7-7, 1-0 ACC) took advantage of a Panther error in the fourth to plate its four runs. Sam Fragale started the rally with a one-out double, his 150th career hit in a Tech uniform. A sacrifice attempt by Luke Horanski followed and instead of man on third two outs, Panther pitcher Derek West overthrow first base and the Hokies had runners on second and third with the one out.
Cam Irvine then plated Tech's first run on a fielder's choice – Pittsburgh decided to try and get Fragale at the plate, but was unsuccessful – but did get Irvine trying for second. With two outs, Nick Menken knocked home Horanski with a single and JD Mundy launched a two-run home run to center to put the home team up 4-1.
It was all the run support the Hokies pitching staff would need. Coward surrendered just two walks and a single through the seventh and Andrew McDonald pitched the last two innings scoreless to pick up his third save of the season as Coward improved to 1-1 with the victory.
Inside the Box
- Coward – career-high 12 strikeouts, fourth time this season with at least six strikeouts in a game; pushed career total to 151; struck out the side twice, five times this season, eight times in his career; has thrown a team-high 23 scoreless innings this season, including 12 perfect; third quality start of the year, sixth of his career; retired the first five he faced, pushing his consecutive outs streak to a career-high 17, before allowing single in the second.
- Fragale – double, fifth of the season, 34th of his career; the hit was also the 150th of his Tech career.
- McDonald – two scoreless innings, has now posted a career-long 11.0 consecutive scoreless innings; is also a perfect 8-for-8 on retiring the first batter he's faced out of the bullpen; also had the 17th double play of his career turned behind him to end the game.
- Menken – two hits, second multi-hit game of the season.
- Mundy – home run, second of the season, seventh of his career; two RBI, third multi-RBI game of the season, seventh of his career.
- Tom Stoffel – double, fourth of the season 41st of his career.
- Jack Owens – stolen base, 8-for-8 this season, 17 stolen bases in his career.
Additional Notes
- Tech recorded its 12th double play of the season to end the game.
- The Hokies are now 6-8 in their ACC season-opening game and 2-2 at home.
- Tech ended a five-game losing streak to Pittsburgh, as the all-time series now stands at 18-14-1 in favor of the Panthers. However, Tech has a 6-7 mark at English Field at Union Park.
- The Hokies are now 18-9-1 when playing on March 9, including a 9-4 record at home.
Up Next
- The Hokies and Panthers will look to conclude their ACC series on Saturday at English Field at Union Park with a doubleheader scheduled to begin at Noon. The second game will begin approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1.