PITTSBURGH – Virginia Tech starting pitcher Ian Seymour held Pittsburgh scoreless through the fifth inning while the Hokies jumped out to a nine-run advantage, highlighted by Kerry Carpenter's grand slam in the sixth, and the Hokies took the first game of a three-game ACC baseball set at Charles L. Cost Field on Friday afternoon over the Panthers by an 11-4 count.
Leading by five in the top of the sixth, Carpenter blasted his team-leading sixth home run of the season over the center field fence and recorded Tech's first grand slam in ACC play since March 11, 2016 (Nick Anderson vs. Miami). In all, Carpenter had three hits, including a pair of doubles, the second plated two more in the eighth that accounted for Tech's final runs. The six RBI is a Tech game-high for the season.
On the hill, Seymour (3-0) allowed a one-out single and a walk in the first, but settled in to get the final two outs. He then allowed just one single until the fifth, which included a double play, retiring nine straight and perfect frames in the third and fourth.
However, in the sixth, the Panthers (6-10, 0-4 ACC) plated four runs off Seymour, the key hit a bases-clearing triple off the bat of Andres Antonini, who later scored on a passed ball.
Seymour did strike out two in the sixth, which gave him the 100th strikeout of his Tech career. Nic Enright (2.0 IP/4 K) and Ryan Metz (1.0 IP/1 K) closed out the game for the Hokies, who improved to 12-5 overall and 2-2 in league play.
Tech scored two runs in the second and one in the fourth, with Nick Biddison collecting two of the RBI – the first with a bases loaded walk and the other with a triple, the team's first of the year. Luke Horanski added an RBI single in the fifth that scored Carpenter after his first double of the afternoon.
Inside the box
- Biddison – triple, first of his career; two RBI, third multi-RBI game of the year.
- Carpenter – home run, team-leading sixth of the season; two doubles, team-leading six this year; season-high three hits, eighth multi-hit game of the year; two runs, fourth multi-run scoring game of the season, career-high six RBI, fourth multi-RBI game of the year; has reached base in all 17 games this season.
- Enright – two scoreless, both perfect, frames, 11 and seven this season, 66 and 32 in his career; four strikeouts, 10th time in career with at least four; also struck out the side in the eighth, second time this season, third time in his career.
- Horanski – two hits, fifth multi-hit game of the season, 17th of his career; two runs scored, team-leading fifth multi-run scoring game of the season, eighth of his Tech career.
- Seymour – fifth start of year, 18th of his career; season-high 6.0 innings pitched; five scoreless and two perfect innings, 17 and six this season, 72 and 24 in his career; six strikeouts, fourth time this year with at least six Ks, 11th time in his career.
- Reagan Teegardaen – two runs, first multi-run scoring game of the year.
- Tanner Thomas – double, his second of the season.
More Tech notes
- Tech trails in the all-time series with Pitt 19-16-1.
- The Hokies are 4-9 all-time in Pittsburgh.
- Combined with Maryland and Tech, head coach John Szefc is now 6-1 all-time versus Pittsburgh (4-0 on the road) and he's also 6-1 in the Keystone State.
- The Hokies are 6-0 this year in games decided by 5 or more runs.
Up Next
Tech returns to the road and to ACC action as the Hokies travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a three-game league series with the Panthers at Charles L. Cost Field. Game 1 is set for Friday at 3 p.m., as is Game 2 on Saturday, while Sunday is a 1 p.m. first pitch.