TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – After suffering a walk-off defeat on Friday night, the Virginia Tech baseball team rebounded to split a doubleheader at top-ranked Florida State, as freshman Chris Gerard was masterful in the day's first game. The Hokies won the opener 6-0, while the Seminoles took the nightcap by a 5-2 count to take the ACC series two games to one on Saturday at Dick Howser Stadium.
Gerard's day started with him holding the Seminoles hitless through six innings, while the Hokies staked him to a 4-0 lead. He walked a pair in the second inning, but retired the next 13 batters before walking the leadoff hitter in the seventh.
Drew Mendoza then sliced a single into right field to put two Seminoles on with no outs. However, Gerard retired the final three with no damage done, including Elijah Cabell for his 10th strikeout of the afternoon.
Jack Dellinger tossed the final two innings hitless and scoreless as the tandem held Florida State to just one hit in the contest. The shutout was the first for Tech since shutting out then No. 1 Florida State on March 19, 2017 in Blacksburg, 17-0. It was the team's first road shutout since a 5-0 win at Boston College on April 29, 2016.
In its ACC history, the Hokies have posted seven shutouts on the road – twice each at Duke, Maryland and Boston College – while this was the first ever over a ranked team. The one hit allowed is also the fewest ever in an ACC game - road or home. The fewest prior was three, done five times, most recent last year vs. NC State, twice in 2013 (at Maryland and at Boston College), once in 2011 (at Boston College) and in 2010 vs. Maryland.
In the effort, Gerard became just the third Tech freshman pitcher in an ACC regular-season game to win a start on the road (Mathew Price, at Maryland, April 12, 2009 and Packy Naughton, at Duke, April 26, 2015) and also became just the second Tech freshman pitcher to strike out 10 batters (Ian Seymour, 10, vs. Pittsburgh, March 10, 2018) in an ACC game. Gerard has thrown 17 straight innings without allowing an earned run and has pitched 11.2 scoreless innings.
Luke Horanski led the Hokies (9-5, 1-2 ACC) offensively in Game 1, as he had two hits, two RBI and scored twice, which included a solo home run in the seventh. Carson Taylor and Reagan Teegarden also had a pair of hits in the victory.
Florida State (13-1, 2-1 ACC) broke a 2-2 tie in the nightcap with two runs in the seventh frame. Mendoza and Cabell each knocked in a run in the frame and J.C. Flowers hit a solo home run in the ninth to provide the final run, which gave their coach Mike Martin his 2,000th career win as a head coach.
Trailing 2-0 after one, the Hokies battled back to tie the game in the third. Kerry Carpenter singled home Nick Menken and Nick Biddison scored on Kevin Madden's sacrifice fly. However, Tech had just two baserunners over the final six frames, a double by Nick Owens in the fourth and a single for Biddison in the eighth.
Inside the Box – Game 1
- Gerard – season-high 7.0 innings pitched; season-high 10 strikeouts including striking out the side in the third, the first time in his career.
- Horanski – home run, fifth of the season, ninth of his career; two hits, fourth multi-hit game of the season, 16th of his Tech career; two RBI, fourth multi-RBI game of the season, 13th of his career.
- Taylor – two hits, sixth multi-hit game of the year.
- Teegarden – two hits, second multi-hit game of the season.
Inside the Box – Game 2
- Peyton Alford – first career start at Tech; season-high tying five strikeouts.
- Carpenter – two hits, sixth multi-hit game of the season.
- Nic Enright – season-high 3.2 innings pitched; season-high five strikeouts; fifth game of career with five or more; pushed his career totals at Tech to 102 innings pitched and 101 strikeouts.
- Owens – double, second of the season, fifth of his career.
More Tech notes
- Tech handed its fifth opponent of the season its first loss – Stetson, Sam Houston State, ETSU, UNC Greensboro and now Florida State.
- The Hokies, in their career in the ACC, are now 9-23 against No. 1 teams, last beating a top-ranked team in 2017 – the Seminoles in Blacksburg.
- Tech has now played 27 doubleheaders in its history in ACC play, with 14 of them on the road. The Hokies are 0-5-9 in those DHs, and are 0-0-2 in DHs in 2019, as they split a doubleheader last weekend versus Bryant.
Up Next
The Hokies will return to Blacksburg on Sunday and will be back in action when they welcome Richmond to English Field at Union Park for a two-game midweek series. Both Tuesday's and Wednesday's games are scheduled to start at 4 p.m.